No smartphone service? Fewer traffic crashes

Executive summary: Hang up and drive.

No smartphone service? Fewer traffic crashes

Dr. Gridlock
By Ashley Halsey III December 1 at 10:03 AM

Use of BlackBerry smartphones has declined in the U.S., but they still hold 44 percent of the market in Abu Dhabi. So, when service for the devices was disrupted for three days last month, there were a lot of unhappy people.

In the aftermath, police discovered that during the blackout, traffic accidents fell by 20 percent in Dubai and 40 percent nationwide. The chief of police and the head of the traffic division both linked the drop to the outage, which cost BlackBerry owners access to email, text messages and internet functions.

“The accidents that occur from the use of these devices range between minor and moderate ones, but at times they are deadly,” Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim told The National in the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE has the eighth highest accident rate in the world, with an accident every three minutes and a fatality every two days. The Abu Dhabi Traffic Department has said that 14 percent of accidents are caused by drivers using smart phones. ... A popular international soccer star, Theyab Amana, died this year when he crashed into the back of a road-marking truck, reportedly while using a BlackBerry. Police say that more than 36,000 fines have been handed out in the emirate this year to drivers using their smartphones.

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