It is heartening that Johal et al. observed a reduction in mobile phone use whilst driving, in the 10 weeks following the introduction of legislation. However, more significant is the long-term effects of the legislation, as there is evidence that it may not persist over time. A study in New York State found that, although mobile phone use whilst driving fell following legislation, within a year usage had risen back close to pre-law levels. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that this is also happening in the UK. To explain and tackle this apparent short-term effect it is useful to distinguish between the introduction of the legislation itself (with the accompanying enforcement and penalty) and the publicity/education surrounding that legislation. (Author/publisher) See also C 30638 fo. Reply: "We agree absolutely with all that Dr Pilkington has written. One of TM's ambitions this year was for another group of students to repeat the study - same places, same times - to see if there had been a drift back up. But no students were interested. Perhaps next year. Yours faithfully Sandeep Johal Jennifer Britt-Compton Fiona Napier Tim Marshall" November 4th, 2005: NB another group of students has picked up the baton this year, and are half-way through repeating the study. They have added sex of the driver as a new variable - I have my suspicions as to which way that will go, but there may in fact be too few female drivers at the relevant times of day to discover anything - and have also had a fourth student observing on a completely different patch, a fast dual carriageway on the way to a motorway. Perhaps JPH will let us publish these results in due course. Tim Marshall"
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