The boom in the number of drivers using cell phones on the road makes deadly crashes more likely, but the cost of banning the convenience isn't worth it, asserts a Harvard study being released today.
``While there is still a lot of uncertainty, the central values indicate that, in economic terms, a ban on the use of cell phones by drivers would be a wash when comparing the benefit of reducing crashes against the cost of eliminating those calls,'' said the study's lead author Joshua Cohen, senior researcher for the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Released yesterday, the study, titled ``A Revised Economic Analysis of Restrictions on the Use of Cell Phones While Driving,'' will be published in February's issue of the national journal, ``Risk Analysis.''
From a study of national data, Cohen extrapolated that an average of 2,600 deaths - with a range between 800 and 8,000 - could result annually...