WASHINGTON, June 24 — In an effort to track accidents caused by cellphone use, states are being asked to report crashes caused by distracted drivers.
Federal highway safety agencies and the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway officials, developed the new guidelines, which were issued today.
They ask the police to say whether a driver was distracted and if that distraction was caused by a cellphone, a radio, another passenger, another vehicle or something else.
States are asked to collect a total of 111 pieces of information from each crash under voluntary guidelines.
Almost all states use some form of the voluntary crash reporting guidelines, which were first issued five years ago to help standardize crash reports so it is easier to compare data from state to state.
The data can then be used to determine accident trends and to develop laws to reduce traffic deaths.
So far, New York is the only state to ban drivers from using cellphones, and safety officials are debating whether there is enough data for other states to follow. Only 16 states now collect data on cellphone use after a crash, said the executive director of the goversafety group, Barbara Harsha.
"We really don't have any idea as to the scope of the driver distraction problem," Ms. Harsha said.
The other major change in the guidelines is the type of crash that is considered reportable.
Under the 1998 guidelines, states were encouraged to report any accident that involved an injury or a towed vehicle. Highway safety officials found that requiring states to report accidents that cause a $1,000 minimum property damage standard would generate a wider variety of reports.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company