In article , Eric Stevens
wrote:

Same here with the fallacy that cellphone use raises the accident rate.
The facts show no effect whatsoever on the accident rate. None.

It may be true that no one has been able to extract from the overall
noisy data evidence of cell phones influencing the accident rate. But
it also possible determine whether or not a person was using a cell
phone at the time of an accident.

not reliably, it isn't.

The telco records will have that information.

the telco records don't show what the driver did or did not do or what
road hazards may have existed at the time.

I never claimed they did.

actually, you did:
The telco records will have that information.

all the telco has is logs. they don't know what the driver was doing,
if the driver was actively using the phone, or if the fault was due to
another driver or pedestrian.

absent dashcam video of both the road *and* the driver, there is no way
to know exactly what happened and when.

matching up cellphone call logs with the *assumed* time of the crash
(which is what they do now) means nothing.

You are welcome to argue that in court. You might even get away with
it.

there's nothing to get away with. call logs are meaningless.

Tell that to the judge.

no need. he'll know it has no merit.

since the exact time of a crash is almost always unknown, there is *no*
way to prove whether any cell phone activity occurred moments before (a
possible factor in a crash), well before (not a factor), or *after* the
crash (to call for help).

Exact time may not be known but a reasonably close approximate time
is. Close proximity in time plus circumstances plus witness statements
(if any) may lead to reasonable assumptions.

assumptions are not proof.

if it was, a ****load of people would be in jail.

even if you could match it up, it could have been the passenger using
the phone, or the phone could have been in use *without* any human
input due to an app running in the background while the phone is in a
pocket or bag.

I agree, it could be a passenger or even an app, but the number called
can often help sort that out.

apps don't call numbers.