California drivers squawked, they talked, and one or two — could it have been you? — even balked at having cellphones ripped from their hands when the state law forbidding the use of handheld phones on the road went into effect in 2008. But according to a study announced Monday by the state Office of Traffic Safety, since that time, the number of traffic deaths in California declined by 22 percent. With fewer drivers yakking into handheld phones, the death-by-cellphone rate dropped an even more stunning 47 percent.

“Those are huge numbers,” said Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, author of the bill whose outcome the study tracked, while taking a (hands-free) victory lap after the announcement.

During a two-year period after the law was implemented, there were 53 deaths caused by drivers holding cellphones, compared with 100 in the two years before the law took effect. This came as total accidents and fatalities were down overall for reasons as varied as more cars having air bags. “The drop in collisions was the biggest, single, year-to-year drop in the history of the state since the CHP began keeping the data,” Simitian said.

The report examined state crash records two years before and two years after the handheld ban went into effect.

‘Enforcement works’

Simitian submitted a version of the bill for five consecutive years and was rebuffed each time, before the Legislature finally relented in 2006. Though the base fine for being caught driving with a phone in your hand is still only $20 — Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed Simitian’s attempt to have it increased last year — the law here is viewed as more effective than other states’ because it is strictly enforced.

“California is one of the few states that has been very aggressively enforcing its cellphone law,” said Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association in Washington, D.C. “That’s a big drop. We were surprised by the numbers. It shows that enforcement works, that other states should look at what California has done and follow its lead.”

The study used a statewide census of police-reported traffic crashes, crunching the numbers and the fenders to produce the first analysis of its kind in the nation. Its findings were restricted to accidents caused specifically by drivers using handheld cellphones — calculating that between 70 and 80 lives were saved because of the ban, and about 5,000 injuries were prevented in the first two years of the law.

Gray area

Because of all the activities going on behind the wheel of a modern American automobile, the study’s authors couldn’t say for sure that even the 53 deaths ascribed to cellphone use didn’t also involve a lap dog or daydreaming. Critics of the law also have pointed to distractions other than talking on the phone — eating a sandwich, applying makeup, changing the radio station — as the cause of accidents.

The state agency that produced the study is already at work on expanding the distracted-driver data. “The subject of distracted driving and cellphone use is so new that there hasn’t been a lot of statistical studying done,” said Chris Cochran, spokesman for the Office of Traffic Safety. “We’re in favor of not talking at all — handheld, hands-free, nothing. Because it’s actually the talking that’s more of a problem than the holding. Even though the law only covers half of the problem, it’s affecting both holding and hands-free. It’s doing good overall. But the whole realm is in need of a lot more research.”

Simitian sounded satisfied.

“What’s particularly heartening is the clear indication that the public gets it,” he said. “The driving public understands that this is risky behavior, and most people are complying. I think we’ve had very good results the first couple of years, but we’re talking about changing a culture. Just as it took a great many years for people to buckle up routinely and a great many years to change attitudes about drinking and driving, this is a behavior change that will take a little time.”

Contact Bruce Newman at 408-920-5004. Follow him at Twitter.com/brucenewmantwit.