Study finds economic cost of cell phone accidents equals call benefits

WASHINGTON - Researchers say increased cell phone use has led tomore crashes caused by drivers on the phone, but the value peopleplace on being able to call from the road roughly equals theaccidents' cost.

Opponents of banning cell phone usage by drivers have citedstudies that showed the benefit of car calls outweighed the toll fromsuch accidents - medical bills and property damage, for example.

Harvard researchers, drawing on previous research involving cellphones and government figures for auto accidents, says in a studythere is a growing public health risk from the reliance on cellphones in cars.

The number of cell phone subscribers has grown from 94 …