This summer, California and Washington have joined states like Connecticut, New Jersey and New York in limiting cell phone use while driving. Talk all you want if you’re over 18; just don’t touch that phone!
You could set up your mobile telephone booth with a handsfree system like the ones we reviewed in February, or according to a press release I received recently, just wait to get a ticket first and then get a headset for free.
Personally, I don’t recommend the latter option, and not because I hate getting tickets (the base fine in Calif. Starts at $20 for the first offense and goes up from there). According to studies by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, 2,600 folks are killed and up to 330,000, injured due to cell-phone-related driver distraction.
Some more facts gleaned from this press release:
- A 20-year-old driver with a cell phone in hand has the reaction times of a 70-year-old driver.
- Drivers talking on mobile phones react 18% slower to brake lights.
- Those drivers also took 17% longer to regain speed after braking.
These stats don’t include driver distraction from fiddling with the radio, inputting a destination in a navi, or checking your email on the in-car computer (I know someone who actually does this, so don’t roll your eyes). Of course, just talking to your passengers can cause immense distraction. Connecticut’s law will dole out a fine for any type of distraction.
Here’s that URL in case for some reason you want to get a ticket first before going handsfree:
www.Headsets.com/driversFor info on California’s law, visit the
DMV