California could fine you $528. Last week the California legislature sent a bill to Governor Jerry Brown for signature that will significantly increase the number of citations given for driving while texting or talking on a cell phone without a hands-free device. According to theNewspaper.com, “The measure increases the current first offense fine for holding a cell phone behind the wheel from $208 to $328 and a second offense from $328 to $528 with one license point. Talking on a handheld cell phone while driving has been illegal since January 2009, but it has been a secondary offense. If Brown signs the bill into law, it would become a primary offense, meaning police could pull someone over for using a cell phone without needing to identify any other traffic violation.” And the law isn’t limited to motor vehicles-bicyclists would also be fined $20 for riding while talking into a phone for the first time and $50 for the second offense.
Has the ban in California been successful so far? According to State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), author of the bill, the ban has been successful and should be expanded. The Legislative Analysts’ Office believes the evidence is far from conclusive. According to their findings, “In the two years before the initial cell phone ban took effect and in the two years after, the number of fatal and injury collisions involving a cell phone using driver stayed effectively the same at between .09 percent and .11 percent before and .10 after.”
The Department of Transportation in the state of New York feels enforcement campaigns need to combine awareness with fines and penalties in order to be effective. This has been demonstrated by the failure of the Buckle up for Safety campaign vs. the Click it or Ticket campaign that has been much more effective.
Do you text while driving? Do you hold a cell phone to your ear while driving? According to an exit survey done by batteries4less.com with 892 responses, 45% percent of the people said they don’t use a cell phone at all while driving, 22% use Bluetooth devices, 11% said they always hold the phone to their ear while driving and 10% said they occasionally held it to their ear. What amazed me even more than those statistics was that 31% of people polled didn’t know whether their state even had a hands-free cell phone driving law. That being said, if you do have a law in your area that bans you from talking on a cell phone unless you use a hands-free device, you need a Bluetooth device. I have found that the NoiseHush brand Bluetooth mobile headset is affordable, clear sounding and has great battery life. Whatever your area’s laws require, it is a smart move to buy a Bluetooth device and also refrain from texting while driving. It just makes sense.
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