California tells drivers: 'Drop the cell phone, dude'

Advertising

Connecticut, New Jersey and New York are the few states that have passed laws that prohibit drivers from using hand-held cell phones. Also, dozen of countries around the world have passed similar laws. Now, California will be joining them from next week.

The Hollywood stars, Silicon Valley millionaires, soccer moms and students from a number of prestigious colleges in California will hate this law. Some of them have their own office in cars as they are stuck on the heavily trafficked highways, so without a cell phone, it will make it extremely difficult for them to function.

But on the other hand, many accidents have been reported after drivers get distracted with phone calls or as a result of sending text messages.

Disgruntled drivers can still use a cell phone in the form of a hands-free phone (using devices like a Bluetooth headset such as Jawbone), but for drivers under age 18, the use of cell phones is entirely banned.

Some individuals are already complaining about the law and want the officials to focus on building more freeways or public transportation instead.

And while many people believe hands-free cell phone use seems like it's safer, some studies show that might not be the case.

A KFI-AM radio talk show host told Reuters:

"I can't believe that (Californians) will put up with all these nanny, nit-picking laws...It's stupid because we've gone over about seven different studies and each one of them says it's the conversation that distracts you, not holding the phone."

I don't think you need studies to confirm this; common sense will do and multi-tasking while driving doesn't help anyone.

State Sen. Joe Simitian, who authored the bill, doesn't agree with the studies and said keeping your hands on the wheel is much safer. He hopes the law will save hundreds of lives.

Simitian told Reuters:

"There are more and more people out there on the highway and the CHP (California Highway Patrol) has collected data every year showing that cell phones are the number one cause of distracted drivers."

Beginning next week, those who get caught using cell phones will be fined $20 plus fees for the first offense and $50 plus fees for repeat offenders.

Simitian started preparing this law in 2001 and didn't add text messaging to it at that time, so now he is planning to ban them totally when driving.

There are mixed reactions to this new law, but in the long run it will be benefit everyone I think. If you still want to make a phone call just pull to the shoulder of the highway and make a call otherwise it can wait when compared to the loss of life or lives because of distracted driving.