It's July 1st, New CA Cell Phone & Driving Law Begins

In a couple minutes, one full day of the newly enforced California hands free cell phone useage law will have passed.

Lucky for me, today I spent more time than usual on SoCal's freeway system. Lots of customers to visit, even more errands than usual tasken to task. This means I was able to witness first hand if the new law was having any effect on people's driving and cell phone usage habits.

Initial observations of the new "hands free cell phone" law; I don't see much of a change. People of all types are still holding the cell phone up to their ears and in front of their faces dialing or texting.

But what I did see gave me some hope in the long term.

There were many CA Highway Patrol officers pulling over a lot more drivers than usual. I don't mean one here and another there. I mean in one stretch of Interstate 5 south of downtown LA, I saw 9 CHP cruisers that had pulled over cars. Each officer in this mile of so stretch was either in deep discussion with the driver, or else he/she was in the process of issuing a citation. I saw similar activity on the 101, 210 and 405 freeways as well.

I had my suspicions confirmed a little bit ago when I saw a news story on TV outlining the CHP's activities enforcing the new law today. The on camera talking head spokesman said that citations issues were estimated to be up 300% for a single day average, which the CHP attributes to drivers not obeying the new law.

No duhhhh!

Ready or Not California, Hands-free Cell Phone Usage Will Be the Law

It's not a suprise to anyone. Drivers all over the State of California have been told for over a year now the days with a cellphone plastered to their ears while driving are numbered.

Coming this JUL 01, 2008 all users of cell phones must use a hands-free device while driving anywhere in the state, as in on any public road, highway, freeway or interstate. Wired, speaker/mic, Bluetooth... it doesn't matter so long as you can keep both hands on the wheel without being encumbered by holding the phone itself up to your head. I like engadget's take on the issue.

Now if anyone thinks that this will put a definative deterrent on people driving like Highway A-Holes, they are terribly wrong. I see more A-Holes showing up on the highways and byways of this state. I blame the "new cool" factor for the potential upsweep.

But there's another issue.

The experts (whoever they are) say that it's not the action of holding the phone up ot the ear that's been the contributing factor to being unsafe while driving, but rather the actual mental activity of focusing on a caller's voice and responding that really causes the problems associated with driving and cellphone suage. It appears that a driver cannot fully fuction safely while driving and talking on the phone in any way - hand's free or not.

So let's review;

- Driving with a cellphone up to your head while driving is not safe.
- Drivers utilizing a handsfree device to use a cellphone when driving is also not safe.
- The State of California says drivers have to use a handsfree device when using a cellphone.

It's all coming clear now, isn't it?

SEPTEMBER 1, 2007 @ 1:23 pm – SB 405 Fwy at Sunset Blvd

Driving in Los Angeles has been called a lot of different things, but boring isn't one of them.

Here's Super Mom driving her newer silver-grey Mercedes E350 in the number 1 fast lane on the 405 freeway SB approaching Sunset Blvd off-ramp. Traffic was flowing amazing quick for this time of day. I was driving a few cars behind her in the number 3 lane at a brisk 60 mph.

All of a sudden, traffic ahead of me started to hit their brakes hard. Red lights lit up faster than dusk on a Saturday night in Amsterdam. Some tires screeched and rubber was laid to pavement as dozens of cars tried to stop. Fortunately, it didn't appear that any bumper tagging occured.

As I crept forward, I was passed the offending instigator - the silver-grey Mercedes Super Mom was driving was at a full halt haly way between lanes 1 and 2. The car was slightly sideways and their were skid marks trailing the Mercedes to where it stopped.

In one hand Super Mom held a cell phone as she yelled into it and at her very young child in the back seat jumping in and out of car seat. In her other hand she was holding a large paper Starbucks coffee cup in a paper sleeve.

It appeared that the loose kid in the back seat may have distracted her a tad bit more than the converstaion she was having on the phone. She must have hit the brakes (whick I thought would have been anti-locks, but I guess not) and slid into her current position dead in traffic across two lanes.

See, even Super Moms can be Highway A-holes.