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?

9 Year Old Boy Dies, and Why the Amber Alert System Sucks

On MAR 19, 2008, a 9 year old boy and his 11 year old friend were playing in a vacant lot near their homes in Bakersfield, CA. Sometime during this happy time the 11 year old ran to his parents and authorities reporting that the 9 year old was shot, and subsequently abducted by, a black clad man driving a dark colored Honda Civic with one white door. Authorities in the area instantly issued an Amber Alert and the statewide electronic sign displays along almost all interstates and major freeways lit up. Amber Alerts, with these electronic signs, provide basic information to highway drivers alerting them to keep and eye out for the car and child, and to report any sightings to the local authorities or California Highway Patrol.

In this particular instance, the original report of the 9 year old being kidnapped was very much incorrect. A few hours later it was determined the poor lad had been playing in the vacant lot with the 11 year old in a tunnel they were digging under a derelict concrete slab, leftover from an old construction. As the 9 year old was inside this tunnel it collapsed, trapping the boy under many hundreds of pounds of earth and concrete pieces. A tragedy for sure, especially since the 11 year old initially panicked and told an un-truth about what really happened to the 9 year old - that is the 9 year old being shot and abducted - and not a victim of earthen entrapment. The 9 year old perrished under the tunnel collapse. Perhaps if the 11 year old had told the truth about what happened right up front the 9 year old could have been saved. We will perhaps never know. Our hearts go out to the 9 year old's parents, family and friends for his passing.

But what allows this sad story to be doccumented here isn't what the two boys were doing, or the actions of the 11 year old to not tell anyone what really happened until it was too late. What make this one filed under HIGHWAY A-HOLE status, is that the people who run the Amber Alert system totally fell down in managing the info to the highway motorists. How you ask? Read on.

The 11 year old reported the false shooting and abduction to Bakersfield authorities between 10:15 am and 10:30 am. The Amber Alert for the "abduction" was on the highway message boards by 10:45 am. Local news agencies had the story on the wire services and local TV news by 12:00 noon.

The sad relevation as to what really happened to the 9 year old was confirmed by approximately 3:05 pm as his body was located and excavated in quick time by urban rescue teams from Kern County, the county Bakersfield is in.

The problem however, is that the Amber Alert remained up and on display throughout the Southern half of CA until 7:20pm - that's over four hours AFTER the 9 year old was recovered, which is when the Amber Alerts should have been cancelled and removed from the highway sign displays.

When an Amber Alert is displayed on these very large, very bright highway signs, cars passing always slow down to read them. This causes traffic to slow to a speed one half of normal way before, to just past, the Amber Alert displays. When an Amber Alert is displayed during one of Southern CA's rush hours - like between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm - traffic flow is destroyed to a very slow crawl.

Now I can totally understand displaying Amber Alert messages during rush hour if there is truely an active abduction in process. The authorities should do whatever possible to find abductors and abductees. But when an incident has been resolved for a period of time nearly longer than the total running time of the films "Ben Hur" or "The Ten Commandments" combined it's un-excusable.

I think that for not performing due dilligentce to the law agencies involved in the tragedy, as well as to Southern CA commuting drivers, the people who run the Amber Alert system should be considered, for at least one day this week, Highway A-Holes.

Also, thanks to the falsely extended Amber Alert, my commute from Sunset Blvd N to the 101 freeway W, a distance of less than 6 miles, took 1h 9m to complete. It normally takes about 16 minutes to travel the same distance that same time of day.

The UK Strikes Back at Highway A-Holes.

Well I'll be damned! The UK might finally be taking the issues of Highway A-holes serious after all. 10 MPH on the M32? If you can't handle a stretch of road where everyone else regularly drives upwards of 60 MPH, stay the Hell away from it! And no, it doesn't matter if she had a medical condition. If the condition hinders her ability to drive SHE SHOULDN'T DRIVE! Enough rant, here's the Reuters story;

LONDON (Reuters) - A woman banned from driving for seven days after traveling at speeds of less than 10mph on the motorway told Reuters on Friday: "that road's my nemesis." Stephanie Cole, 58, of Fishponds, Bristol, straddled the hard shoulder and inside lane as she dawdled along a stretch of the M32 near her home last August.

In the back window of the car was a sign which said: "I don't do fast, please overtake".

Cole admitted driving without reasonable consideration at North Avon Magistrates' Court on Friday and was told she would have to take another test at the end of the ban.

"I didn't intend getting onto the motorway, but all of a sudden I found myself on it and I could not get off," she told Reuters after the hearing.

"I just panicked. I hate that particular stretch of road and I avoid it normally. It is my nemesis."

Cole had been traveling from her home to a stationer's when she was arrested in her Perodua Kenari mini people-carrier.

"I thought "thank God" when I saw the blue flashing lights," she said. "I thought they could help and I asked them if they could drive me home."

Cole, who has multiple sclerosis, said she depends on her car for getting around.

"I will try and retake the test," she said. "I will have to do my best when driving, and hope it is better than it was."

JANUARY 3, 2008 @ 11:31AM - NB 405 at Mulholland Drive

Happy New Year, let's hope 2008 is a year with fewer Highway A-holes affecting our lives.

I know, it's been a while. But today's sighting was an obvious one - and one I had not seen in a few months.

Asian lady in another beige Honda Accord. Interstate 405 NB just before Mulholland Drive. She was driving in the fast lane at a blistering 40 MPH. A reasonable speed if the road is packed with traffic. But when everyone else is cooking along at a 65 MPH clip. the Honda is a hazzard, and the Asian woman driver a Highway A-hole.

OCTOBER 1, 2007 @ 12:25PM - SB 405 at Normandy

Flashing red lights on emergency vehicles like CHP cruisers, police cars, enforcement motorcycles, fire trucks and ambulances deserve the lawful respect and right-of-way the law demands. Could someone please explain to me then why is it that I continue to see people driving down the road totally ignoring the flashing red lights on emergency vehicles.

If an emergency vehicle is coming up on your rear and you don't pull over to the shoulder to let them pass, then you are in violation of the law. If you are on an un-divided road and the emergency vehicle is approaching you from the other direction and you don't pull over to the shoulder to let them pass, then you are again in violation of the law. It's really as simple as that.

Let's take a short quiz;

You are driving down the freeway and you see a CHP motorcycle officer gaining on your rear with his red lights flashing. Do you...

A: Slow down and maintain position in the flow of traffic.

B: Slowly pull to the right side of the road, stop, and allow the cruiser to pass.

C: Immediately stop in the lane you are traveling on and wait for the cruiser to pass.

I'll give you an obvious, common sense based hint; it's not A or C.

That's right, according to the State of California Vehicle Code, the answer is B, as in pull to the side, stop and let the emergency vehicle pass. Please never do what today's Highway A-hole did.

A CHP cruiser trying to get through traffic to attend a traffic accident ahead code 3. Traffic was bumper to bumper. People were trying to get to the side of the road so that the cruiser could pass on through... well most people anyway.

A lone black 2000-ish 4 door Mercedes with the license number 6151344 was just sitting still in the previously moving traffic dead in its tracks. The driver was a woman who looked to be somewhere in her early 30's with short black hair. She had come to a complete stop in the middle of lanes and turned on her emergency flashers. The CHP car was right behind her with red lights flashing and siren blowing. All she had to do was follow the merging traffic the right. Problem was she didn't want to move, she just sat there. The patrolman in the cruiser gave her instructions over his PA horn. "DRIVER PULL OVER TO THE RIGHT" blared out of his PA speaker. Nothing doing, she just continued to sit there.

Afger a few second. a break of cars to her right gave her a complete opportunity to get out of the way. Like a deer caught in headlights she just continued to sit there. The CHP cruiser was obviously fed up waiting for her to make the move, so he just passed her on her right side.

Lady, I hope that someday it's your kid up ahead in a traffic accident and some other Highway A-hole refuses to pull over for the rescue vehicle or ambulance trying to same you kid's life. Karma can be a bitch and everything.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2007 @ 2:55PM - SB 405 at Studebaker Road Off-Ramp

Here's a shout out to those hard working people at JjK Roll Offs. These guys provide those huge roll off garbage containers you see at major construction sites.

In order to get these huge steel multi-ton receipticals to and from the sites and the garbage dumps, rather large diesel tractor trucks are required to muscle them from here to there.

Oh sure, they take up extra space on the freeways, drive slower than the rest of traffic, and usually have a vile stench about them. But it's the subtle things that make these trucking giants the 'welcome' traffic additions they are.

JjK Roll Offs, if you would be so kind as to check the California Vehicle Code and it's passage concerning commercial trucks and their loads. TO give you the thunbnail sketch of the code; YOU HAVE TO COVER YOUR TRUCK BINS WITH A TARP TO KEEP THE CRAP IN THE BIN YOU ARE HAULING FROM BLOWING OUT AND INTO TRAFFIC!

Today one of your trucks was cruising SB down the 405 Freeway just before the Studebaker off-ramp. Large cardboard boxes (more than a couple, more like dozens) were flying out of the top of the bin being transported, and into traffic and the path of the drivers following your truck. This un-expected rain parade of cardboard was causing all the cars behind it to take drastic action to avoid hitting the boxes. One driver in a Nissan Pathfinder looked to have gotten the attention of your truck driver to alert him as to his problem, but there seemed to be a communication error; your driver just smiled and continued on.

So, JjK Roll Offs doing business in Torrance CA, I hope that one day a CHP officer actually witnesses one of your trucks dumping trash into traffic, causing a major accident which after a legal trial, you business is found liable and is closed down forever.

It doesn't pay to be a Highway A-hole Jjk Roll Offs.