Sunday, Apr. 13, 2008

Take your hands off that cell phone

Driving to work one morning a few years back, I noticed a small sedan veering back and forth across the lane.

The driver's head tilted to the right, a cell phone propped between her neck and scrunched shoulder.

It looked painful.

But that was not all. Between sips from her coffee cup, she applied her makeup.

She must have been using her knees to steer, because her hands were occupied.

Another time, while heading up Coffee Road, I saw a Ford Ranger pickup bearing a sticker that read: "Hang Up and Drive!"

When I pulled alongside the driver at a stoplight, I looked over to see him talking on his cell phone.

Clearly, it was one of those "do as I say, not as I do" things.

Come July 1, this kind of driver in California -- and there are many -- can be ticketed $20 for the first offense and $50 for each additional time they're caught holding phones to their ears while behind the wheel.

California drivers are getting off cheap. The fines are low and the violations won't count as points against their driving records.

By comparison, New Jersey drivers face a $100 fine for talking or

text-messaging on hand-held devices while driving.

The purpose of California's new law is to compel people to pay more attention to the road and other drivers. That's pretty tough to do when you're more concerned with hanging onto the phone than with what's going on around you.

It's tough to do when you're manually dialing while driving.

"To enter your standard seven-digit phone number diverts you about 10 to 15 seconds," Modesto police Sgt. Gary Crawford said. "You're looking down to each button, then up."

Text messaging can be even more time-consuming, because it requires more concentration on the keypad and less on the road.

Accidents are telling

The California Highway Patrol and local police only recently began keeping statistics to determine whether cell phone use contributes to crashes or violations.

The numbers aren't telling yet, CHP officer Tom Killian said. Most of the information is anecdotal and anything but amusing.

The deaths of two Oakdale residents in separate accidents last year both involved cell- phone use, according to the CHP.

And earlier this year, a teen driving on Highway 33 near Patterson escaped with minor injuries when she lost control of her car after dropping her cell phone and trying to pick it up off the car floor, Killian said.

Is the new law really necessary?

Certainly.

The motor vehicle code already enables officers to cite a motorist for inattentive driving, which gives them a broader brush than just cell- phone use. The new law specifically targets a growing problem. It's intended more to prevent problems than as punishment.

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the cell-phone bill into law in September 2006. That gave people 22 months to buy the hands-free equipment and learn how to use it before authorities begin enforcing it July 1.

Still, some drivers claim ignorance.

According to a survey by Plantronics, a company whose products include hands-free equipment, 44 percent don't know when the law takes effect and 72 percent don't understand what it says.

It says this, in essence: You can't drive a vehicle while holding a phone to your head -- or scrunched between your cheek and shoulder -- anymore. You can drive while using a hands-free headset or earpiece, but you're not supposed to be dialing by hand while driving. Most new phones have voice-activated dialing technology that enables you to call without punching numbers on the keypad.