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"Under
the law, which will take effect in July 2008, Californians risk a
minimum $20 fine for driving while yakking into a phone — unless
they are using a headset, speaker phone, ear bud or some other
technology that frees both hands while they talk."
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California will
become the fourth state in the country to ban
motorists from holding cellphones while
driving under legislation Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger signed into law.
The signing will end a five-year campaign by
Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) to outlaw one
of the most common distractions of California
drivers.
Under the law, which will take effect in July
2008, Californians risk a minimum $20 fine for
driving while yakking into a phone — unless
they are using a headset, speaker phone, ear
bud or some other technology that frees both
hands while they talk. Drivers in emergency
situations would be exempt.
"Public safety is the governor's No. 1
priority," said Schwarzenegger
spokeswoman Margita Thompson, "and this
bill will make the streets and highways of
California safer by ensuring that drivers have
both hands available for driving."
The bill passed both legislative bodies in
late August — the Assembly 50-28, and the
Senate 21-16. In both houses, the measure
passed with largely Democratic support and the
votes of a few Republicans.
Although 38 state legislatures considered
bills to minimize driving distractions such as
cellphones this year, only New York, New
Jersey, Connecticut and the District of
Columbia have banned drivers from using
hand-held cellphones.
It took Simitian five attempts to get enough
support in the Legislature to pass the bill,
but Schwarzenegger warmed to the idea quickly.
In a July online interview in which a reporter
asked questions solicited from the public, the
governor said he had warned his 16-year-old
daughter that she would lose her driving
privileges if he caught her driving with her
cellphone in her hands.
"I sometimes follow her to make sure that
she doesn't make that mistake. If she makes
that mistake, then I will take the car away
from her, and she will drive with the bus,
because it's inexcusable."
Though the only official opponent of the bill
was the Sprint-Nextel cellular phone company,
several lawmakers argued that the act of
conversing — not of holding a phone — is
the real distraction to drivers.
They also argued that children, the radio,
pets, hamburgers and sodas are all as likely
to divert drivers' attention as cellphones.
Some Republican lawmakers criticized the bill,
SB1613, as "nanny government."
"What's next — helmets while you're
riding a horse? Airbags in the bathtub?"
said Assemblyman Doug La Malfa (R-Richvale)
during the Assembly floor debate last month.
But Simitian argued that the traffic safety
risk of cellphone use while driving is
"measurable and significant." In a
letter sent Monday to the governor, the
senator pointed to academic research in the
Accident Analysis and Prevention journal that
concluded that the risk of death is nine times
greater for drivers who use a cellphone while
driving.
California Highway Patrol data from 2004 show
police reports for 775 accidents in which a
driver at fault was using a hand-held
cellphone.
There were only 28 reports of accidents in
which drivers using hands-free phones were to
blame. Preliminary data from last year show a
similar pattern.
"When you're on your cellphone,"
wrote Simitian, "you are distracted at
three different levels: aurally, visually and
mentally. But what the hands-free requirement
can and does accomplish is that … you will
have both hands free to control the vehicle
during those split seconds that make the
difference between life and death."
Simitian said he delayed implementation of the
bill until July 2008 to help win the support
of reluctant lawmakers, give the Department of
Motor Vehicles time to update its drivers'
handbook and give fair warning to motorists.
The CHP is expected to spend roughly $500,000
a year, starting next year, to educate
motorists about the new law.
The idea for the bill came to Simitian before
he was elected to the Assembly in 2000, when
someone asked him at a candidates forum about
a cellphone ban on drivers.
"Almost everybody I meet has a horror
story they want to tell me," he said.
In addition to motorists in emergencies, the
legislation does not apply to people using
two-way radios in farm vehicles and tow
trucks, although that exemption disappears in
2011.
And although the base fine for a violation is
$20, cited driverswill pay more because of
administrative charges tacked on by cities and
counties. The base fine rises to $50 for
subsequent offenses.
Simitian said he expected the pending ban in a
state with 23 million licensed drivers to lead
to better and cheaper hands-free cellphone
technology.
Most cellphone makers now include such
equipment with their phones.
California may also spur similar bans across
the country, said Matt Sundeen, a
transportation expert with the National
Conference of State Legislatures.
Dozens of states recently have pondered bills
aimed at minimizing driver distraction, such
as banning unsecured pets in cars and
prohibiting younger drivers from using
cellphones.
"Clearly, Californians are attached to
their cars and attached to their phones,"
said Sundeen, "and if a state that big
passes a law it can have some inspiration on
other states."
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