Rebel Without a Cause

Posted by Howard Simpson at 8/2/2008 7:14 AM
Categories: uncategorized
I stare danger in the face and laugh...
I break the law on a daily basis...
I am a rebel...

No, I'm not Dos Equis' "The Most Interesting Man in the World"...I'm a cell phone user and licensed California driver.  California has survived its first month of hands free required driving with little incident.  I've only heard of one person I know personally so far who has received a Hands Free ticket.  (Although, I did hear on the news about someone who was pulled over for using his cell phone while driving and turned out to be driving a stolen car...that's kinda funny)

I though, have not made the switch fully.  In fact, I like driving with my phone to my ear now.  It gives me a rush of adrenaline that I have only matched by bungy jumping 440 ft...ok, maybe it's not quite that exciting.  Don't get me wrong.  I use my earpiece most of the time, but I used it before the law came into affect too.  It just makes sense, especially if I am planning on having a long conversation (and you all know how good I am on the phone).  I, personally, don't think my driving is that hampered by my phone use.  Maybe it's because I am used to driving that way, where as (ehem) some of the older population has been driving with phones for only a small fraction of their driving lives.  Often when I swerve around cars after getting annoyed at a driver for going slowly or not paying attention to where they are
going, it is someone from that demographic I see driving the car now in my rear view mirror...either that or a teenage girl more interested in chatting than anything else.  The law does account for half the problem though, as drivers under the age of 18 aren't allowed to drive and use the phone at all!  There is not an equivalent though for older drivers, say over the age of 65 or something.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the law is that only holding the phone up to your ear is explicitly illegal.  The rules surrounding texting, surfing the web, and emailing aren't as clear.  Individuals are allowed to do those things, but police officers who notice this behavior and deem it to be unsafe can, on a case by case basis, issue a hands free ticket.  This kind of baffles me, because it seems so obvious that this behavior is ten times more dangerous than holding a phone to your ear.  It also seems ridiculous that it is up to the officer's own discretion.  I mean, if I'm an officer, what's to stop me from pulling everyone over who's texting and just claiming that the person was driving dangerously?  Or course, none of this has deterred me from my constant texting.  While I am proud to say that I can text at a 90% accuracy level without looking away from the road, even I have to admit that driving with my knee while my hands are typing on my phone can't be the safest thing in the world.  Like I said though, I am a rebel!

Let me end now with something that I think proves two main points, that the older population has problems driving and using the phone at the same time and that California's new hands free laws still doesn't drivers are going to be paying more attention to the road.  The transcript below comes about 2 minutes into a voicemail from my mom (sorry mom) that I received earlier this week:

...because I was getting my hair done...oy oy oy...I went the wrong way...(silence) oy (silence)...bye...(15 seconds of inaudible noise in the background, honk, honk, and click)

FAQs about Hands Free from the DMV's website
 

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