Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Newfoundland first province to ban hand-held cellphones for motorists

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Jan 2003 17:38:06 -0500

Newfoundland first province to ban hand-held cellphones for motorists

ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. (CP) - A provincial cabinet minister believes it will only be a matter
of time before other provinces follow
Newfoundland's lead in banning hand-held cellphones while driving. Legislation enforcing
the ban was passed in the house
Thursday night.

"I know that all the other provinces realize that the use of cellphones by drivers is a
problem," said Walter Noel, the province's
government services minister. "They have various reasons not to act on it to date (but) I
think we'll see more provinces act
before very long," he said in an interview Friday.

The law won't come into effect until late March or early April to give people enough time
to find alternatives to using hand-held
phones while they drive.

"We also want to have an extensive information program to make sure the public understands
what we're doing and what the
choices are, and we have some administrative things to do internally to make sure our
systems are set up to do this," Noel said.

Anyone caught breaking the law will receive four demerit points on their driver's licence
and fines ranging from $45 to $180.

The province has said the ban is aimed at improving safety on the roads.

While Newfoundland is the first province to pass such legislation, the idea has already
taken hold elsewhere. More than 30
countries have already enacted laws that ban talking on the phone while driving. Several
provinces, including Ontario and Nova
Scotia, have been contemplating similar measures.

Some believe the new law will be a problem for police to enforce, but Noel said it was the
police themselves who encouraged
the province to bring in the new law.

He said it was difficult for police under the old legislation to determine if a driver
spotted with a cellphone was driving with
undue care - the only thing they could have been charged with.

"They said we'd make their job easier if we specified that cellphone use wasn't
permitted," Noel said.

The minister said evidence indicates that hands-free phones in cars are also a distraction
to drivers, but he believes it would be
too difficult to enforce a wider ban right now.

"How do you tell if someone is on a hands-free if you happen to see them moving their lips
in the car?" he said. "They may be
singing or talking to themselves or something."

Noel called the ban "a first step," saying he wouldn't be surprised to see "a number of
jurisdictions eliminate hands-free" before
long.

http://www.cp.org/english/online/full/technology/021220/z122006A.html

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