Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cell Phones in Cars Lose Calif. Vote

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 18:15:55 -0400

Cell Phones in Cars Lose Calif. Vote

Assemblyman Wants to Ban Hand-Held Devices on the Road

By Rene Sanchez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 31, 2003; Page A07

LOS ANGELES

May 30

Californians have learned to live with sudden jolts from earthquakes.
 They gave up smoking indoors without much grief. And on the rare days here
when it's not sunny, no one panics.

But the next lifestyle challenge looming in the Golden State could prove to
be more daunting. Its great multitude of motorists, who consider their cars
a second home, soon may be forced to give up holding cell phones while at
the wheel.

The California Assembly has just approved a bill that would require all
drivers in the state to use hands-free devices such as earplugs and headsets
whenever they use cell phones, or get fined.

The measure still must be passed by the state Senate and signed into law by
Gov. Gray Davis (D), but legislators say both steps appear likely. Only one
other state, New York, restricts cell phone use on the road. But the habit,
which law enforcement officials say is ever more common and often dangerous,
has become the focus of growing national debate. Several dozen other states
are considering similar bans.

"This bill will save lives -- it's that simple," said Joseph Simitian, the
Democratic assemblyman who sponsored the legislation. "The burden is
negligible and the benefits are significant."

Prying phones from the hands of most California drivers -- there are 30
million vehicles registered in the state -- could take a while. Its crowded
freeways are swarmed with chatting motorists steering with one hand. But
last year a study by the state's highway patrol concluded that cell phones
are the leading cause of driver inattention to the road.

The study, which examined every vehicle collision in California during the
first half of last year, found that 5,677 accidents were the result of
distracted driving. More than 600 of those crashes involved motorists
talking on cell phones, the study said, and led to six deaths and 264
injuries. For that reason, California Highway Patrol Commissioner Spike
Helmick is expressing support for the bill.

"You've got a bunch of people out there not paying attention to the highway,
and they need to be," said Anne DaVigo, a Highway Patrol spokeswoman.

The measure, which passed mostly with the support of Democratic lawmakers,
still faces opposition. Several cell phone companies are lobbying against
its passage. Many Republicans in the California legislature also are
denouncing the step as excessive government regulation or questioning why
only cell phones and not other bad habits of motorists -- such as eating
fast food, drinking coffee or applying makeup -- are not also being subject
to specific punishments.

Others are complaining that the Highway Patrol's recent assessment of
accidents attributed to cell phones did not specify whether the motorists
involved had been holding phones or using hands-free devices. National
studies on the subject are mixed. Some have concluded that accidents are far
more likely to occur among motorists holding cell phones, but others say
tuning a radio while driving is just as dangerous.

In dueling floor demonstrations before Thursday's vote on the bill, some
lawmakers tried to show either how difficult or easy it is to hold a cell
phone against their ear and look around.

If the bill wins final approval, beginning in 2005 California motorists
caught holding a cell phone while driving would be fined $20 for a first
offense and $50 for subsequent violations, which is inexpensive compared
with penalties for the same crime in New York. Fines there start at $100 and
can reach $500. Police, firefighters and emergency medical workers in
California would be exempt from the cell phone restrictions.

Simitian and other California lawmakers had been campaigning for past two
years for the measure without success. But they have won growing public
support in recent months.

Talking on a cell phone while steering a car, Simitian said, is much riskier
than "taking a quick bite of a hamburger." He also scoffed at opponents of
the measure, saying their arguments are no different from those raised a
generation ago against seat belts. "There is a growing mountain of
evidence," Simitian said, "that the way cell phones are being used in cars
is a problem."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60429-2003May30.html

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