Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Look Officer, No hands!

Today is the first day of the new "Hands Free Phone" law in California. How do I know this? Because a friendly officer reminded me as I was pulling into Starbucks this morning while leaving a VOICE MAIL, not even actually talking to anyone. 

As I got out of my car he was heading into his patrol car and then stopped and smiled at me and I smiled back still gabbing away and then I realized OH Shit. As I snapped my phone shut I said, "Hello." He asked, "Do you know what day it is today? " I said, "Tuesday?" He said "Get an earpiece. First day of the Hands Free law." I apologized and told him that I do have an earpiece in my car and will connect it asap.

Thing is, you still have to dial the phone number so I'm not really sure how this is going to make a huge impact on safety. Not to mention text messaging - does that fall under this umbrella?? What about Satellite radio? I spend more time with my eyes off the road staring at that device trying to program and find the songs I want to hear. That is WAY worse then driving with one hand while talking with a phone to your ear, unless you do these two things simultaneously, in which case I also do so maybe this is a good thing after all. 

9 comments:

TTQ said...

no ticket no foul. My new phone doesn't have speaker phone (WTF?!)but it did come with an earpiece and it holds as many mp3s as my ipod nano..

Maybe I just can't find speaker phone..user error?

Laurie Brandriet Keller said...

Hi Laura, I do all that and apply lip gloss too! Great post.

I saw your comment on Just Believe about the Bachelorette. If you go my my blog and click on "I Hate Green Beans" in my Dailies, this Houston chick blogs about both the Bachelor and Bachelorette. I think you will love it. She's really funny and so are the comments.

Glad you are up and feeling better!

Suzanne said...

I suppose in the long run, it is more time with out holding the phone? And BTW, Texting is NEVER a good idea while driving...I know you knew that. I have to remind my husband all the time. I think I am going to up his life insurance, cause that is just crazy.

ChiTown Girl said...

Well, girlie, that's been the law here for quite a while now, and it kinda sucks. And, the funniest thing is, I almost NEVER pass a squad car that doesn't have a cop in it ON HIS PHONE!!! I haven't gotten pulled over yet, believe it or not. I think it's more of one of the BS ways to make more money giving tickets, quite frankly. You'll get pulled over for speeding, Oh, AND you were on your cellphone? OK, two tickets for you, sucka! It's like the seatbelt law, I suppose. Both are designed to save lives, but it isn't something cops are actively looking for. At least not in Chicago. They've got MUCH bigger fish to fry!! When the law first passed, they were pulling people over, but it's been a while now. I don't anyone who's actually gotten a ticket for it.

HWHL said...

As far as I know, Georgia has NO laws with regards to cell phone usage while driving yet. Personally, I think they should make cell phone usage illegal while driving for anyone under the age of 21.... they're still learning to drive and don't have the "multi-tasking" skills that we're all clearly blessed with.

Mary Beth said...

That law's been in effect for a while now in NJ and still you can't drive more than 10 feet without seeing someone on their phone. Not sure if the cops here are even taking it seriously.

Lindsey said...

Don't forget about obsessively checking the blackberry every single time an email comes in and responding rightnow!!! The ex did that all the time while driving and it made me want to murder him. If I wasn't so sure he wasn't, I'd have wondered if he was seeing someone else.

LBluca77 said...

Even with your hands being free, people still get distracted by the conversations they are having while driving.

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