Photo: CDC/Amanda Mills via FreeStockPhotos.biz
The state of California is cracking down on people using their mobile phones while behind the wheel in an attempt to reduce the rising number of accidents that occur due to distracted drivers.
Seeing people holding their phones up above the steering wheel so they can still have peripheral vision over the road as their car inches forward in traffic has become the norm. During rush hour, almost everybody does it. And while that might not be such a dangerous habit in itself, it builds the false sensation that you can always get away with it.
That's how you end up seeing drivers checking their smartphones as highway speeds. The Californian authorities seem to have decided that the only way to prevent the latter is to ban the use of a cell phone by the person sitting in the driver's seat altogether.
The legislation signed by Governor Jerry Brown makes it illegal to operate one such mobile device using your hands. That means you either have to use a Bluetooth headset or have a Bluetooth-ready infotainment system in your car to be able to receive or initiate a phone call.
Any other use of the phone - such as playing music or using a sat nav app - is prohibited and will warrant a traffic ticket if caught. Luckily, most modern cars offer the option of pairing your phone with the car's infotainment system and having the content on the phone's display mirrored on that of the vehicle. Those owning older models, however, are going to feel the full brunt of this decision.
“Sometimes when we’re at scenes of accidents, I have people that pass by during, trying to film the incident and that is definitely unsafe to drive like that through an incident,” CHP officer Jesus Chavez told KSBW. The law is seen as an update for the one passed ten years ago, which takes into consideration the progress made by the cell phone industry.
It seems that using a phone holder or any other method of having the phone mounted in a fixed position exempts the driver from the reach of this law as long as they don't take photos or stream videos. It sounds a bit arbitrary, but the law is still in its infancy (it takes effect on January 1, 2017), so it might suffer some modifications.
That's how you end up seeing drivers checking their smartphones as highway speeds. The Californian authorities seem to have decided that the only way to prevent the latter is to ban the use of a cell phone by the person sitting in the driver's seat altogether.
The legislation signed by Governor Jerry Brown makes it illegal to operate one such mobile device using your hands. That means you either have to use a Bluetooth headset or have a Bluetooth-ready infotainment system in your car to be able to receive or initiate a phone call.
Any other use of the phone - such as playing music or using a sat nav app - is prohibited and will warrant a traffic ticket if caught. Luckily, most modern cars offer the option of pairing your phone with the car's infotainment system and having the content on the phone's display mirrored on that of the vehicle. Those owning older models, however, are going to feel the full brunt of this decision.
“Sometimes when we’re at scenes of accidents, I have people that pass by during, trying to film the incident and that is definitely unsafe to drive like that through an incident,” CHP officer Jesus Chavez told KSBW. The law is seen as an update for the one passed ten years ago, which takes into consideration the progress made by the cell phone industry.
It seems that using a phone holder or any other method of having the phone mounted in a fixed position exempts the driver from the reach of this law as long as they don't take photos or stream videos. It sounds a bit arbitrary, but the law is still in its infancy (it takes effect on January 1, 2017), so it might suffer some modifications.
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