Get Off The Phone And Drive!

This makes me sick. Sick, Sick, SICK. The driver that’s too busy talking or texting on a cell phone that he/she cannot has lost their attention driving. You see these drivers every day. They weave in and out of lines, run lights, ride your tail, HAVE ACCIDENTS.

That’s right, they’re so busy yacking they hit something. Cell phones have become an essential feature of modern life. In June 2004, about 170 million Americans had a cell phone, an increase of more than 20 million from 2003. About two out of every three drivers now have a cell phone. Cell phone talking/texting is the number 1 driver distraction. Drivers who don’t pay attention or are distracted are three times as likely to be involved in a crash as drivers who pay attention to the road and talk/text on a phone.

Almost 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near misses occur within three seconds of some form of driver distraction. The number of crashes and near-crashes attributable to dialing is nearly identical to the number associated with talking or listening, dialing is more dangerous but occurs less often than talking or listening. The effect of phone use upon the perceptual responses of drivers is likely to constitute a greater threat to safety than its interference with vehicle control. Perceptual processes play a far greater role in automobile accidents than does vehicle control. "Improper lookout" and "inattention" are the two leading contributors to automobile accidents.

Those who talk on a cell phone while driving are four times as likely to get in a car accident as those who do not talk on the phone while driving. Some states or local jurisdictions expressly prohibit novice drivers from talking on a cell phone while driving. Novice drivers are those with learner’s permits and restricted driving privileges. In states like Alaska, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Minnesota, and New Jersey texting while driving is against the law. The District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, prohibit handheld cell phone use while driving. Several States prohibit all cell phone use by drivers under the age of 18 or 21, drivers with a GDL, and school bus drivers.

A jurisdiction-wide ban on driving while talking on a hand-held cellphone is in place in 7 states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) and the District of Columbia. Utah has named the offense careless driving. Under the Utah law, no one commits an offense when speaking on a cellphone unless they are also committing some other moving violation other than speeding. The law in 5 states Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, and Pennsylvania specifically authorizes a locality to ban cellphone use. Localities that have enacted restrictions on cellphone use include: Chicago, IL; Brookline, MA; Detroit, MI; Santa Fe, NM; Brooklyn, North Olmstead, and Walton Hills, OH; Conshohocken, Lebanon, and West Conshohocken, PA; Waupaca County, WI; and Oahu, HI. Localities are prohibited from banning cellphone use in 8 states (Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah). Text messaging is banned for all drivers in 18 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, novice drivers are banned from texting in 9 states (Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, and West Virginia) and school bus drivers are banned from text messaging in 1 state (Texas).

	Laws restricting cellphone use and texting
State	Hand-held ban	Young drivers all cellphone ban	Bus drivers all cellphone ban	Texting ban	Enforcement
Alabama	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Alaska	no	no	no	all drivers	primary
Arizona	no	no	school bus drivers	no	primary
Arkansas	drivers ages 18 through 20 (effective 10/01/09)	drivers younger than 18 (effective 10/01/09)	school bus drivers	all drivers (effective 10/01/09)	primary: texting by all drivers and cellphone use by school bus drivers; secondary: cellphone use by young drivers (effective 10/01/09)
California	all drivers	drivers younger than 18	school and transit bus drivers	all drivers	primary1
Colorado	no	drivers younger than 18 (effective 12/01/09)	no	all drivers (effective 12/01/09)	primary (effective 12/01/09)
Connecticut	all drivers	drivers younger than 18	school bus drivers	all drivers	primary
Delaware	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders	school bus drivers	learner's permit and intermediate license holders	primary
District of Columbia	all drivers	learner's permit holders	school bus drivers	all drivers	primary
Florida	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Georgia	no	no	school bus drivers	no	primary
Hawaii	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Idaho	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Illinois	drivers in construction and school speed zones (effective 01/01/10)	drivers younger than 19 and learner's permit holders younger than 19	school bus drivers	all drivers (effective 01/01/10)	primary
Indiana	no	drivers younger than 18	no	drivers younger than 18	primary
Iowa	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Kansas	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders (effective 01/01/10)	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders (effective 01/01/10)	primary (effective 01/01/10)
Kentucky	no	no	school bus drivers	no	primary
Louisiana	with respect to novice drivers, see footnote2	with respect to novice drivers, see footnote2	school bus drivers	all drivers	secondary; primary for school bus drivers
Maine	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders	primary
Maryland	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders	no	all drivers (effective 10/01/09)	secondary; primary for texting
Massachusetts	local option	no	school bus drivers	no	primary
Michigan	local option	no	no	no	not applicable
Minnesota	no	learner's permit holders and provisional license holders during the first 12 months after licensing	school bus drivers	all drivers	primary
Mississippi	no	no	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders	primary
Missouri	no	no	no	drivers 21 and younger	primary
Montana	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Nebraska	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders younger than 18	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders younger than 18	secondary
Nevada	no	no	no	no	not applicable
New Hampshire	no	no	no	all drivers (effective 01/01/10)	primary (effective 01/01/10)
New Jersey	all drivers	learner's permit and intermediate license holders	school bus drivers	all drivers	primary
New Mexico	local option	no	no	no	not applicable
New York	all drivers	no	no	all drivers (effective 11/01/09)	secondary (effective 11/01/09)
North Carolina	no	drivers younger than 18	school bus drivers	all drivers (effective 12/01/09)	primary
North Dakota	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Ohio	local option	no	no	no	not applicable
Oklahoma	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Oregon	all drivers (effective 01/01/10)	drivers younger than 18 (effective 01/01/10)	no	all drivers (effective 01/01/10)	primary (effective 01/01/10)
Pennsylvania	local option	no	no	no	not applicable
Rhode Island	no	drivers younger than 18	school bus drivers	no	primary
South Carolina	no	no	no	no	not applicable
South Dakota	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Tennessee	no	learner's permit and intermediate license holders	school bus drivers	all drivers	primary
Texas	drivers in school crossing zones	intermediate license holders for the first twelve months	bus drivers when a passenger 17 and younger is present	bus drivers when a passenger 17 and younger is present; intermediate license holders for first twelve months; drivers in school crossing zones	primary
Utah	all drivers	no	no	all drivers	primary for texting; secondary for talking on a hand-held cellphone3
Vermont	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Virginia	no	drivers younger than 18	school bus drivers	all drivers	secondary; primary for school bus drivers
Washington	all drivers	no	no	all drivers	secondary
West Virginia	no	drivers younger than 18 who hold either a learner's permit or an intermediate license	no	drivers younger than 18 who hold either a learner's permit or an intermediate license	primary
Wisconsin	no	no	no	no	not applicable
Wyoming	no	no	no	no	not applicable

Bottom Line, stay off the phone and pay attention or,

IT’S GONNA BE BEDLAM!