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It's been one year now since a California law went into effect making it illegal to drive while using a hand-held cellphone. The Automobile Club of Southern California has released the findings of "observational roadside surveys of drivers on Orange County roads," and have determined that the "use of hand-held cell phones by drivers declined sharply from pre-law levels."
The surveys were held in four periods, one of which prior to the law being implemented, and were conducted "using systematic random samples of about 13,500 vehicles passing by seven roadside sites in Orange County." Before last July, 9.3% of drivers were using their hand-held phones while driving, a figure that dropped dramatically to 3.3% within the month. After the initial media saturation and emphasis on the law last year, however, the numbers have risen slightly, first to 3.4% by October 2008, and to 3.9% by May of this year. Overall, however, based on these surveys, usage "remains 58% below where it was before the state implemented its cell phone law." The surveys also found that allowable phone usage--hands-free--has declined since last year, with only 1% of drivers indicating they make use of those devices while behind the wheel.
In the past year, the California Highway Patrol has given out over 100,000 citations for violating the hands-free law. It is also illegal to txt message while driving, too. In case you need reminding.
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I've noticed a ton of people simply holding the phone in their lap now. Hello, it's called "Hands Free", not "Ear Free", dumbasses.
My last long training bike ride, about 84 miles, I had two semi-close calls with a motorist. Both were the result of drivers making hasty turns with no turn signal because they were using their free hand to hold their cell phone while they chatted away. In the second instance I had a pedestrian backing me up who yelled at the driver to get off the cell phone. I'm glad to hear cell phone use in cars is down, but at the personal anecdotal level I have not noticed much difference, though perhaps I am looking for it more.
Pick a spot, any spot in LA to conduct a study and I'll bet you find no significant reduction of cell usage by drivers.
Like Gary, I've had my "bike-to-car" close calls. I love slapping the hood or truck of a car really hard when this happens. Scares the bejesus out of the driver - one actually dropped his phone. :)
That "I'm not holding it to my ear, I'm holding it below my chin" thing is the height of douchery. And I agree with aipacella--stand on any moderately busy corner and count the number of drivers yakking away. Besides, it's not really "hand" thing anyway, it's a "brain" thing.
I've found that aiming a camera, (or even pretending your old cellphone has a camera in it) at scofflaw drivers while navigating around their vehicular law-breaking ass has a tendency to snap zombie drivers out of their coma.
Can they also release the number of accidents that have been caused by people trying to obey the law and fumbling for their earpieces when they receive a call? 'Cause I'm sure there have been quite a few.