California to Ban Drivers From Holding Cell Phones

By Nancy Vogel
Times Staff Writer

7:13 PM PDT, September 14, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California will become the fourth state to ban motorists from holding cell phones while driving, under legislation Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he would sign into law Friday.

The governor's office said Thursday he would sign the bill in Oakland, ending a five-year campaign by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. Under the new law, which does not take effect until July 2008, Californians risk a minimum $20 fine for driving while talking into a phone -- unless they are using a headset, speaker phone, ear bud or some other technology that frees both hands while they talk. Drivers in emergency situations would be exempt.

"Public safety is the governor's No. 1 priority," said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson, "and this bill will make the streets and highways of California safer by ensuring that drivers have both hands available for driving."

The bill passed the Assembly and Senate in late August, with largely Democratic support and the votes of a few Republicans.

Although 38 state legislatures this year considered bills to minimize driving distractions such as cell phones, only New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and the District of Columbia have banned drivers from using hand-held cell phones.

It took Simitian five attempts to get enough support in the Legislature to pass the bill, but Schwarzenegger warmed to the idea quickly.

In a July online interview, the governor said he had warned his 16-year-old daughter that she would lose her driving privileges if he caught her driving with her cellphone in her hands. "... I sometimes follow her to make sure that she doesn't make that mistake. If she makes that mistake, then I will take the car away from her, and she will drive with the bus, because it's inexcusable."

Although the bill's only official opponent was the Sprint-Nextel cellular phone company, several lawmakers argued that the act of conversing -- not of holding a phone -- is the real distraction.

Some Republican lawmakers criticized the bill as "nanny government."

"What's next -- helmets while you're riding a horse? Airbags in the bathtub?" Assemblyman Doug La Malfa, R-Richvale, said during floor debate last month.

But Simitian argued that the traffic safety risk of cell phone use while driving is "measurable and significant." In a letter sent Monday to the governor, the senator pointed to academic research in the Accident Analysis and Prevention journal that concluded that the risk of death is nine times greater for drivers who use a cell phone while driving.

California Highway Patrol data from 2004 show police reports for 775 accidents in which a driver at fault was using a hand-held cell phone. There were only 28 reports of accidents in which drivers using hands-free phones were to blame.

"When you're on your cell phone," wrote Simitian, "you are distracted at three different levels: aurally, visually and mentally. But what the hands-free requirement can and does accomplish is that ... you will have both hands free to control the vehicle during those split seconds that make the difference between life and death."

Simitian said he delayed implementation of the bill until July 2008 to help win the support of reluctant lawmakers, give the Department of Motor Vehicles time to update its drivers' handbook and give fair warning to motorists.

Besides motorists in emergencies, the legislation does not apply to people using two-way radios in farm vehicles and tow trucks, although that exemption disappears in 2011. And although the base fine for a violation is $20, drivers cited by the police will pay more because of administrative charges tacked on by cities and counties. The base fine rises to $50 for subsequent offenses.

Dozens of states recently have pondered bills aimed at minimizing driver distraction, such as banning unsecured pets in cars and prohibiting younger drivers from using cell phones.

"Clearly, Californians are attached to their cars and attached to their phones," said Matt Sundeen, a transportation expert with the National Conference of State Legislatures, "and if a state that big passes a law, it can have some inspiration on other states."