I had no idea some of those laws mentioned were on the books in other states. No news is good news to people who break the law.

 

Then I use my loud horn.

 

Yes, I have been ticketed for speeding quite a few times over the years, and got one ticket for the cell phone, in California. The one for the cellphone happened when I was pulling up to a red light in my NSX. It doesn't have blue-tooth and the cell phone was laying on the passenger seat. I reached over to answer it while it was ringing and the widows were down. I looked straight at a motorcycle officer next to me at the red light. BUSTED. He had his red light on as soon as we got the green. I pulled over immediately as I expected it. I don't recall what the fine was but at least it didn't go on my driving record. He said he'd hate to see me crash my nice car.

 

^I agree 100%. It's the same in California. I'm guilty of using my phone at red lights. It makes a difference to me, where I am. The traffic signals in Orange County, CA can take 3-4 minutes to turn green. I've timed them. If someone pushes the walk button to cross the street, it really adds to the wait. The intersections near my house there in Lake Forest, are at least six lanes wide. The person crossing the street has walked across 6 lanes of traffic and is way down the sidewalk before the light changes. It's one of the biggest reasons I hate going to SoCal! It's not just that the red lights are l-o-n-g but there are so many of them close together. You just pull away from the long red light and get back up to 40 mph and then you stop for another long red. If you drive at midnight, you can hit them all green. During the rush hours you may not make it through the first green light and have to wait for the next one. I live about 9 miles from the major highway in Colorado and it's even closer in California. In CA I'll look at my phone at reds but can ignore it in CO since the red lights aren't ridiculously long. Yes, I'm breaking the law and yes, I have plenty of company. I just was on the phone with Ricky, telling him I was writing this post (from my home PC). He said, "People in CA have books on the dash. You can read one in about two weeks."

 

 

My Garmin GPS links to my phone. Pretty useless at 80mph with the roof down, but is otherwise hands-free. This unit also keeps track of the speed limit for me, warns of curves and speed limit drops, etc. Maps get up updated a couple times a year. Will also link to several smart phone "apps."

-- Chuck

 

Kind of annoying if you're a passenger.

 

About a year ago:

Guy in a Chevy SUV ahead of me at a light was staring at his lap when the light turned green. I waited about 5seconds and hit the horn. The guy looks up and becomes quite agitated, flipping me off and started to put the car in reverse! He rolls down the window and really gives me the finger. I thought he was going to exit his vehicle and come back to assault me. He finally took off. Guess what? He was headed for my neighborhood. I actually went straight down the street so he would not see where I lived. Did not know if that psycho would firebomb my house.

 

I have blue tooth in my car, and yes, I've been guilty of looking at a phone at a light or not at a light. I really try to just leave the phone in my bag/purse. Even if I'm bored at the light (Patricia. ) nothing coming by text is that important. I do agree with Deb, even carrying on a conversation using Blue tooth, hands free is still distracting. You just don't pay as much attention to the road as you should. I don't know why it's not the same as conversing with someone in your vehicle, but it's not.

We don't have a hands free law in MA, (except for teen drivers) but we should. Hopefully it would help to encourage more people to just put the damn phone away. There have been some pretty graphic commercials depicting the possible results of texting, looking at your phone while driving. I don't know if they reach anyone....all those horrible commercials about the results of smoking, and people still smoke.