Word: phoning
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...California, the new hands-free law contains several surprising loopholes. The statute doesn't explicitly prohibit drivers from dialing a cell phone, although motorists are strongly urged not to dial while driving. Of course, dialing while driving is even more dangerous than talking, since you have to take your eyes off the road to look at the keypad...
...California statute also lets drivers use a standard handheld cell phone to make an emergency call. The law lists emergency calls as those to a law enforcement agency, medical provider, fire department or other emergency services agency. But some motorists pulled over by the highway patrol have their own notions of what constitutes an emergency...
...Until recently, the cell phone industry has opposed hands-free laws, vigorously defending the right of Americans to drive with only one hand on the wheel while jabbering on the phone. California state senator Joe Simitian, author of the state's hands-free law, spent six years trying to get the bill passed against heavy lobbying by wireless firms. Every major phone carrier except Verizon initially opposed the bill, arguing that it unfairly singled out cell phones from a range of driver distractions; by the time the bill was signed last year, only Sprint was still against it, and even...
...Every single one of the cell phone companies that opposed the bill also published consumer brochures that said very explicitly, 'You should never drive while holding a cell phone to your ear,'" says Simitian...
...unclear whether hands-free laws alone will make the roads safer. Numerous studies have concluded that any type of cell phone use - hands-free or not - can distract a driver enough to increase the likelihood of an accident. According to research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientist Marcel Just, simply listening intently to a cell phone conversation is enough to impair driving. And a 2004 study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that drivers using hand-free cell phones had to redial calls 40% of the time, compared with 18% for drivers using handheld sets, suggesting that hands...