Guv signs law banning minors from using cell phones while driving
Share this pageAllan Quach says he talks on his cell phone while driving, but tries to chat only with parents or friends who urgently need to talk to him. But minors like him won’t be able to do that much longer, at least not legally.
Come July 1, thousands of 16- and 17-year-olds in California will be prohibited from using cell phones, PDAs, laptops and pagers while driving, under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“It’s going to make it harder to pick somebody up or take important phone calls - like an interview (for a job) or if something happened in your family,” Quach, a student at Galileo High, said Thursday on his cell phone as he drove his car. Quach, 17, will turn 18 days before the law kicks in, so the restriction won’t apply to him.
But Schwarzenegger and other backers of the law say there is increasing evidence that cell phones and other “mobile service devices” are a major source of distraction among all drivers, but especially teens, who are also the motorists most likely to have accidents.
Teens cited under SB33, authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, face a fine of $20 for a first offense and $50 each time after that. Officials said traffic officers will not be allowed to pull drivers over simply because of a cell phone infraction, and violations will not count as part of the traffic safety point system. Emergency calls will be exempt.
Full story on San Francisco Chronicle website