Schwarzenegger Signs Teen Driver Cell Phone Ban (with video)
Share this pagePALO ALTO - Starting next July, California teenagers will have to hang up the phone before getting behind the wheel.
At Redwood City’s Sequoia High School on Thursday, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill banning anyone under 18 years of age from using electronic devices while driving, including cell phones.
17-year-old driver Nina Cragg would love to call someone to complain about the new law.
“I don’t think it’s as dangerous as a lot of other things that are going on,” Cragg said. “I think DUI’s are pretty common for kids my age.”
A survey of 17 year old drivers by Seventeen Magazine shows 61 percent of teens admit to risky driving habits. 46 percent say they text message while driving, while 51 percent talk on cell phones.
“You get used to looking down and looking back up,” said Mike Hiraoka, a teen driver who admitted text messaging while driving.
Driving distractions like text messaging and cell phones cost 6,000 teenage lives a year in U.S.
16-year-old drivers crash at a rate five times greater than their 18-year-old friends says State Senator Joe Simitian of Palo Alto who wrote the law.
Full story and video on CBS 5 website