New Wash. law bans hand-held phones while driving

Driving with one hand on the wheel and the other on a cell phone is no longer an option for Washington state drivers.

[TNT]

They can add this one to the list of others cops don't enforce: Speed limits, turn signals, staying out of the left lane unless you're passing, etc.

[Lance Chappell]

My hat is off to the State of Washington for having the intellegence and guts to finally put a stop to talking on a cell phone and driving at the sametime. Now maybe people will start paying attention to what they are doing behind the wheel.
Hopfully the fine will be AT LEAST $200 per.

[Royer]

Lance Chappell wrote:

My hat is off to the State of Washington for having the intellegence and guts to finally put a stop to talking on a cell phone and driving at the sametime. Now maybe people will start paying attention to what they are doing behind the wheel.
Hopfully the fine will be AT LEAST $200 per.

Read the article again, sharp one. It does not ban cell phone use while driving. And anyone who thinks a telephone conversation conducted on a hands-free devices is any less distracting doesn't know what they're talking about.

Either cell phone use while driving should be banned or it shouldn't. Stop wasting peoples' time with laws that try to split the difference and end up accomplishing nothing.

[Jack Webb]

Royer wrote:

<quoted text>
Read the article again, sharp one. It does not ban cell phone use while driving. And anyone who thinks a telephone conversation conducted on a hands-free devices is any less distracting doesn't know what they're talking about.
Either cell phone use while driving should be banned or it shouldn't. Stop wasting peoples' time with laws that try to split the difference and end up accomplishing nothing.

Correct.

Research (Australia) shows it doesn't matter whether hands-free devices are used or not. Cell-phoning while driving has about the equivalent effect on driver performance as 4 drinks.