For those of you not living in California, the state is finally seeing sense and passing a "no cell phone" ban whilst driving. The rule basically forces drivers to use a headset/hands free kit whilst talking and driving. It is hoped this will reduce the number of related accidents and make the roads safer.

Why blog about this? Well, on my way into work I have to negociate many 4 way stop signs, which can be particulary dangerous for us bikers. Picture this: I come to a complete stop and intend to go straight through the intersection. I place my foot down on the road and the driver directly opposite me approaches her stop line. I wait until she stops and then take off. As I approach the center of the road, she decides to turn left (no turn signal..of course) and pulls out directly infront of me.

I slam on my breaks to avoid going over the front of her car and look in disbelief directly at her. Surprise...she's on the cellphone, looks at me, waves to say "Thanks" for stopping and carries on.

It's impossible to say wether or not the cellphone was the reason for this crazy stunt because alot of drivers dont need a distraction to be completely clueless but here's my issue with the law. Whether you are using a hands free kit or not, you are still concentrating on a conversation and not on driving. Sure, the hands free kit enables you to have both hands on the wheel but how many people drive with their hands at the "10" and "2" position? Or even drive with both hands on the wheel period.  In fact, I would call it "half a law".

And look at the punishment if you're caught: $20 fine for the first offense then $50 every time thereafter. Is that enough?

Come the start of July, it will be very interesting to see the stats on how many offenses are logged. It'll also be interesting to see if it has an affect on the number of driver related accidents.  I'll reserve my judgement. It is a sweet little earner for the mobile companies though in the form of related accessory sales.