3-28-2012

Chapel Hill council bans cell-phone use while driving

Talking on a cell phone while driving in Chapel Hill becomes illegal June 1.

The town became the first in the nation to pass an ordinance outlawing talking on both hand-held and hands-free cell phones while driving. After two years of discussion on the issue, the council voted 5-4 Monday night.

Council member Laurin Easthom clarified that it does outlaw talking on all types of phones while driving, including wireless systems in new cars.

"If you have a Bluetooth, if you have a relatively new car with a dashboard that allows you to talk wirelessly, you can't use it," she said.

After the vote, she said that the town needs to put signs alerting motorists to the ban at every major road entrance into town.

Evanston, Illinois, has a ban on hands-held cell phones while driving and is currently considering banning hands-free as well

Evanston fines people $50 per offense, up to $200 if a person using a cellphone gets into an accident.

So no talking in cars now?

Sounds too good to be true.

http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws ... _laws.html

For example, Illinois bans ALL cell phone usage (handheld or not) from drivers who are under 19 years old.

In Maryland, only hand-held phones are banned for all drivers, but it's not really enforced (unlike in 9 other states and DC).

In DC, where it's enforced, there are traffic cameras everywhere, pretty much at every red-light intersection. They are starting to check if you're wearing seat belts or not through these cameras. Geez.. So a terrorist gotta buckle himself on the way to blowing up the white house.