Hands-free driving to take effect Jan. 1
The New Year means new laws. One law that will affect every California driver is the “hands-free” bill, an effort to keep distracted drivers off their phones while behind the wheel.
“You can no longer have your phone in your hand while you’re driving whatsoever. You can’t look at the time, you can’t look at your GPS, you can no longer do anything,” said California Highway Patrol officer, Mike Radford.
California drivers will soon be ticketed for using, and now, holding a cellphone while driving. “There’s so many different functions on these phones. You can talk, text, use GPS, change Pandora station, post on social media. There’s an unlimited amount of things to do on your phone, and it’s becoming more and more of a problem. People are getting in traffic collisions everyday because they’re one their phones and it’s dangerous,” Radford said. Carolyn Iafrate was recently hit by a distracted driver, She says she feels safer knowing that officials are cracking down on distracted driving. “He accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake. Too many people not paying attention, old, young, all of them — looking down, not paying attention to what they’re doing,” Iafrate said. But there are still some ways to use your cellphone while on the road.
“You can mount it on the bottom right hand corner or on the dashboard…You can use it by touching or swiping one time to activate or deactivate the functions on your phone,” Radford explained. Officials also advise people to use hands-free or voice-operated devices.
