HANDS-FREE FRENZY CELL-PHONE LAW CONFUSION DUE TO FAKE E-MAIL'S WRONG NUMBER.

Byline: BRANDON LOWREY

Staff Writer

Convinced that gripping a cell phone while driving would become illegal Sunday, a customer walked into Jacob Peykar's wireless store to beat the deadline.

Peykar said Thursday that he tried to tell his persistent customer that the hands-free law was still a year away, but to no avail. The man spent $300 at the Woodland Hills shop to deck out his wife, kids and mother with blinking blue earpieces.

"He was so convinced, I almost believed him, too," Peykar said.

But Peykar's customer and lots of other Californians are wrong. The law will take effect July 1 -- of 2008.

That hasn't stopped law-fearing but confused citizens from rushing to cell-phone shops, calling police and even the law's author to make sure they're legal to chat on the roads.

Officials have blamed an e-mail hoax for helping to spread the panic that just days remain before drivers could be hit with fines.

Peykar and other cell-phone retailers said they saw spikes in the sale of hands-free devices at the beginning of the year, too, as customers thought the law began Jan. 1.

Under the state law, drivers will be prohibited from using handheld cell phones. First-time offenders can be slapped with a $20 fine; repeat offenders, $50. Commercial truck drivers and 911-dialers are among those exempt.

The California Highway Patrol said it also has received calls from worried motorists and will launch an educational campaign to warn drivers before July 1, 2008, when the law really takes effect.

That day, officers will start pulling over and citing cell-wielding drivers, Officer John Lutz said. But Sunday, no traffic laws or fines that affect the general public will change.

At least 15 to 20 people have called the author of the hands-free bill, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. The bill was signed into law in September. Normally, bills become law on the first Jan. 1 after they are signed, or sometimes on July 1.

Simitian said he designated an extra 18 months to give state officials more time to incorporate the new rules into driver's handbooks and inform the public -- and give owners of mobile phones more time to adapt their technology.

Simitian has also authored legislation to prohibit minors from using cell phones -- even with hands-free devices -- while driving.

That bill, which has passed the Senate and is now pending in the Assembly, also would also take effect July 1, 2008.

"I suppose there are worse things than people taking a little extra care and caution a year ahead of time," Simitian said. "I suspect it is spawned largely by the misinformation on the Internet. ... Thus far it hasn't been terribly widespread."

The fact that the Internet fueled the rumor came as no surprise to Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California.

The Web has long been used to scare people about "new" laws, Cole said. He recalled a message he received a few years ago voicing outrage that Congress was going to start taxing e-mails.

"The Internet has really become the office water cooler for the world," he said.

Lauren Sarafan didn't learn she had fallen victim to the rumor mill until after she had forwarded the message to dozens of friends and family members.

"This is probably the first hoax I really fell for, and I feel really stupid," the 40-year-old Studio City resident said. "It felt right."

So far, Peykar has received the hoax e-mail twice from friends and relatives.

But the prank hasn't upset the owner of Virtual Wireless too much -- what's the worst that could happen? More people driving with hands-free headsets?

"It doesn't hurt," he said. "It's a safe thing, anyway."

Staff Writer Harrison Sheppard contributed to this report.

[e-mail]

[phone]

Rules of the road

The California Wireless Telephone Automobile Safety Act of 2006 takes effect July 1, 2008, and specifies:

- A person shall not drive a motor vehicle while using a cell phone that is not specifically designed and configured to allow hands-free listening and talking, and is used in that manner while driving.

- Violations are punishable by a base fine of $20 for a first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense.

- Exemptions include drivers using cell phones for calls to emergency or law enforcement officials; emergency professionals using a cell phone while operating an authorized emergency vehicle; motorists on private property.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Jack Katchikian, store manager of American Connections Sprint Preferred Partner in Santa Clarita, wears his Bluetooth earpiece as he sits behind the wheel of his car and talks on his phone Thursday. Consumers have been buying hands-free phone devices, thinking the law goes into effect July 1.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

(2 -- 3 -- color) no caption (hands-free phone devices)

Box:

Rules of the road (see text)