No talking behind the wheel: laws restricting drivers' use of cell phones are now in effect in some areas, but their value is in dispute.Christina Arnold was pulled over in Washington, D.C., last summer for driving while talking on her cell phone without a hands-free device. Although Arnold, 29, managed to get off with just a warning, she took the officer's advice and bought a headset Headphones combined with a microphone. Used in call centers and by people in telephone-intensive jobs, headsets provide the equivalent functionality of a telephone handset with hands-free operation. Many people use headsets at the computer so they can converse and type comfortably. . "It cost only about $59 for the headset, which is good insurance against any $100 tickets," she says. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State, New Jersey, and several cities, including Washington, have passed legislation banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving. Together, they have issued more than 400,000 tickets and warnings since New York enacted the first such law, in 2001. SINGLED OUT? Several other states are considering similar bans, including Maryland, which, after a spate of fatal accidents involving teenage drivers, may prohibit them from using cell phones. But with cell-phone-related incidents making up only a small percentage of car accidents, even government officials wonder why this particular behavior is being singled out, especially since studies have shown that hands-free and handheld cell phones are equally distracting. In a study at the University of Utah The University of Utah (also The U or the U of U or the UU), located in Salt Lake City, is the flagship public research university in the state of Utah, and one of 10 institutions that make up the Utah System of Higher Education. , 18-to-25-year-olds who talked on hands-free cell phones while in a driving simulator Driving Simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical research, to monitor driver behavior, demonstrated slower driver-reaction time and riskier driving behavior, similar to that of a typical 70-year-old. DISCRETION "It's the cognitive distraction that can compromise driving," according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Rae Tyson of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, often pronounced "nit-suh") is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, part of the Department of Transportation. , which says that the number of drivers talking on cell phones jumped in 2004 to 8 percent, or 1.2 million drivers, at any given daylight moment. While his department is still compiling statistics, Joseph Picchi of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles In the United States of America, Department of Motor Vehicles (or DMV) is a commonly used name of the government agency of a U.S. state which administers the registration of automobiles (e.g., by issuing license plates), and/or the licensing of drivers (e.g. thinks the law is having a positive impact. Lieutenant Byron Hope of the Washington Police Department says it is too early to judge the effectiveness of the Washington ordinance, enacted last August, but that it has made people aware of their driving habits. "There had to be some instances where people's driving was so bad that this law was sparked," says Hope. "We're not saying you can't talk on your cell phone. We just ask people to use some discretion." Courtney C. Radsch is a news assistant in the Washington bureau of The New York Times. |
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