No hands on cellphones is only half the battle

On July 1, after a nearly two-year grace period, a new era begins in California: holding a cellphone to your ear and jabbering away while driving will be illegal unless it's an emergency.

In most cases, you will still be able to talk-and-drive, but you will need a hands-free device. Not surprisingly, the same cellphone companies that lobbied against the laws are now offering up a variety of "solutions" to help consumers go hands-free.

Isn't democracy great?

Here's a quick guide to the new hands-free laws . . .

What exactly do the laws say?

If you're 18 or older, you are prohibited from holding a phone and talking while driving. If you're 16 or 17, the only time you can use a cellphone at all while driving is in an emergency.

The first offense will result in a $20 ticket, and subsequent citations are $50 apiece. But with court costs and penalties, the true costs of those tickets are $76 and $190, respectively.

Something else to chew on: The new laws go into effect just days before the California Highway Patrol goes on "maximum patrol" throughout the Fourth of July weekend. That means 80% of CHP officers will have their eyes on the road. And on you and your cellphone.

If it's illegal to hold a phone, how is it possible to dial it or take a call, even if you talk hands-free?

This is where things get tricky, because the laws are silent on both counts.

As it turns out, you are allowed to touch the phone to make a call or take one, said Mike Marando, a spokesman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles. "As long as you don't hold the phone to carry the conversation," he added.

Obviously, text messaging will be illegal, right?

Wrong! Texting will be illegal only for 16- and 17-year-old drivers. The law that covers adults is, again, silent on the issue.

This, of course, is slightly unsettling because holding a phone to the ear requires only one hand, whereas typing "what are you wearing?" to your sweetie requires pretty good thumb-eye coordination, at least for most people (so I'm told).

State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), who wrote the bills that resulted in the hand-held phone ban, said he didn't include a text messaging ban because it was difficult enough to get the hands-free laws passed by the Legislature. He succeeded only after five years of trying.

"I didn't want to risk the whole bill by pushing one step too far," Simitian said in an interview.

But Tom Marshall, a CHP spokesman, said, "If you are text messaging and we see it's affecting your driving, we can still pull you over" for distracted driving.

But the offense is not distracted driving or, for example, driving with a bag of French fries in your lap.

Police actually cite you for what happens as a result of being inattentive, such as impeding traffic or an improper lane change.

Will getting a ticket for talking on a cellphone result in a higher insurance rate for motorists?