Well finally someone realized that when you’re texting and driving you’re pretty much not looking at the road you’re driving on or the car in front of you. You might as well be drunk.

Insurers, bicyclists and cellphone companies backed the measure that Schwarzenegger signed Wednesday, as they did the ban on holding a cellphone while driving, which took effect July 1. The earlier law allows drivers to use cellphones only with hands-free devices such as headsets; another law prohibits drivers younger than 18 from using any kind of phone or texting device while behind the wheel.

“When somebody’s distracted,” said state Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), who wrote the new law, SB 28, and the earlier laws, “it puts not just the driver at risk but everybody else in the car and everybody else on the highway.”

So – if you were pissed off about the whole no talking without a hands free device in California, plan on having your day entirely ruined come January 1, 2009. Personally I wish this and the hands-free law was a federal mandate. Too many people in this country can’t drive worth a damn anyway … let alone when they think they can drive and talk/text at the same time. Truth hurts folks – I don’t care how well you think you can drive and text at the same time, you can’t. The multiple accidents per week I have to avoid because of people who try is proof of that fact.

via LA Times

Related posts:

1. Coast-to-Coast Ban on Texting and Driving Proposed
2. California Bans Driving and Talking without a Hands-Free Set
3. DWT: Text, Drive, Goto Jail
4. The Ultimate Driving Experience
5. Question of the Day: Has Texting and Instant Messaging Killed Grammar?