It's a good law and I hope it gets enforced. I've seen too many close calls and near misses from drivers using cell phones. My personal blue ribbon goes to the elderly lady driving in the center lane on hwy 99 near Fresno. She was weaving from one side to another. When she slowed and I passed, I noticed she was reading a roadmap stretched across her steering wheel!

Yes. I think it's a great law as well but I fear it's going to be tough to enforce since half the drivers I see on my three minute commute to work and school are yakking on their phones. I'm not gonna wait for a ticket to put my cell down. I'm starting today...

 blue tooth is a wonderful invention, but the thing is, that its not holding the device that makes people stupid while driving and talking, its exactly the driving and talking on the phone.... so why would they make the law that you can use blue tooth? i dont get that..

Why do they call it a "blue tooth".... why not "blue ear".... I hear ya Tiffanilynn... it's just the distraction of talking.... not what you're doing with your hands.... can you still text while driving... or is it just *hands on talking* ?

I really don't see the point of someone not being able to get in touch with me for 15 mins. or an hour... is it really that important !!

I can see why you posted this today. The temperatures these past few days are exactly what they'll be on July 1. With temps this high the phones could melt and stick to an ear.

 adam- haha, that was great. im sure many ladies our age are laughing too.. because the partially know that this refers to them. (guilty)

I think its a good law also, Im looking forward to it and seem to be having some anxiety at the same time. lol My husband is always right when we get behind a bad driver and he goes into road rage and yells put the***** phone down, seems he is 100% right. People drive bad! I can only hope the driving improves when they have an ear bud.....

There goes the status symbol for thousands of people. Without that cell phone, no one will be able to see how cool they are! Many will be under a doctor's care for months, if not years.

When I was in college, certain people would leave their beepers (pre-cell phone days) on ring, and this would upset the professor. Legitimate students would put their beepers on vibrate, peek down to see who it was, and if important, get up and casually leave class as if going to the restroom. But, of course, they were there to get an education, not to show others how "cool" they were with their beepers. After two semesters on academic probation the beeperheads would vanish, only to be replaced by newbies anxious to show the masses how cool...

I've had a pager and later a cell phone in my vehicle. Anyone who knows me, knows not to call me when I'm on the road unless it's important. My idea of "important" is different from most people I know. Then as now, over 90% of the calls I got when driving were about something trivial that could wait.

Bako... I often wondered what people did before cell phones, etc. came to life.  Well, no, I never did wonder because I knew.  If there were something urgent, we would make our way to the nearest public phone, drop a "dime" and with any luck at all connect with the person we called.  We go grocery shopping and there are those with cell phones plastered to their faces and then I do wonder what could ever be so important that needs to be discussed in a grocery store.  But then, of course, I'm a lot older that almost everybody.  My granddaughters both have those appendages to their ears, and they do or did drive that way, I believe (one's in Texas, one's in Illinois, where I believe cell phone talking while driving is illegal).  I know you'll be safer if you do the 10 and 2 thing at least for a while.  Maybe to wean yourself off, you could grab an apple and chew like crazy.  Good luck. 

As a bicyclist, I would like to see as many driving laws be enforced as possible.  Too many cyclists are getting run off the road, hurt, or even killed by bad drivers.  I myself have been run off the road at least once (about 6 weeks ago on Calloway Dr in a construction zone-they weren't working at the time I don't think) and have had to force myself into the dirt on many other occasions just to get out of the way of drivers who just don't want to slow down and be more considerate.  That's why I avoid Hageman Road east of Jewetta at all costs.  I'd rather ride on Rosedale Hwy than on Hageman.  At least Rosedale has a wide shoulder and the traffic doesn't bother me so much, even though there's more of it on Rosedale than on Hageman.  I also ride on Allen Rd south of Hageman where the traffic has been quite a bit more considerate to me so far.  I sure hope the cell phone laws are enforced and that they help keep people from talking or texting while driving.  If it all works the way the gov't wants it to, hopefully it will save lives.  I also hope they start enforcing the laws that prohibit littering.  I've run over probably 30 shards of glass it seems like just in the last two days.  Why can't people stop throwing trash on the side of the road and stop using cell phones while driving?  It would make life better for all of us.  Also drivers, please quit honking at us bicyclists just so you can be a "show-off!"  We need to pay attention to the road, too.

Bryan- It's like if there isn't a sidewalk, there's a dirt path littered with rusty nails, aluminum cans, and broken bottles (a bike tires worst nightmare). If there isn't a dirt path, there's crazy drivers who don't know the meaning of "Bike Lane." I'm going to start riding my bike to CSUB after summer, and although I feel at ease for not having to pay that hefty parking pass fee, I'm praying I'm not going to have to pay an even bigger price by coming within close calls of crazy drivers. Save the honking for when you're on the freeway under the road passes, and honking for no reason seems to be the "cool thing to do.."

Bako, just be glad you aren't at a UC. The annual parking rate up at UC Davis was over $400 when I was a student. If you wanted to restrict your parking to one lot that was about a mile from the center of campus, you could get a half-priced pass and still had to bike from the lot to your building (or get really good at speed walking or time management). Which might explain why UC Davis has more bikes than people, heh. UC Davis's parking rate makes CSUB's parking rate seem trivial in comparison. Now the price of gas on the other hand....

I am also glad for the new hands free law!  I also yell "get of the f****** phone when I pass an erratic driver and see they are on the phone! I also do not see what the hell is so important to yak about at the grocery store! THAT is so annoying! That and letting ones kids run amuck are my two pet peeves. My family and friends know my rule.....do not call me on my cell phone unless you are bleeding, broken, dying or dead!!! When I'm driving to San Diego I call my husband and daughter when I make a pit stop. They know my usual pit stops.  I do my best to give bicyclists a wide berth as I know how I would feel if the situation were reversed.

I don't know doodly about earpieces or blue toothes (or is it Blueteeth if you have more than one?)  Don't you have to look at them to dial a number?  And if you do, where's the advantage?  Right now I have to scroll my phone book to call so how will I use a hands free?  They'll just have to leave a voice mail.  And then there's the question of how do you know who's calling and if you even want to answer if you're using an earpiece.  And if you have to look at your phone to see who's calling aren't you then NOT using your hands free phone?

Tolja I didn't know doodly about it.

Aw Nancy, don't feel out of the loop. Being 19, people assume I know all sorts of technological terms and gadgets. But, the truth... I thought it was called Bluetube. Half the time those things are in people ears and they're yacking away, I always assume they're talking to me. So there I am talking back to them, actually believing that they are in a full on conversation with me, and then, I see that little ear thing-a-ma-jig in their ears and feel really stupid and embarrassed.

Can't understand why people need instant communication.  I can understand a doctor or Safety Officer ON CALL but not the idiots I see talking while driving, in markets, restaurants, barber shops, theaters, etc.  Why do they have to talk so loud.  I even saw a lady talking on her cell phone at a funeral last month. I have a cell phone.  I bough it to replace the C.B. radio I used to have in my car.  It stays in the car and is for emergencies only.  The only people who know the number are my two sons. I really like to get away from the telephone when I can.  I have no desire to "profile".  98% of the people who have cell phones do not really need them. I think the law is a good one but should be stronger.  I read today that they slipped up and did not even mention texting so it is still legal to text while driving.  Ain't that a b**ch.

If you really want me to get technical... *breaks out the geek hat*... Bluetooth is the protocol, so you would use it like a brand name. So the plural would be Bluetooth headsets or Bluetooth devices, just like it's Apple iPods, not Apples. As for the origin of the protocol name, I believe it's named after a historical Nordic figure and the protocol was developed in that part of the world. We can thank the Swedes for Ikea and Bluetooth, heh. I could go into more details, but I don't want to put people to sleep.

I will have to admit I have used the cell phone in stores, but that's only because my mother tends to be overly chatty about very mundane things. So I'd rather wander around a store going "uh huh", "okay", "yeah" and get my errands done at the same time. I also wear a massively obvious headset like what you see people at call centers use, so no confusing nearby people like those tiny Bluetooth headsets. My primary motive for doing this is if I wait to call her until I get home, I won't be eating dinner before 8pm even if I make dinner while on the phone. When I say she's overly chatty, I really mean it. Both my mother and sister are those sort of people that it takes at least 15 minutes between saying "I need to go" and actually getting them off the phone.

I have viewed cell phones as the new form of technology we use to deny those things we consider important in our life.  It has replaced such things as video games and television.  Many times I have viewed people at school or work on their cell phones having a conversation of little value.  This does not include everyone who owns a cell phone but, like video games and television, if you can't remember what the conversation was about; it probably wasn't anything worth discussing.  That is just my opinion and holds no real value.

The thing I dislike about cell phones is they enable random chatters like my family members. I actually keep the thing on silent while at work so they can't bug me. That's another reason I tend to be talking to them while running errands after work. They seem to be addicted to talking on the phone and can't go a day without calling. My poor dad... my mother knows his work cell number and he can't turn that off because he's the on-call guy. He's had to program it to ring a special ringtone when she calls so he knows to ignore it if in the middle of vital work. This is not new with cell phones though. She did the same thing with regular old phones and then pagers. So I think there are people prone to this sort of thing and cell phones just make it easier for them.

Shwaine- It's too bad your mom isn't a taxi driver or bus driver; with this new law she'd never have the chance to call you...