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It seems that we're about to see a spike in Bluetooth headset sales in Washington.
Posted on 06/24/2008 12:45:17 PM PDT by Stoat
On July 1, the new law takes effect in Washington that bans driving while using a hand-held cell phone.
On July 1, the new law takes effect in Washington that bans driving while using a hand-held cell phone.
Drivers caught holding a mobile phone to their ear risk a $124 ticket. To talk on a phone drivers should use a handsfree headset or speaker phone. But, the law allows exceptions for people reporting an emergency or crime.
The violation is a so-called secondary offense. That means an officer must first stop the driver for some other violations, such as speeding; then the cell phone offense can be added to the ticket.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
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It seems that we're about to see a spike in Bluetooth headset sales in Washington.
This is just the excuse I needed to get rid of my cell phone. It just sits in my car in case of an emergency and I never use it otherwise. Since I can no longer use it when I break down or in bad traffic, it is not worth keeping it.
Yeah... then the next thing you know; blue tooth technology accelerates cell phone tumors by 50%.
Same in Kalifornia.
What a koinkydink.
I wish this would come to Minnesota. On my way to work yesterday morning I was almost t-boned by a woman on a cell phone who ran a red light. And afterwards she was mad at me!
If you have a breakdown you're no longer in motion and so you can legally use the phone while sitting in your car in Washington, without any Bluetooth headset accessory. But...I see that you're in Wyoming....is a similar ban about to be implemented there?
At any rate, I would urge consideration of a different cellphone plan if your interest is in having it 'only' for emergency use. I bought a 'pay as you go' cellphone for Momma Stoat just so that she will always have one in the car. If it's not used, the monthly charge works out to around $7.....a very small price to pay for the peace of mind knowing that she will be able to call for help if necessary.
LMAO
And if gents leave the phone in a belt holster when they answer a call on the headset, the transmission radiation will cause pelvic osteoporosis or testicular cancer instead of a brain tumor :-)
Ladies are lucky....they can get a stylish lead-lined handbag to put their phones in :-)
No one here in WA is under the delusion that this new law will prevent that -- everyone knows they will still get away with using the phone as long as they don't commit a primary offense -- and then the officer has to be there at just the right time to catch that. This is merely "we did something, we feel good now" type legislation.
Yep...mandatory seat belts started out the same way. Then it became a "primary offense." Now, the FedGov funds the national, "Click it, or ticket" campaign.
It won't be long, it will be illegal to talk to other people in your car or tune the radio.
I think there’s another purpose in addition to that. It establishes a possible insurance defense in the case of an accident.
Same in Kalifornia.
What a koinkydink.
The People's Republic of Washington is doing it's utmost to follow California, particularly the worst parts of hard-Left San Francisco, down into the turgid, roiling abyss of jackbooted Socialism.
We have spectacular scenery, but every Memorial Day I take a walk in my North Seattle neighborhood and I see fewer American flags on display. This year, the only one I saw in a ten-block radius was the one at the stoat cave.
"sigh"
You need to get out of Seattle and see the Eastside -
especially east of the Cascades.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
You're right of course....Eastern Washington is 'the sane part' of Washington State and I try to get there as much as I can.
I apologize for perhaps implying that every place in Washington is as bad as Seattle....this was sloppy writing on my part. I was meaning to convey the fact that, unfortunately, the vast majority of legislation coming out of Olympia, which in large measure defines the law and therefore the public image for the rest of Washington, is usually indistinguishable from what pronouncements might come out of a Capitol Hill coffee shop. Yes, there are isolated bunkers of normalcy in Western Washington and a vast expanse of sanity in Eastern Washington, but sadly Olympia appears to be unaware of this fact, and legislates accordingly.
I apologize for not being more clear when I posted earlier.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Since you may find that after you drive past an officer with a cell phone at your ear that you're being pulled over for a 'primary' infraction that you were completely unaware of having committed, and therefore are being cited for both that as well as the cellphone violation, I might suggest that a box of kleenex as well as a stylish Bluetooth headset might be appropriate items to add to your shopping list :-)
The accident I got into involving my cell phone was when I wasn’t using it. I was on my way to open my brother-in-law’s store. The phone ran two different times. I thought it might be an emergency, so pulled off the freeway to find a parking lot to call back from. I was waiting on the off ramp and got rear ended. I wonder if I would have been safer if I had answered.
A friend of mine told me that the number one distraction that causes accidents is tuning the radio. #2 eating. He told me these as I did them, of course. I think cell phone use was something like #4.
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