As you may have heard by now -- the news is all over the blogosphere -- the entertainment site TMZ released a photo of California's First Lady driving while talking on a cell phone. That's a problem because her husband, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a bill into law last year -- July 1, 2008 -- making it against the law to drive and hold a handheld communications device.
And now Shriver's driving habits have gotten the attention of CNN, ABC News, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and hundreds of other media outlets, thanks to photos released yesterday afternoon.
So if you run a business where employees drive company vehicles, or have kids who get behind the wheel of the family car, and have wondered if they ever text or cell talk while driving, here's what you need to know.
The safety issue: Whether you disagree with it or not, it's a law enacted for good reason.
Nationwide Insurance has collected some great statistics on why you shouldn't drive with a cell phone -- driving while using a cell phone, for instance, reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. And drivers who use cell phones, even those that don't require you to hold them, can delay a driver's reaction as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.
The penalty if you're caught breaking the law: In California,
you can get a $20 fine for your first violation and $50 for every offense afterwards. But some courts can charge you even more. In Los Angeles, your first ticket will cost you $93, and $201 after that. It varies around the country, of course.
In Utah, if you're caught texting and driving, you could wind up in jail for three months. If you text, crash into someone and cause a death, you risk 15 years imprisonment.
States that have a law against texting while driving: California, Washington, Minnesota, Utah, Colorado, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut -- and it's also illegal in Washington, D.C. Some of the aforementioned states' laws haven't kicked in yet, but they will, and several other states -- like Nebraska -- have rules in place for younger drivers.
CNN.com has a very helpful map explaining it all, if you want to see where your state falls into play. And if you really want to delve more deeply into the matter,
check out this site from the Governors Highway Safety Association.
If you want to look into hands-free headsets for your cell phones: CNet recently
reviewed the best of Bluetooth headsets.
And if you want to see a spoof of California's hands free driving law... there's a pretty amusing one,
here, on YouTube.com. There are a couple swear words in the two minute video, for those who want to be warned about that kind of thing.
