| As of January 1 this year in British Columbia it's a | | | | For some of you who don't understand why our |
| mass return to listening to our radio stations in | | | | government would pass a law, consider looking |
| our cars. Our provincial government passed a law | | | | into some of the statistics about cell phone use |
| prohibiting the use of hand-held devices while | | | | and texting while driving. The numbers are pretty |
| driving. That's right, we now have our own cell | | | | staggering; many, many, many people have been |
| phone ban. | | | | maimed, killed, and badly hurt in horrific car |
| It turns out though that all of us in BC will | | | | accidents caused by distracted drivers using their |
| effectively have a one-month grace period until | | | | cell phones. |
| police officers issue tickets. I suppose the | | | | After watching other jurisdictions pass similar |
| one-month grace period is designed to give us 30 | | | | laws, our BC government decided to follow suit in |
| days to put into practice the art of driving | | | | Fall 2009, which is when our |
| without being on the phone. | | | | hand-held-device-while-driving-law was passed. Our |
| In case you're wondering, the law in BC applies to | | | | culture of instant communication and connection |
| hand-held devices, not hands-free devices. This | | | | will make it difficult for people (I suspect) to |
| mean you can drive and talk as long as the | | | | simply let their cell phones ring to voice mail while |
| device you're talking into is not in your hand. | | | | driving. We like answering the phone; we expect |
| Don't take this law lightly. It's easy for officers to | | | | people to be available. |
| spot hand-held use and fine is an expensive $167. | | | | It seems to me the timing of this new law is |
| Surely a chat while you drive is not worth $167. If | | | | good (although if it could have prevented car |
| you have a learners or a novice licence, you're | | | | accidents in the past it's too bad it took this long) |
| really stuck without a chatting option. The new | | | | because of the prevalence of internet on our |
| law mandates that both hand-held and hands-free | | | | phones. Not only do we talk on our phones, we |
| devices are denied to you. | | | | can practically do anything digital on our phones. |