Interview with Dan McKay on Put Down Your Phone and Drive

Hi Kitson, this is my first Journal chat, so bear with me.

Yes. Text messaging is specifically prohibited while the vehicle is in motion. That includes creating, sending or reading them. Surely you're not texting while driving, are you?

I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying. Studies show that talking on the phone -- even on a hands-free device -- is very distracting and increases your risk of an accident.

That's something the council clearly struggled with when considering the ban earlier this month. A few councilors -- such as Debbie O'Malley and Michael Cadigan -- kicked around the idea of removing the "hands free" exemption.

In the end, I think they decided it was best to take it one step at a time. Isaac Benton, one of the original sponsors, was hesitant to enact a total ban because few, if any, communities in the U.S. have done that. I think he and others viewed the ban of just hand-held devices as an interim step, and more rules can be considered later.

You can -- if the vehicle is in motion while you're talking on the phone. I think the idea is that you should take calls only when you're in the parking lot or some other spot where the car isn't moving. If you pull over before answering the phone, you should be fine.

Well, certainly the mayor and City Council tackle a lot of issues besides mobile phones. The cell-phone ban just happens to get a lot of attention.

As for smoking, the council did consider banning smoking in bars and restaurants. A few years ago, the council and mayor agreed to compromise by prohibiting smoking in restaurants but not bars. The state Legislature, I believe, is considering a more comprehensive ban on smoking.

Oooh, this question will get me in trouble. Michael Cadigan takes a lot of calls on his cell phone and freely gives out his number. I'd be inclined to guess him, but he actually wrote the law and I'm sure he'll be using a hands-free device.

I suspect the entire council and mayor will be extra careful about this. They know people are watching and that any infraction will get a lot of attention.

Dialing is prohibited if the vehicle is in motion. I think that, even with a hands-free device, you'd have to have a "voice dialing" function to make a call, or you could just pull over to do the dialing.

It's hard to say how strictly this will be enforced in practical terms, though.

The ordinance takes effect at some point today. City ordinances aren't like laws passed by the Legislature, which have a specific start date that's clear in the legislation.

City bills typically go into effect five days after a legal notice is published. The bottomline is that the cell-phone ban goes into effect today. Police will issue warnings for the next 60 days. Fines will be levied after that.

Don't give 'em any ideas, Donn.

Actually, the red light cameras right now only shoot a picture of your license plate, I think. I don't think they're set up to shoot photos of what the driver is doing.

Enforcement is a tricky issue. The few street cops I've talked don't seem real enthusiastic about enforcing the ban, especially if they've got more important incidents to respond to.

The police chief has said officers aren't likely to pull you over unless your bad driving catches their attention. So if you're following the car in front of you too closely or straying out of your lane, the officer might cite you for the cell-phone ban, plus any other violations.

As for going to court, I think the cell-phone violations are little more like speeding tickets than DWI cases. I suspect a lot of people will just pay the fine and be done with it.

Yes, I think this would qualify for the exemption. You can use your phone to call an emergency-response operator, hospital, doctor, health clinic, ambulance company, fire department or police department. It must be for the "sole purpose" of communicating an emergency situation.

They probably are just as distracting. I believe there's some kind of "driver inattention" law, but I don't have it in front of me.

Several councilors, including Sally Mayer, who voted against the bill, pointed out that makeup, children and all kinds of things can distract your driving.

That's an excellent question -- one I suspect the city will try to answer after the ban has been in effect for awhile. Santa Fe police, I believe, say they don't have good data on whether the ban has reduced accidents there. They acknowledge that it's difficult to enforce. Santa Fe's ban was passed in 2002.

There are definitely a lot of cell-phone jokes going around. One idea is to take a rubber band and strap the cell phone to your head -- no hands needed!

As for the red light cameras, I suspect a year from now, more people will be irritated at them than the phone ban.

It's probably prohibited. The ordinance basically says you can't use a hand-held cell phone on a public street "while such vehicle is in motion."

As long as he's not driving the bus, he can talk on any kind of phone he likes.

Probably not, unless you could convince the officer or court that the snitching was an emergency.

That's out of my field of expertise, unfortunately. You could probably get busted for driver inattention. But ask yourself, is a Carl's Jr. bacon cheesburger worth it?

I don't know that it will be different. I suspect officers will use their own discretion on when to pull someone over for this, just as they do for speeding or other infractons.

Law enforcement, emergency officials and such have an exemption if the call is related to their job. The mayor, however, has said the police must use a hands-free device, just like everyone else.

Here's what the exemption says for regular people like us: Exempt is "the use of a hands-free mobile telephone when being used in a hands free manner."

Reading the newspaper is good for you but not while you're driving. You're right, of course, that reading isn't covered in the ordinance, so you're on your own with that one.