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Will the use of handsfree sets be required by Texas law beginning Sunday July 1,2007 ?

TIN BENDER wrote:Will the use of handsfree sets be required by Texas law beginning Sunday July 1,2007 ?

I searched the Legislature website and could not find a thing.

Sir,
Thank you. I received an Email from a friend in reference to this. I just wanted to be sure. Thanks again.

According to Snopes.com, it's been around with changing start dates since 2000.

FALSE!

My concern was that a cell phone is a very important piece of equiptment in our daily carry scheme. This Forum IS a valuable source for information and I can always rely on quick and accurate answers.
Thank you all for the replies.

Besides all of the above comments. It would be unusual for a new law to be implimented on July 1st, that isn't a an emergency. Sept. 1st is usually the date that new laws get implimented. Although sometimes things are set for Jan. 1st

Where do you go to find out this type of informatrion?
i.e. new laws going in effect.

TIN BENDER wrote:Where do you go to find out this type of informatrion?
i.e. new laws going in effect.

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/

TIN BENDER wrote:Will the use of handsfree sets be required by Texas law beginning Sunday July 1,2007 ?

Why would a handsfree make a damn bit of difference? The conversation, looking to dial and lack of attention is causing the wreck, not the one hand off the wheel.
I drive constantly with one hand and dont have wrecks. I wish they would get off this handsfree kick.

I am willing to incur wrath with this: We'll not, in the short term, be able to totally ban cell phone usage while driving; banning all but hands-free is the next-best thing.

I view driving while manipulating and talking on a cell phone just about on par with driving while intoxicated. More and more studies are backing this up. Even MythBusters agrees.

I'm in the thick of Houston commuter traffic for about two hours each day, and I can absolutely positively guarantee that 90% of the people driving unsafely are on a cell phone...pretty easy to spot since we have no hands-free law. Oh, and 7% more are simply aggressive idiots; 1% may actually be intoxicated; and 2% are, in all likelihood, certifiably clueless from birth.

I have a BlackBerry and a Bluetooth headset. I never use 'em while I'm driving. Never.

Clint Eastwood from The Outlaw Josey Wales: "A man's gotta know his limitations."

Elite professional athletes have an understanding of their reflex response and reaction time. The rest of us don't. We greatly overestimate our ability to respond. At just 60mph, you're covering 1,760 yards each minute...almost 18 football fields. If you take even one second to remove your eyes from the road and press a single button on your cell phone, your vehicle has traveled 88 feet...a 30-yard shot. You take your attention off the road for just four seconds, you've traveled well over the length of a football field. At 80mph, you've traveled 156 yards.

This is dangerous stuff: a massive vehicle moving at high speeds. When they're on the track at the Bondurant driving school, nobody is holding a cell phone, or eating in the car, or putting on make-up, or writing notes. Both hands are on the wheel and absolute attention is on the road. Zero distractions.

I'd really like to think that all the safety training we do in class and on the range in relation to firearms would carry over to the rest of our lives. People who carry concealed handguns would be, I'd think, far more aware of safety than the general population. This is the last group of people I'd think would talk on a cell phone while driving.

If you wouldn't pull a firearm's trigger while looking at the buttons on your cell phone, then don't drive and use your cell phone.

You know if you're using the hands free profile and your headset supports it, you can do voice dialing and never take your eyes off the road (unless you're a sucker and bought an iPhone). I hate using my phone (non hands free) while driving and often just let it ring if I'm not wearing my headset. Though I drive a manual and need both hands a lot of the time.

Flatland2D wrote:You know if you're using the hands free profile and your headset supports it, you can do voice dialing and never take your eyes off the road (unless you're a sucker and bought an iPhone). I hate using my phone (non hands free) while driving and often just let it ring if I'm not wearing my headset. Though I drive a manual and need both hands a lot of the time.

I don't think Skiprr thinks much of standard transmissions either. Its impossible to keep both hands on the wheel 100% of the time on my car.

I grew up and lived in upstate New York until late 2005. The NYS legislature passed a bill in 2000 or 2001 banning the use of non-hands-free cellular phones, and RINO then-governor Pataki signed it into law. Despite the law, I still saw plenty of people using them while driving. I do not believe it made much real-world difference, though it did provide another pretext for a traffic stop.

Law or no law, it is up to each individual to "know their limitations", drive defensively, keep their vehicle in good condition, wear their seat belt and maintain their awareness.

I drive quite often with passangers in my vehicle. We carry on conversations and I am not distracted.

I believe the phone stuck to your ear prevents people from looking around. I have nearly been sideswiped by people who are holding the phone up to their ear and don't look before changing lanes and turning.

I also agree that dialing and looking up numbers is an issue, as well as people reading and replying tp email/text.

I use a hands free device.

txinvestigator wrote:I drive quite often with passangers in my vehicle. We carry on conversations and I am not distracted.

I believe the phone stuck to your ear prevents people from looking around. I have nearly been sideswiped by people who are holding the phone up to their ear and don't look before changing lanes and turning.

I also agree that dialing and looking up numbers is an issue, as well as people reading and replying tp email/text.

I use a hands free device.

One other problem is people who cannot seem to talk on the phone without using their hands. Using one hand to hold the phone and one hand to gesture leaves none for the wheel.

And then there are those who need to take notes, or look up stuff in their PDA or daytimer, or drop their pen, and can't be bothered to pay attention to the road.

Back when only the phone company and a few wierdos had cell phones, the phone company's rules were pull over and park to make or receive calls, and if you got caught doing otherwise you were in deep doodoo. Now I see Verizon techs driving around looking up service orders while talking on the cell phone.

Driving has become a lot less safe since cellular became ubiquitous.

OTOH, being a long time ham radio operator, I have seen some very objectionable "wireless device" laws introduced in various states. NY's was a good example, it just about outlawed listening to broadcast radio and did outlaw use of ham radio, it was very poorly crafted and I believe it was shot down in court.