December 27, 2008

  • When the new year hits, there's going to be a new law to follow that will affect every California driver. Starting on January 1st, 2009, it is going to be illegal to write, read, and send text messages while driving for everybody in California (for aged 18 and under, it has already been in effect). There's a minimum of a $20 fee for the citation, but it's really close to $100 when all penalties are added. Unlike the "hands-free" law that has alternative solutions to talking on a cellphone while driving; like head sets or speaker devices, there are really no easy alternatives for text messaging while driving (besides calling a person on a hands-free device). I'm sure people are going to go ahead and do their "no looking while typing on a T9 keypad" technique for text messaging, but now they have to make sure they aren't caught doing it. I myself don't necessarily like text messaging while driving in the first place, but when somebody does send me a text message, I don't hesitate to at least take a quick glance to read it. Can't do that while driving anymore though, which is a shame because I don't think it's that different than glancing at a GPS screen that many cars have. All my friends and families are just going to have to be patient with me for not answering their text messages in a prompt manner I guess. Honestly, I'm not sure how much of an issue this will really be for me, but we'll see. I might have a future blog post about getting a fine for text messaging on my cellphone for all I know.