Hands-Free Phones The Rumor

Rumor has it, as of January 1st, 2008, the only cell phone use that is legal in Las Vegas is the hands-free cell phone use.

Rumors are interesting, they often sound like and look like fact; sometimes they are not fact, they are wishful thinking. Like the law prevening cell phone use while driving, is wishful thinking, at least in Nevada. In the State of Nevada (Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah) localities are prohibited from banning cell phone use. As of this writing, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (http://www.iihs.org/laws/ cellphonelaws.aspx) there are no laws in Nevada for restricting cell phone use.

Should there be? Well, that's a horse of a different color (not wearing a NHP uniform). It seems pretty obvious to me that drivers who are on their cell phones drive slower, (maybe a good thing), have slower response times (definitely a bad thing), are distracted from their main task (driving) and could use a swift kick in the, well, you know.

Stay off your cell phone while you are driving. Even if it's not illegal in Nevada, yet, with the mass of traffic in Las Vegas, keep your wits about you, keep a reasonable distance between you and the car in front of you (how fast do you really think you can stop if he/she stops quickly), and save the cell phone calls for later. You don't really want to know how convenient the cell phone can be following an accident, do you?