to worry. All states have laws regarding reckless driving, however, a legislation like this will remove any doubt that negligible driving with a cell phone is illegal .Some officials have responded to the studies that suggest that there is a possible link between cell phone use to a growing number of collisions, while others have responded to actual auto accidents in which drivers admitted to being distracted because they were using a cell phone. For the past five years states have been introducing bills to regulate use of phones in moving vehicles. Since the first of the year, 38 states have proposed regulations that would either ban the use of cell phones or mandate that phones be used with a hands-free device. However, New York was the first and remains the only state to have passed a law regulating all phone use while operating a vehicle. The proposals of about 20 states remain active and undecided as of now (Appendix 1). At the state level, there seems to be little action taken towards limiting the use of cellular phones while driving but it is a different picture at the local level. Brooklyn, Ohio became the first town to pass an ordinance that requires drivers to keep both hands on the wheel while talking on a cellular phone . This ordinance allows for the use of cellular phones in conjunction with a hands-free device such as an earpiece, headset, or devices that allows for hands-free operation. This ordinance took effect on March 22, 1999. As many as 300 other local jurisdictions have made proposals similar to this and many have followed in the same path .Two members of congress, Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) have taken a big step in regulating cell phone use in vehicles by introducing the first federal legislation to regulate or limit the use of handheld cellular phones while driving. There are two versions of the bill: one in the Senate and the other in the House. Both bills will withhol...
