[HCRA] Does this effect us? - original article text

[Steve KB1GHC]

Here is the original text to that article. . . . found at:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/168/metro/Teen_drivers_may_lose_phones+.sh
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Teen drivers may lose phones
Proposed bill seeks to prohibit conversations on the roadways
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff, Globe Correspondent, 6/17/2003

Cars and cellphones are intrinsic parts of 16-year-old Kim Farrell's life.
She has her learner's permit, takes driving lessons, and is never without
her cellphone -- she once racked up a $575 bill.

''I talk more with my friends,'' she said. ''Everybody does.''
Once she gets her license, Farrell plans to get around on her own, going to
school and just getting away from home. Then she'll use her cellphone to
keep in touch with worried parents, coordinate rides with students who have
cars, and, of course, talk to friends. She can't wait to hit the road.
So when Farrell was told yesterday that a proposed state law would make
Massachusetts the third state in the nation to ban cellphone use for drivers
under 18, she balked. Farrell said she would abide by the law, but to her
and other teenagers interviewed yesterday, it was another adult intrusion.
''Like, it should be a suggestion that you shouldn't drive and talk at the
same time,'' she said, ''but I don't think they should have . . . a law.''
Under the law, those under 18 driving while talking on a cellphone would be
fined $100 and their licenses would be suspended for a year.
Adults would have to use hands-free accessories while talking and driving or
face a $250 fine for the first infraction and $500 for the second.
Still, with half of all cellphone users nationally predicted to be teens by
next year, the news was devastating to the under-18 set.
None of the 10 teenagers interviewed yesterday was without a cellphone
except for Dan Legere, 15, of Sudbury, who was trying to convince his
father, Kevin, that it's necessary.
''We have a situation here,'' Dan said, knodding toward his father.
''You're obviously not paying 100 percent to your driving if you're on the
phone,'' Kevin Legere said. ''But you could also say that someone else in
the car is a distraction, or the radio's a distraction.''
Legere added that he wants to get his son a cellphone as soon as he's
driving.
Dan Legere said teenagers should have cellphones to stay in contact with
friends, ''and that way, they don't have to call your home and talk to your
parents.''
A news conference on Beacon Hill yesterday about the proposed bill came a
week after the National Transportation Safety Board asked all states to
prohibit inexperienced drivers from using cellphones. The Governor's Highway
Safety Association, a nonprofit organization of public safety officials,
later backed the request.
New Jersey and Maine have passed similar laws. New York has passed a law
banning all cellphone use behind the wheel. Still, the NTSB recommendation
cited no studies that looked specifically at teens, driving, and cellphone
use.
The proposed bill, which was supported unanimously yesterday by the
Legislature's Joint Public Safety Committee, would make Massachusetts the
second state in the country, after New York, to ban hand-held cellphones in
cars. Bill Anderson, who has run Anderson's Driving School in Framingham
since 1984 and has been a driving instructor since 1971, said cellphone use
has grown steadily.
''One year a couple kids had them, then the next year more kids had them,
and even more after that,'' he said.
As for Anderson, his cellphone is always with him but he doesn't talk when
he's behind the wheel. ''I pull over,'' he said, pointing to the Anderson
Driving School sign on his roof. ''Especially with that.''
Globe correspondent Brendan McCarthy contributed to this report.
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 6/17/2003.
� Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.




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THEY BETTER NOT BAN MOBILE HAM'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
73' de Steve KB1GHC