California Bans SMartphone Useage in Vehicles

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Get out that phone mount or face a fine under a new California law.

IMAGE: ANDREAS GEBERT/PICTURE-ALLIANCE/DPA/AP IMAGES

BY SASHA LEKACHDEC 30, 2016

It's time to use that Amazon gift card for a phone mount for your car — California is cracking down. 

Starting Sunday a new law is making it even harder to use your phone in the car. Throughout the state you already can't text, scroll around, click or look at messages on your phone while driving, and we've been long trained to never bring our phones to our ears while talking.

But starting Jan. 1 2017, you can't even have your phone in your hand or out to click or swipe something. It will have to be mounted to your windshield or dashboard — only then can you tap your screen to make sure that that new Google Maps route delivers you out of traffic hell.

SEE ALSO: It's not just you: Siri is getting smarter

The bill, AB 1785, is one step closer to making motorists comply with completely hands-free cellphone laws which first went into effect in 2008. California Highway Patrol public information officer Mike Martis told Mashable that the new mounted rule "clears it up for a lot of drivers" who were unsure about what they could or couldn't do in the car. 

With this new law, drivers will likely use way more Siri and voice-operated services. So let's hope that technology can keep up with our demands and increased usage. 

California is one of many states with pretty strict cellphone laws for texting, talking and other uses while driving. Martis said he's already pulled over many drivers from out of state who claim to have no idea about California's cellphone laws. But now the state is taking hands-free driving to the next level. "California is pretty aggressive" when it comes to distracted driving, Martis said. "We’re hoping to reduce the number of distracted driver collisions."

"We’re hoping to reduce the number of distracted driver collisions."

The bill's author, state assemblyman Bill Quirk told the Sacramento Bee this week that this finally closes a loophole in rules meant to slow down distracted driving. "The whole idea is you don’t have the phone in your hand, period,” he told the paper. 

When the bill was signed back in September, Quirk said in a press release, “Smartphones have an abundance of available features that demand a driver’s attention, leading to very dangerous driving behavior."

So from Sunday, California drivers won't be able to hold a phone in their hands at all. Any violation (swiping, tapping, clicking your phone while it's off a phone mount) starts with a $20 fine and a $50 fine for subsequent violations.

The most limiting and likely most difficult part of the law to enforce is only allowing "a single swipe or tap of the driver's finger" even if the phone is mounted. No excessive swiping!

Most smartphones are mounted on the windshield or dashboard in Uber vehicles, but many other drivers hold them in their hands.

IMAGE: AP PHOTO/RAFIQ MAQBOOL

Kamala Harris, the state's newly elected senator, wrote in a Facebook post Thursday that "California road safety officials estimate that distracted driving is a factor in 80% of crashes." She sees the law as a way to make roads safer.

For ride-hailing app users and drivers this shouldn't have much of an impact since most seasoned Uber and Lyft drivers already have a mounted phone rig. But for non-professional drivers this means it's time to buy some equipment if you want to continue swiping onto the next song or to see an alternate route on a maps app. 

For others visiting the state without a phone mount, better put the phone away entirely to avoid any temptation to touch your phone. Or put all your trust in Siri — no one has time for fines.