Ontario's cell phone law - unintended consequences?

We won't know for some time - maybe ever - if Ontario's hand-held cell phone ban will have any impact on traffic safety.

Regular readers know what side of that fence I'm not sitting on, to mangle a metaphor.

Have you noticed fewer people talking on their phones since the ban went into effect?

I haven't.

OK, I'm the one always saying you shouldn't use anecdotal evidence to support arguments. And as long as the police are issuing warnings instead of real fines and/or demerit points, there aren't really any consequences of breaking the law yet.

But we're already hearing suggestions that some people are trying harder to disguise the fact that they are still using their phones - for example, sticking the unit between ear and shoulder and driving all hunched up and tense, hardly conducive to safe motoring.

Could this ban make driving LESS safe?

I my own self have been trying to utilize the hands-free kit that came with my (relatively new) Samsung cell phone, with the pair of earbud earphones and the dangling microphone which makes me look like I live under a bridge and am communicating with aliens.

(My phone apparently is Bluetooth-enabled, but who has time to figure out how that works? In a different car every week?)

So, whose ears are these earbud earphones designed for? Certainly not mine. The left bud barely fits in, and the right one just sits there hanging from the lower 'curl' of my ear. If I turn my head a fraction either way, they both fall out and I have to fumble to put them back in.

Certainly that's less safe than holding on to the phone itself.

Now, driving with earbud headphones is hardly conducive to safety either, and may even be banned depending on jurisdiction and interpretation of the law. So when I DO use my hands-free kit, I only have one ear 'budded'.

A couple of years ago I received a photo of a prototype device that probably should qualify as hands-free:

For instructions on how to make your own, check out this YouTube video.

Comments

[Brian]

I though it was illegal to have both ears covered? I spent a lot of time looking for a single-ear headset. Almost impossible to find because the shops that carry cell-phone accessories only carry Bluetooth. Headsets for computers and home telephones cover both ears.

[Larry]

Forget the dangling microphone thing - get a single-earbud all-in-one thingy. With Bluetooth, all you have to do is pair the headset with your phone once and you're set. Nothing to do with the car, since you can use it anywhere.

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Hi all,
I though it was illegal to have both ears covered? I spent a lot of time looking for a single-ear headset.
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[avelino lobo]

Hi all,
Forget the dangling microphone thing - get a single-earbud all-in-one thingy. With Bluetooth, all you have to do is pair the headset with your phone once and you're set.
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[avelino lobo]

Hi all,
Forget the dangling microphone thing.
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