Although many states have bans on hand-held cell phone calling while driving, they exempt incoming, emergency calls, and also some professionals (I would like to think my doctor can be asked for his guidance in an emergency).

Most states have primary enforcement for their cell phone laws, which means an officer can pull you over and give you a citation if he sees a cell phone in your hand while you are behind the wheel. Only Maryland and Utah have secondary offense laws, meaning the officer must pull you over for a driving offense (were you weaving or speeding?) before checking if you were using your cell phone.

California is hoping to reduce the 4,000-person annual death toll from traffic accidents by about 300, but a Harris Interactive poll in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey found that although 72 percent have a hands-free product in their cars, only about 14 percent of drivers use them while driving. Reasons they gave were that the devices were uncomfortable and difficult to use.

A recent study established that young adults talking on cell phones while driving, not only had their reaction time slowed, but that it was the conversation on the phone, especially the listening part, that caused the reaction-slowing distraction.

Current state cell phone driving law highlights include the following:

Preemption Laws: Several states have cell phone laws, but treat cell phone use as a larger distracted driving issue. Preemption laws prohibit local jurisdictions (like cities) from enacting their own restrictions.

School Bus Drivers: In 18 states and the District of Columbia, school bus drivers are prohibited from all cell phone use when passengers are present, except for emergencies.

Text Messaging: 30 states ban text messaging for all drivers, and other states have introduced similar legislation.

The list so far:

From: Cell Phone and Texting Laws (January 2011)

8 states (CA, CT, DL, MD, NJ, NY, OR, WA) plus D.C. and Virgin Islands ban hand held cell phones while driving. In all except MD, law enforcement can cite a driver if they SEE a cell phone being held while driving (primary enforcement).

6 states (FL, KY, LA, MS, NV, OK) have preemption laws prohibiting localities from enacting their own laws.

28 states and D.C. ban ALL cell phone use while driving for Novice drivers. The definition generally includes drivers under 18 and holding learner permits or provisional or intermediate licenses for less than 12 months.

18 states and D.C. ban cell phone use for school bus drivers with passengers.

30 states, D.C. and Guam ban texting while driving. 26 of those states have primary enforcement (an officer just has to SEE a cell phone in the driver’s hand). 2 states prohibit school bus drivers from texting while driving.

An additional 8 states prohibit texting while driving by novice drivers.

Drivers who want to (legally) talk while driving are adapting to the new reality.

Now is the time to be aggressive at work, when being noticed and becoming indispensable to your company are more important than ever. 

John M. McKee, is the author of Career Wisdom: 101 Proven Strategies to Ensure Workplace Success

Pretty much any time is the appropriate time for self-promotion.  Even in this environment, there are people who are thriving and succeeding.  Those people are very good at self-promotion. 

Some tips from the book:

1.     Develop an elevator speech:

Take advantage of those brief encounters with people who can influence your career in the future, like if you happen to meet the CEO going to work and share an elevator ride.  To prepare, take 2-3 sentences that will present you in a very effective way and you feel comfortable with, memorize them, and use them at every opportunity.

2.     Pace Your Boss:

It is entirely to your benefit to spend as much time with your boss as possible.  If your boss comes in early or stays late, or comes in on the weekend, match those traits as much as possible to show you share the same work ethics.  Being with your boss and spending some one-on-one time when others are not around vying for attention is a great opportunity to establish or cement a relationship.

3.     Over-communicate:

We rely too much today on text messaging, voice mails and emails to get our messages across.  We need to make sure that people are aware of our contributions.  If decisions are being made that will impact who will be laid off or promoted, you want to be in the right area. 

Go out of your way to tell your boss what you are doing, by asking for formal meetings on a regular basis, chance encounters using the elevator speech, or perhaps sending a weekly email update of a status report for them. 

It is preferential to have the meeting in person, because the power of communication in face-to-face meetings or one-on-one far outweighs anything that text messaging or the volume of emails or the endless voicemails they get.  You want to see them, look them in the eye and convey your successes.

4.     Shine Brighter by Sharing Credit:

Most people hate “glory-hogs”.  It doesn’t matter whether it is your boss, or people that work with you or people working for you.  If you are seen as a “credit-hog” that takes all the glory, it will come back and bite you.  In an environment where people are shrinking the number of people working for them, they are often looking for a team player, someone who can work well with others and do more than one task.  Share the credit, be part of team, keep a job.

5.     Look the Part:

Dress for the position you want in the future.  You want to be perceived as capable as moving ahead.  It is also how you communicate, and how you carry yourself, standing tall, looking people in the eye, talking clearly, all make you look more like a winner, and when promotion opportunities come around, they will look to you first.

6.     Arrive Rested and Prepared:

It’s not always possible.  With all the news we see and hear, people are getting more anxious, and when we are more anxious, it impacts our sleep.  When our sleep goes downhill, we don’t perform very well, we become more emotional and foggy-headed.  We arrive on the job and are not capable of making decisions we would like to make with the speed that we would like to. 

You must get a good night’s sleep, come in prepared for the job and be clear-headed to make decisions.

7.     Network, Network:

Use social networking online.  Services like LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Facebook are being used more and more by recruiters, cruising, and looking for job replacements.  Make sure you look as good as you can on them.  Use them to connect with other people in like-minded jobs across the country to share ideas and learn tips. 

On a lower tech level, go to industry events as often as you can, get your card out there, use your resume, and your elevator speech.

See Career Wisdom: 101 Proven Strategies to Ensure Workplace Success 

Many states have bans on hand-held cell phone calling while driving, but exempt incoming, emergency calls, and also some professionals (I would like to think my doctor can be asked for his guidance in an emergency).  Most states have primary enforcement for their cell phone laws, which means an officer can pull you over and give you a citation if he sees a cell phone in your hand while you are behind the wheel.  Only Washington has a secondary offense law, meaning the officer must pull you over for an offense (were you weaving or speeding?) before checking if you were using your cell phone.

California is hoping to reduce the 4,000-person annual death toll from traffic accidents by about 300, but a recent poll (Harris Interactive) in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey found that although 72 percent have a hands-free product in their cars, only about 14 percent of drivers use them while driving.  Reasons they gave were that the devices were uncomfortable and difficult to use.

A recent study established that young adults talking on cell phones while driving, not only had their reaction time slowed, but that it was the conversation on the phone, especially the listening part, that caused the reaction-slowing distraction.

Texting danger has yet to reach the critical levels and only a few states ban texting, although Virginia is considering legislation that would extend the texting ban to any transportation vehicle, including mopeds, bicycles and electric wheelchairs. 

Current state cell phone driving law highlights include the following:

Preemption Laws: Several states have cell phone laws, but treat cell phone use as a larger distracted driving issue.  Preemption laws prohibit local jurisdictions (like cities) from enacting restrictions.

School Bus Drivers: In 15 states and the District of Columbia, school bus drivers are prohibited from all cell phone use when passengers are present, except for emergencies.

Text Messaging: 4 states (Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington) ban text messaging for all drivers, but many other states have introduced similar legislation.

Full ban: prohibits all drivers from cell phone and texting use. Certain states allow hands-free cell use.
 

The list so far:

9 states have preemption law (up from 7 in 2005, adding New Jersey & Utah)
6 states+ D.C. & Virgin Islands ban handheld
19 states+ D.C. ban texting 

Many states consider cell phone usage a primary enforcement offense where an officer may ticket a driver for using a handheld cell phone while driving without any other traffic offense taking place (25 for texting, 5 for handheld usage).

Many states ban all cell phone use for drivers under 18

Drivers who want to (legally) talk while driving are adapting to the new reality.

Isn’t it time you went hands-free?