{"id":8341,"date":"2019-01-30T10:37:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T10:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/?p=8341"},"modified":"2019-01-30T10:37:50","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T10:37:50","slug":"california-cell-phone-use-up-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/california-cell-phone-use-up-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"California cell phone use up in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More drivers used their cell phone last year than in 2017, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and California State University, Fresno.<\/p>\n<p>Just under five percent of California drivers were observed picking up and using their phones during an observational study, compared to just under four percent in 2017, the year the state\u2019s cell phone law went into effect. Both figures are lower than in 2016, when just under eight percent of drivers were observed using their phones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is to end distracted driving, and there\u2019s still work to be done,\u201d said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. \u201cThis observational survey gives us an idea on where we stand getting drivers\u2019 attention away from their phones and where we still have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other key findings from the study include<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Phone use was more than eight times higher among drivers with no passengers versus with at least one passenger<\/li>\n<li>Phone use was higher on local roads than on freeways or highways<\/li>\n<li>The most common phone use by drivers was to perform a function on the phone. This could be anything from texting, email, GPS, using an app or social media<\/li>\n<li>Less than two percent of drivers were observed using their phone with a child passenger<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Under the 2017 hands-free cell phone law, drivers are not allowed to hold their phone for any reason. Phones must be mounted on the dashboard, windshield or center console and the mounted phone can only be touched once with the swipe or tap of a finger to activate or deactivate a function.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers caught using their phones face a $162 fine for a first offense and at least $285 for a second offense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More drivers used their cell phone last year than in 2017, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and California State University, Fresno. Just under five percent of California drivers were observed picking up and using their phones during an observational study, compared to just under four percent in 2017, the year the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":8342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}