Is driving while talking on your cell phone a crime? In some places it is. Do you know Maryland's laws regarding using your cellular telephone while behind the wheel?
And what if you happen to be on your way to Philadelphia? Or suppose you're driving your son or daughter back to college at Princeton?
"What are the current laws governing cell phone use in nearby states?" Zachary Greggson wondered. This is something he needs to know, he said, because he frequently travels around Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.
Mr. Greggson noted that many states - New Jersey among them - have signs along major interstates informing incoming drivers to put their headlights on if their windshield wipers are on, but no similar signs about the state's policies on cell-phone use while behind the wheel.
Although no federal law prohibits motorists from chatting on cell phones while driving, some states and local jurisdictions have enacted laws that do.
What makes it clear as mud is that jurisdictions have set different levels of restrictions.
Some states prohibit the use of "hand-held devices" while operating a motor vehicle, but do allow the use of headsets, while other states prohibit new drivers from using cell phones, although new drivers' older siblings and parents can use them.
To make matters more confusing, some Pennsylvania municipalities - the towns of Conshohocken, Lebanon and West Conshohocken - are getting in on the act and prohibiting cell-phone use, but elsewhere in the state, driving while talking on a cell phone is legal.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, only Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have enacted jurisdictionwide bans on driving while talking on "hand-held wireless phones." In other words, in New Jersey and the District of Columbia, headsets may be used.
Ten states (Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas) and the District of Columbia restrict new-driver use of cellular telephones entirely in the graduated licensing system.
As a motorist and a cell-phone user, it is your responsibility to know the relevant laws in the states in which you drive, whether you live there or are visiting for the day. For state-by-state restrictions on cell phone use while driving: www.statehighwaysafety.org/ html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone _laws.html.
