California clamps down on in-car mobile use

But only if you're under 21

Posted in Mobile, 17th September 2007 15:20 GMT

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California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has banned the use of mobile phones while driving, but only for those under the age of 21. The rest of the population is free to chat while cruising down the freeway, eating ice cream out of a bucket and reading Sports Illustrated.

The 60-year-old ex-Terminator said in a statement that today's youth are inexperienced and have a slower reaction time, so banning them from using digital devices while behind the wheel will give them less to be distracted by.

We were always under the impression that reaction time slowed with age, but hesitate to disagree with the man who played Conan - particularly as he'd presumably be a lot quicker with a sword these days.

US drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 reportedly have four times as many fatal accidents as those between 25 and 69.

About 10 people a day die on UK roads, though surprisingly that's one of the lowest road tolls in the world. We're not better drivers, we just wear seatbelts a lot. Perhaps we could send Jimmy Saville over to help out the Californians. ®

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