Milton chief thinks Hands Free will get a thumbs-up

Come July 1 driving in New Hampshire is going to have a whole new look and feel.

Every other driver you see on the road won't have a cellphone snuggled up to their ear or staring down as they compose a poetic text to a potential date.

That is unless they want to pay a hefty fine.

That's because on July 1, New Hampshire will begin enforcement of its prohibition on the use of all mobile electronic devices while driving, commonly referred to as the Hands Free law.

The rumors that you won't be able reach for the knob to turn down your radio or turn up your heat aren't true, but when it comes to devices like cellphones, Ipods, Ipads or GPS, if you do data entry, you risk a $100 fine, $250 for a second offense, a hefty $500 for a third.

The law has been approved for about a year, but the state is waiting till July 1 to give people plenty of time to adjust and get ready for New Hampshire's new mobile communication normal, said Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss who wholeheartedly supports the new law.

"This law will work to increase safety," Krauss said Wednesday. "It will change the mindset of using phones while driving."

Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss

As of today, 14 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving. All are primary-enforcement laws, which means an officer may cite a driver for using a hand-held cell phone without any other traffic offense taking place.

Krauss urged drivers to take the time between now and July 1 to make necessary adjustments to their phones and vehicles to make them compatible with the new law. Of course, many new vehicles have hands-free technology, but just buying a Bluetooth, which costs about $35, or hooking your phone to your car speaker could keep you legal.

Krauss said that data entry is the key to culpability. If you're entering data in any way, shape or form, you would be subject to being pulled over, cited and fined.

But if you're phone rings and you have to look down to press the answer button, you're OK. You just can't be holding the phone.

"It's like you're radio. You're allowed to press the button to change from AM to FM, but you can't manipulate an electronic device to start the music," Krauss said. "And you can't reprogram your GPS. You'd have to pull over to do that."

Krauss said the law could go a long way toward making New Hampshire roads safer.

"Most crashes we see are from distracted driving," he said. "There are crashes in downtown Milton from distracted drivers. I've seen drivers texting and not paying attention, coming down our downtown area and driving past Garage Way where there's heavy foot traffic and they're looking at their phones."

But how about old-school negligent driving, like reading the newspaper across the steering wheel or doing paperwork and writing checks or eating a Big Mac, shake and fries?

Krauss said those types of offenses would still be punishable under the state's negligent driving laws.

"If you do something in your vehicles that causes you to have a violation like crossing the center line, that would be negligent driving," he said.

Overall, Krauss thinks the Hands Free law will be well accepted by a public sick and tired of seeing the carnage caused by inattentive drivers staring at or talking on their cellphones.

Moreover if you're talking on the phone, you're already violating one of the age-old rules of driving: two hands on the wheel, he reasoned.

"I don't see much pushback from the public," he said.