Come this July, California will painfully forgo an addiction that has terminally infected the culture of Los Angeles for the past twenty years.

Yes, Valley road warriors, it’s time to go “hands-free.”

Known as the Wireless Telephone Laws, drivers 18 and older are prohibited from holding a cell phone to their ear, but not from using Bluetooth or speakerphone features. However, any driver seeming overly distracted by their conversation could be pulled over and fined.

“So many people have cell phones in Los Angeles, and so many people are talking on them,” said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Bill Bustos, who is with the Valley Traffic Division, a department responsible for inspecting traffic collisions. “We’re going to be applying this law aggressively.”

Much like America’s obsession with fast food, so have we become with cell phones. Thin, fat, flip, slide, photo-, video-, and internet-enabled, the styles and accessories seem to have come to reflect our inner person much like designer clothing. As of February 2008, research by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association shows that over 254 million people are subscribed to cell phone services. So it’s no wonder people juggle phone calls into the mechanical nuances of driving.

“If people have a cell phone tucked between their ear and shoulder, they can’t look over their shoulders before shifting lanes,” Bustos said. “Drivers are focusing on the conversation and that slows the reaction while driving.”

A 2005 study released in the quarterly journal Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society said cell phone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in automobile accidents every year—a number verifiable by matching the time of collision with the victims call history.

A first offense gets you a fine of $76 and subsequent convictions $190. The Wireless Telephone Laws mean to target those heated conversations that could result in four-lane pile-ups. Still, there’s one key factor the law does not specifically prohibit: text messaging.

“I drive a little slower when I’m talking on the phone, and I feel like I’m in less control,” said Kevin Boyle, a 17-year-old Notre Dame High School student and frequent “texter.”

When asked if he texts while driving, he exploded with a jubilant, “Of course not!” An officer can still pull you over if he or she feels a driver is distracted and therefore not operating a vehicle safely, and that includes texting while driving.

The new law will deal a heavy blow to the underage crowd. Yes, emergency situations are an exception, but as far as conversing, hands-free or not, the LAPD are permitting no “grace-over period” to underage drivers, let alone anyone else.

“Everyone thinks they’re a great driver until something happens,” said Oscar Gutierrez, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Fire Station 90 in Van Nuys.

“By the time you need to slam the brakes, your reaction time has been cut down.”

So while Bluetooth headsets may make you look like you are talking to yourself, it beats a hefty fine and more importantly affords you two hands on the wheel.

Bustos, with a remorseful tone burdened by eight years of investigating automobile collisions and homicides, always reminds people why these laws have been put into place: “Our goal is to save lives.” For more information, visit lapdonline.org. and click on “New Cell Phone Laws.”