TORRANCE TRIBUNE September 15, 2016 Page 7 TerriAnn in Torrance Hello? Not Now, I’m Driving Story and Photos by TerriAnn Ferren While looking out the window riding in a van to an event one evening last week, I happened to notice many drivers talking on their cell phones. They were not necessarily sneakily or stealth-like talking on their phones – they were blatantly holding the phone up to their ear and talking while driving. Upon closer investigation as we rode northbound along the congested San Diego Freeway, not only were people of all ages holding their cell phones with one hand and driving, but some were even texting! This surprised me. Not that I didn’t know people broke the law in this way, but I had no idea it was so prevalent. After awhile I stopped counting the number of drivers either holding their cell phone to their ear while they talked, or those blatantly texting. After that night, I began wondering about the cell phone laws and found out not every state has them, and California has one of the strictest laws in the country. Texting bans outnumber cell phone bans and no state bans all cell phone use for all drivers. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2016, “37 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice or teen drivers, and 20 states and D.C. prohibit any cell phone use for school bus drivers. Text Messaging ban: 46 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers. Two states prohibit text messaging by novice or teen drivers, and three states restrict school bus drivers from texting.” California bans all hand held cell phone use for all drivers, and has an ‘all cell phone ban’ for transit bus drivers and drivers younger than 18. California also bans all texting for all drivers. Seems that is plain common sense, but as we all know, there is nothing common about common sense. The entire issue, I found, is complicated. For us here in California, it is illegal for all drivers to talk on the cell phone or text. One of my friends who happens to be a Torrance Police Officer, told me that if you are in an accident and a question comes up if you were on a cell phone while driving, your records will be checked – confirming the date and time of the accident and your call will be used against you. Do you notice people talking on their cell phone while driving? And I am not talking about people who use either their ‘ear buds’ or high tech devices that link their cell phones to their cars’ audio system. I decided to ask around and see if I was overreacting, and if others noticed what I did, and what they thought about the issue. My sister, Linda said, “I see people talking on cell phones while driving all the time, every day. I think what could be possibly so important they have to be on the phone? And don’t they know that there is a law against it? And if I am next to them, I have even said, ‘no, no’ with my wagging finger and they just ignored me and kept on talking.” I asked my daughter, Michele, and she told me whenever she sees someone talking on their cell phone, she makes sure to stay away from their car – far away. One of my friends, living in Torrance, told me her cell phone rang when she was one block from her home in her residential neighborhood, so she thought she could catch it. Well, she did and it just so happened one of Torrance’s finest happened to be nearby and saw her reach for her phone and put it to her ear. And yes, you guessed it - she was issued a ticket right on her block. That cured her. Now she never even looks at her cell when she is driving. The next day, while visiting my local Torrance chiropractor, Dr. Terry Haydel, I asked him if he noticed people texting while driving. He told me he sees people talking and texting Illegal use of cell phone. every single day. In addition to his frustration with the fact that people continue to text when they shouldn’t, he added that much of his practice now is treating people who have been hit by those texting. Wow. After visiting Dr. Hadel, I spoke with the office assistant, Valerie Sperduto, who told me, “I was going down Hawthorne Blvd. and I was in the second lane off the right hand lane and we were going less than 20, down to 10 miles an hour sometimes. The cars in the other lanes were going right by me. There were too many cars in the lanes and I couldn’t get around them. But when I finally did, I looked over and I saw the driver – texting away on her phone. I realized, hey, that’s one of our patients. So, a week later when I saw this patient, I confronted her and asked, ‘Do you know what you were doing?’ and she had no idea that she was holding up traffic and she was oblivious to everyone around her.” Valerie told me after she spoke with the patient she hoped she would pay more attention while driving, and stops texting while she is on the road. Valerie then told me about one of their patients who just died while driving on the 710 freeway. Someone dropped their phone, bent down to pick it up and crashed into their patient and killed her. “I don’t know what it’s going to take,” Valerie added, shaking her head. Everyone I spoke with about this subject knew it was illegal to hold a cell phone in your hand and talk while driving. And everyone also knew about the ‘no texting law’. So why is it we see so many people breaking the law? What will it take for us to put down our phones completely when we drive? As Torrance residents, let’s all put down our cell phones and stop texting while driving, keeping our streets safer for everyone. • Up and Adam from page 5 think we left the game with a lot of confidence. That’s probably the best thing,” opposing coach, Ed Hodgkiss said of his team’s valiant effort. This Friday night, Croce and his team will look to keep improving their record as they take on Culver City Centaurs on the road in Culver City. Torrance Tartars The Torrance Tartars continued to struggle to open their regular season, falling to 0-2 on the year after last Friday’s matchup against the Culver City Centaurs in Culver City. Unlike in Week 1, where the Tartars lost by a final score of 40-0 to Mira Costa, the team was able to get on the scoreboard in this one. With two touchdowns behind starting quarterback Ryan Caroll, Torrance amassed 14 points on the night, but it wasn’t enough to outpace a simply better Culver City team. With a 49-14 loss, Torrance dropped to 0-2 on the regular season and will look for their first win of the year this week when they take on the Peninsula Panthers from Palos Verdes. West High The West High Warriors were able to keep their unbeaten season in tact last Friday night when they went up against the Eastside Lions. A high-paced offense led by starting quarterback Drake Peabody helped amass 32 points on the night as the Warriors beat the Lions by a final score of 32-20 at West High. The Warriors offense has proven to be high-powered and their defense has been sturdy as the team has quickly proven to be the class of this year’s Pioneer League. A Friday night matchup with the Bay League’s Redondo Sea Hawks will certainly put Greg Holt’s 2-0 Warriors to the test. A couple of tough matchups await West High just weeks before the beginning of league play. Now is when the team’s true colors will certainly show. • Hawthorne wide receiver Carlos Jacobo (No. 6) reaches around as South’s Carl Richardson (No. 3) deflects the ball for a catch. A couple of South Torrance defenders take down Eric Foster (No. 25). Hawthorne’s Aaron Foster (No. 10) turns the corner on Jimmy Clark (No. 55) and zero’s in on South’s quarterback Anthony Bjazevich (No. 2). South’s running back tries to avoid a tackle by a Hawthorne defender.
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