Get your free hands-free headset before law starts July 1
June 23rd, 2008, 11:33 am · 7 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
Eight more days until California’s hands-free driving law goes into effect. If you’ve been too cheap to buy a headset, you have two options: Stop talking on your cell phone while driving or visit FreeHeadset.org and get one mailed to you for $3.94 to cover shipping.
The site offers wired headsets for a ton of different cell phones, which is great because cell phones are so proprietary that there is no one-size-fits-all headset. FreeHeadest also offers a Bluetooth headset from Motorola but that will cost you $27 (still, a pretty good deal for Bluetooth).
Matt MacAdams, who started the San Diego site in 2003, said he buys all the headsets directly from Motorola, Nokia and other cell phone companies. He buys in bulk, so he gets a major discount. By charging a little more in shipping — $3.94 per headset — the company is able to break even. Yes, wired headsets are that cheap.
Headsets are shipped first-class mail on the day of the order, unless there’s a sudden surge in orders. That’s because FreeHeadset is just MacAdams, whose day job is to write code for a “very large cell phone company.” Plus, he gets help from a few friends who volunteer their time. When the New York Times wrote about the company in 2004, they got so many orders, it took about two weeks to catch up. Customers should get their order within 2 to 5 days.
MacAdams considers FreeHeadset more of a hobby. He started it after witnessing a horrific traffic accident where a driver plowed through an intersection and killed a mother. He later learned the driver was distracted with his cell phone and he couldn’t help but think that the death could have been avoided with a $3 headset. So, he started FreeHeadset.org. He thought about applying for non-profit status, but there was too much paperwork.
Expanding into a business he could make a living on would mean raising prices and that would ruin the whole free concept, he said.
“It gives you a good feeling to be non-profit,” he said.
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This is another one of those stupid laws that’s gonna be unenforceable as time goes on. In the first few weeks, the police are gonna crack down on drivers talking on their cell phones while driving to bolster their image that they’re gonna be tough in enforcing this new law. But after that, it’s gonna slack off gradually. Just curious, has anyone caused an accident while talking on their hand-held cell phone while driving?? I thought drunk drivers are the major cause of accidents. Is text-messaging also banned under this new law?? Text-messaging is far more dangerous and distracting than talking on your hand-held cell phone.
Here are some facts (visit http://www.StopDialing.com for the details):
1. 250,000 people have been killed in automobile accidents over the last 5 years. The #1 cause of accidents was driver distraction, and the #1 distraction is talking on your cell phone.
2. Talking on your cell phone increases your likelyhood of getting into an accident by 400%.
3. According to a recent report from the state of New York, which already has hands-free cell phone driving laws, people without a hands free device had 7 times more accidents, 7 times more property damage, and 7 times more injury than those who were using a hands free device.
4. Negligence cases have already been settled in the range of $5 – $20 MM against employers whose employees caused automobile accidents while being distracted on the cell phone.
5. Unfortunately, text messaging, dialing, looking up phone nummer, and sending e-mail is NOT banned under the law, despite these actions being VERY distracting.
Sources:
* California Highway Patrol
* AAA
* National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
* Governor’s Highway Safety Association
Yes, it’s true some people can’t chew gum and walk at the same time.
Just like A LOT of people can’t drive, let alone talk to the person in the seat next to them with out becoming a danger.
Not everyone is so ineffective while using a cell.
Why don’t we out law smokers also.
Those lung rockets are just as distracting.
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Hands Free Gadgets
[...] Get your free hands-free headset before law starts July 1 [...]
The tendency is really good. All countries in Europe have same laws, hope all states of America will join our state in banning the use of mobile phones with the hands while driving.
The fine should be much more i think. Then one could even have no ability to compare the price of a hands-free and a fine.