Washington State bans non-hands free BlackBerry use, texting while driving

Late yesterday, Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire signed into law a prohibition on text messaging or non-hands-free cellphone use while driving.

By implication, the measure includes all BlackBerry use without a Bluetooth headset, as well as the practice of originating a call while driving.

The text-messaging prohibition goes into effect January 1, 2008. Presumably that means Washingtonians who want to text their friends about that cool New Year's Eve party aren't going to be able to do so.

The cellphone use law goes into effect six months later, in July, 2008.

What convinced the Washington Legislature to approve the law in the first place? True-to-life accounts such as what happened four years ago when Billy-Baker Williams, then 12, was hit by a cell yapper while walking to his school bus. 

Billy, who was in a coma for nearly a month, appeared at the signing yesterday.

"Every single time I see a person on a cell phone, I say 'A person on a cell phone!' I just, like, scream it out," he said Friday.

I don't want to sound flippant, but I sometimes do the same.