Free Press Staff

A significant number of drivers in downtown Burlington had phone calls to take or make and messages to check Wednesday — even though a new law bans the use of hand-held electronics while driving.

At lunchtime, nine drivers could be seen talking on their cellphones as they drove through the intersection of South Winooski Avenue and College Street during the hour that a Burlington Free Press reporter monitored compliance with the ban, which went into effect Wednesday.

Another seven drivers could be seen holding and checking the screens of their phones at the light, and they continued to clutch the devices when the traffic light changed, and their vehicles began moving again.

An informal survey at the same corner from 4-5 p.m. produced similar numbers: Roughly once every three minutes, a driver could be seen passing through the intersection with a hand-held device, in most cases held to an ear.

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Several southbound drivers were talking into their cellphones as they pulled up at a red light, at College Street, then continued talking as they proceeded with the green.

The fine for a first offense, including fees, is $162. A ban on texting while driving already is in effect in Vermont.

During the morning rush hour, though, drivers seemed to prefer coffee cups and other hand-held distractions (such as paper maps) to cellphones, at least at this particular intersection.

Easily spotted

Cups, sandwiches and other snacks remained popular in the noon hour as drivers multitasked through the downtown, but phone use was easily observable.

The most egregious violation spotted during the lunch-time survey was the man on the phone turning right from South Winooski onto College Street while a fire truck with siren blaring also negotiated the intersection.

Drivers are in violation of the new ban only when their vehicles are moving. The first three drivers spotted with phones — within three minutes of each other — consulted them while stopped at the traffic light. Would they continue to glance at the devices while driving? Certainly the temptation would be there.

Two women and a man clearly had cellphones held to their ears while they drove through the intersection between 11:55 a.m. and noon. Minutes later, two men checked their phones while stopped and kept hold of them as they pulled away from the intersection.

One driver, an acquaintance of the Free Press reporter observing the intersection, rolled down a window to inquire what she was doing. When she said she was counting how many drivers were on cellphones, he pointed to his empty front seat and declared he certainly wasn't violating the law.

During 65 minutes of midday monitoring, the reporter tallied more men than women using their phones in some fashion. Of the nine clearly talking, five were women, and four were men. Among those holding and checking something on their phone screens, most were men.

Morning compliance

In contrast, drivers during the morning commute in Burlington favored breakfast beverages over cellphone conversations.

From 7:30-9 a.m. at South Winooski Avenue and College Street, a Burlington Free Press reporter spotted just four scofflaws: three driving with cellphones pressed to their ears, and one texting on a phone on her steering wheel.

Handheld mugs, breakfast sandwiches, fruit and fountain drinks outnumbered electronics by a huge margin.

Little hands-free telephony (the legal kind) through speaker phones or headsets was in evidence.

Two motorists — one of them the Burlington Free Press photo editor — wore conspicuous white iPhone earbud headsets. It could not be confirmed whether the two were carrying on conversations or merely mouthing song lyrics.

A dozen or so drivers, steering with their left hands, appeared to be manipulating objects in the vicinity of their right knees.

Were they texting? The assumption, based on only a quick glance, would be hard to prove.

They could have been fingering coffee stains, smoothing trouser wrinkles or breaking a candy bar into bite-sized pieces.

In motion and behind the glare of closed windows, those drivers likely would sail past a police cruiser without incident.

The most hazardous episode of the morning was a woman who changed lanes while examining a paper map.

Student monitoring

A group of University of Vermont students who call themselves Students Against Distracted Driving conducted a survey at seven sites near the campus that showed more than 10 percent of drivers were either talking on the phone or texting.

The sites were on Main Street, Colchester Avenue and University Place — intersections, the students said in a statement, with "high numbers of pedestrians and car interactions." From 4-5 p.m. on a recent day, the students counted 2,287 cars, in which 243 drivers could be seen using cellphones.

A less rigorous survey during the same time period Wednesday by a Free Press reporter, from a vantage point on the northwest corner of South Winooski Avenue and College Street, turned up about 17 clear violators.

But the reporter conceded there could have been more, because he himself became distracted at various points during the hour — talking with passersby, giving out-of-towners directions to the post office — as he attempted to count distracted drivers. He quickly abandoned any attempt to count all the cars.

Many drivers who were using cellphones had one hand on the steering wheel while using the other for smoking or drinking or fingering some part of the face — cradling, rubbing, encasing, fondling or scratching lips, cheeks, chins and ears.

Some of these gestures might easily be mistaken, seen in a rapidly passing car, for use of a prohibited electronic device. That could prove challenging for enforcers of the new law, but they left the reporter contemplating a yet another mystery of driver behavior: What's all this facial fingering about?

Contributing: Joel Banner Baird, Nancy Remsen and Tim Johnson, Free Press staff writers. Contact the Free Press at 865-0940 or metro@burlingtonfreepress.com. Follow the Free Press on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfp_news.

What the new law says

The ban took effect Wednesday and covers all portable electronic devices including music players, laptop computers and cellular telephones.

Hands-free use is permitted under the law. Hands-free means without the use of either hand and outside the immediate proximity of the user's ear, by employing an internal feature such as a Bluetooth, or as long as the device is in a cradle or otherwise securely mounted in the vehicle.

The ban is lifted when the driver needs to communicate with law enforcement or emergency service personnel under emergency circumstances.

A person who violates the law faces a fine of no less than $100 and no more than $200 for a first violation, and $250 to $500 for a second or subsequent violation within any two-year period.

Source: Vermont Highway Safety Alliance