The Florida Highway Patrol handed out free cell-phone headsets along the turnpike in South Florida, launching a campaign to promote safer cell-phone use while driving, the Associated Press reported.
The effort follows Gov. Jeb Bush's signing of a bill in April that prohibits local governments regulating cell-phone use. Now only the state can regulate it. The bill also calls for the state's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to collect data on accidents caused by driver distraction and report back to lawmakers. Local governments throughout the state had considered, or already begun, cell-phone bans to combat phone-distraction crashes before the legislature passed its bill.
The patrol's yearlong campaign will include billboards, public service announcements, special safety events and other educational items with the slogan "Drive responsibly . . . call with care." In conjunction with the highway patrol, Verizon Wireless is donating more than 10,000 hands-free headsets.
