[SCCC] california vehicle code - hands free law?

[Fortney, Jim - K6IYK]

Drew -

To the best of my knowledge, we were never able to get legislation in 
California specifically covering Amateur Radio and distracted 
driving.  We were successful in Arizona, and there are multiple 
articles on the <http://arrlswd.org/>ARRLSWD.org Website under 
Special Notices.  The CHP email is available there.

The article about the AZ law which may be of interest is here:

http://kkn.net/n6aa/pdf/Arizona_Distracted_Driver_Law-April_2019.pdf

Hopefully some of this is of assistance.

73,
- Jim Fortney  K6IYK
   ARRLSWD AD / Webmaster


At 3/2/2022 07:23 AM, Drew Arnett wrote (in part):
>Hi,
>
>I'm running a group of students through Tech license exam prep.  One
>of the students asked what the deal is for amateur radio today given
>the round of distracted driver/hands free legislation that happened a
>few years ago.
>
>Is there a useful definitive answer I can point the students to?  I
>can point to the section of the vehicle code and tell them to check
>with their counsel.
>
>Googling shows me what I roughly recall from the last change that
>occured 2016/2017.  The ARRL advised that it be amended to provide an
>explicit amateur radio exemption.  Didn't see anything from ARRL after
>that press release.  Found copies of an email that are supposed to be
>from CHP about this; would be great to have a validated reference.
>That said pretty much what my recollection was:  hand mic for mobile
>is OK, handheld is at least questionable.  It could be that I wasn't
>persistent enough in googling.
>
>Is there a solid reference beyond just the vehicle code that I can
>point out to the students?  Is that CHP email on a CHP website or
>publication?  Any advice from ARRL counsel or other counsel to the
>California amateur radio community?  Has the current vehicle code on
>this been tested in amateur radio related ways, yet?  It's been a few
>years, so I'm hoping there is a solid unambiguous answer available
>today.
>
>Thanks and best regards,
>
>Drew
>n7da
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>SCCC at contesting.com
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
James T. Fortney, K6IYK
Assistant Director, ARRL Southwestern Division
K6IYK at ARRL.org

  "It is not the class of license the Amateur holds,
but the class of the Amateur that holds the license."
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