The downside of hands-free calling

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At first, I thought California's new hands-free calling law was a great idea. Though it's debatable whether cell phones in the car can ever be safe, I took a lot of comfort in knowing that holding your phone to your ear while driving was now illegal. True, there's no guarantee that both hands will now be on the steering wheel, but I thought my chances of being run down by a yakking driver were just a bit smaller.

But, only a few days after the law went into effect I realized that it had one unfortunate consequence: a very rapid proliferation of Bluetooth dorks. Since headset-use is now required by law, the number of people wearing their headset when they're not in the car or on the phone has exploded. The sight of these people has always made me cringe, but now it appears they're here to stay. I'm know I'm not the only one who feels this way so I encourage my fellow Californians to remember this: please remove your headset when not in use. You're not a Borg drone; it doesn't make you look important or edgy, and it's not a fashion statement. If you need a place to stash it you can always buy the LG Decoy, but otherwise your pocket or purse should suffice.