Suffolk County could ban hand-held cell phones while driving

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. - Suffolk County, home of the Hamptons and other playgrounds of the wealthy, has voted to ban drivers from using hand-held cellular phones.

Though other cities have taken similar action, Suffolk is believed to be the first county in the nation to do so.

The County Legislature voted 12-6 on Tuesday to limit motorists' cell phone use to hand-free models. The measure mirrors local ordinances in New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

With County Executive Robert Gaffney's approval, the law would take effect in January. The penalty for holding a cell phone while at the wheel would be $150. Emergency calls are exempt from the ban.

Concern over the issue surged when a Suffolk family of four, vacationing in Virginia, was struck and killed by the vehicle of a driver talking on a cell phone.

''There are too many people with too much money talking unnecessarily,'' said Dr. Shawn Cannon of East Hampton. ''Half the population in the Hamptons is driving around talking about dinner reservations.''

Brooklyn, Ohio, enacted the country's first such law last March.

A 1997 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that talking on a phone while driving quadrupled the risk of an accident and was almost as dangerous as being drunk behind the wheel.