Smart drivers talk safely       

If you must use your wireless phone while driving, please follow these tips:

  Let Voice Mail  pick up when it's inconvenient or unsafe to answer the phone.

  Program your most frequently dialed numbers into your phone for speed dialing. When dialing manually without the 'one-touch dialing' features, dial only when your vehicle stopped or have a passenger dial for you.

 Handle phones with care when behind the wheel. Talking on the phone lowers your concentration, which is why some locations outlaw yakking while driving. keep your hands on the wheel as much as possible. If conversations get intense, pull over and park in a safe place to complete your call.
In an emergency, remember 911 All cell phones let you call 911 emergency services if needed. A few newer phones incorporate a receiver that gets signals from Global Positioning System satellites, so that your carrier will know where you are within a few blocks.Consider using a hands-free speakerphone or hands-free accessory which allows you to keep both hands on the wheel when speaking.

Minimize your exposure to radiation. Mobile phones give off small amounts of radio frequency energy, and there’s concern that this may pose health risks. This question is being addressed by ongoing scientific studies. While most scientists agree that there’s no proof of greater risk, it makes sense to minimize your exposure. Using a headset with the phone on your belt -- held at least an inch from your body -- can minimize radiation exposure to your brain and other vital organs, and/or you can just set limits on the amount of time you talk on your cell phone. There’s a separate and much clearer issue for people with heart pacemakers, who should keep phones at least six inches from the pacemaker.

Check out the wireless Web (cautiously). Most new phones let you tap into wireless versions of the World Wide Web, e-mail, and instant text messaging (as long as your carrier delivers these services). It’s worth some time experimenting to see if any of this -- for instance, the ability to find movie times at your local theater or see the latest sports scores -- is worth the trouble. But the experience is often closer to plodding through a corporate voicemail system than surfing the Web on a computer. Typically, phone connections are slow, you see only a few short lines of text on the phone’s miniature screen, you can enter text only by tapping laboriously on those tiny keys, and there’s no online help. That situation is starting to change with the arrival of faster connections and slicker phones. In the meantime, check it all out -- but remember that the meter is always running.

* Did You Know ?  16-year olds are the most accident-prone of any age group, three times more likely to crash than 18-year old.