This belief is erroneous – driving, as they say, is a privilege and not a right – but the perception is there. Take away our cars, take away our freedom, and you’re itching for a fight.

DMV Employees Take A Stand

So here comes public employees of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, not showing up to work in protest of the state’s inability to pass its annual budget.

They are walking a thin line.

The protest is against elected officials who are playing partisan games and holding out to prevent more taxes, or to protect state services, take your pick.

To fight it, upsetting motorists is probably not the best political tactic.

California is the car capital of the planet, where everyone needs a car to work and get from here to there due to many reasons, among them a lacking public transit system, and the fact that its urban centers are so spread out geographically.

So, for DMV employees (public ones, gaining wages and benefits thanks to taxpayers), to make our DMV experience even worse is political suicide.

So you would think.

Crying Out Against Schwarzenegger

At issue is an informal protest by state workers to attract attention to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cuts in wages and hours, to combat limited cash as the state operates without a budget.

Image from: Moon battery

In California, the fiscal year begins July 1, which means they need to have a spending plan in place for the following 12 months.

But in California, the Legislature has been mired in a juvenile bipartisan spat for more than a decade, and it’s pretty much expected that the budget will not be passed by the June 30 law-required deadline.

Sure it’s law, but there are no penalties.  What’s the point?

Who gets penalized are state workers who go without paychecks the entire summer until the liberals and conservatives can come to terms about spending. It usually takes the whole summer.

So the California DMV workers, who have been targeted by the Governator for cutbacks, rebelled.

Sounds like a worthy cause, right?

Well, maybe if it involved Caltrans trash-pickup workers or some other non-essential duties.

But impacting California drivers?

“We’re working though these issues,” DMV Director George Valverde was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times on Aug. 16.  “We would hope that the public will have some patience with us.”

California Drivers Feeling the Impact

How much sympathy Mr. Valverde will get remains to be seen.

One thing is for certain: motorists already stressed to a boiling point by astronomical gas prices are not going to have much patience if their wait at the DMV gets any less pleasurable.

Yet the DMV warns that delays are expected at many other Los Angeles County DMV offices.  The Times’ article focused on Hawthorne and Bellflower.

Somewhat alarming is what is noted on the California DMV website: “Due to public safety concerns, the Hawthorne Office is currently closed.”

Safety concerns?  That says much about how the public is expected to react if service at California DMV offices gets any worse.

Valverde said more than 200 DMV employees in the Los Angeles area sicked out on Aug. 15.

There are 169 California DMV offices in the Los Angeles area, to serve an estimated 14 million drivers.  That means about 3.1 vehicles per household.

It’s a gigantic voting block. But the threat of laying off about 1,000 employees and eliminating Saturday hours forced the hand.

No one knows who will win. There arealready losers – California drivers.

The post California Department of Motor Vehicles Enters Political Fray appeared first on Cash for Cars Selling Tips.

California’s new hands-free mobile phone law has been in effect a month now, and media reports outline some interesting consequences.

First, there’s the cheaters. “I looked to my left, and there was a dark-haired woman driving a gray SUV with a towel draped over her head”, wrote a Bakersfield Californian columnist on July 30.

She was talking on a cell phone, trying to hide from authorities.

The Text Messaging Phenomenon

“I’ve learned one thing: It may be time to change my service plan”, the same columnist wrote. “I’m making 90 percent fewer phone calls. I am, however, texting like a high school girl.”

There are reports that text messaging while driving is even more dangerous than talking on the phone.

The same lawmaker who proposed the new hands-free law already is legislating to ban text messaging while driving.

Others report that Californians are using their mobile phones less, and driving better. Incoming calls to mobile phones are being ignored.

“Not having a Bluetooth, I find myself ignoring phone calls while driving. This makes me feel virtuous. I can’t take your call because it’s against the law”, the columnist wrote.

And Bluetooth devices are flying off shelves. 

The Mother of Invention

It seems that California’s new law is doing it’s job and making the streets of California a safer place.

“In July 2008, California and Washington joined New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., in banning the use of mobile phones with your hands while driving. In California the law was no surprise, as it was passed several years ago and lawmakers gave plenty of lead time to explore communications options inside your vehicle.”

California drivers are going to continue to see options to help them abide by the law, beyond Bluetooth wireless hands-free contraptions.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offers general information about the law, but steers clear of offering motorists any options.

Inventors are trying to fill the gap. For example, on July 29, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office reported the registration of an invention to provide “A small-footprint hands-free speakerphone apparatus (that) includes a loudspeaker, at least one main microphone, at least one reference microphone, and openings for receiving sound.”

“The apparatus may include one or more interface units to provide interface to external devices”, the report stated about the invention by Fortemedia Inc. or Cupertino.

Will such inventions put a dent in Bluetooth’s domination of the market?

Bluetooth, Texting and Drawbacks

Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento topped all metro markets nationwide for Bluetooth wireless headset sales in July.

It wasn’t just the law, industry analysts said, but also a love by Californians for technology.

But the law holds a hammer, too. First-offense fines are $20, with subsequent offenses at $50. Add state penalties and processing fees, and tickets range from $76 and $190 respectively.

Not everyone is keen on Bluetooth wireless as the ultimate solution. A University of Kansas phsychology professor in an article on Salon.com July 25, 2008 said:

“People are led to believe that as long as they have their Bluetooth wireless headset they’re safe, when in fact they’re probably at more risk, because now that they think that they’re safe they’re probably going to make more calls and be at risk for even greater periods of time.”

Those not technologically inclined, or who cannot afford wireless mobile phone contraptions, continue to either ignore incoming calls inside the car, or try other automobile communication techniques.

Text messaging is an option, but the media and lawmakers are already onto it.

Automobile mishaps nationwide have been blamed on texting. Four states already have outlawed sending or viewing text messages while driving, and California and legislatures in 13 other states are weighing bans on driving and texting.

The post Unforeseen Consequences of Hands-Free Law appeared first on Cash for Cars Selling Tips.