Your Wireless telephone gives you the powerful ability to communicate by voice
almost anywhere, anytime. But an important responsibility accompanies the benefits of wireless phones, one that
every user must uphold.
When driving a car, driving is your first responsibility. When using your
wireless phone behind the wheel of a car, practice good common sense and remember the following tips:
Get to know your wireless phone and its features such as speed dial and redial.
If available, these features help you place your call without taking your attention off the road.
When available, use hands free device. If possible, add an additional layer of
convenience and safety to your wireless phone with one of the many hands free accessories available today.
Position your wireless phone within easy reach. Be able to access your wireless
phone without removing your eyes from the road. If you get an incoming call at an inconvenient time, if possible,
let your voice mail answer it for you.
Let the person you are speaking with know you are driving; if necessary, suspend
the call in heavy traffic or hazardous weather conditions. Rain, sleet, ice, and even heavy traffic can be
hazardous.
Do not take notes or look up phone numbers while driving. Jotting down a "to
do" list or flipping through your address book takes attention away from your primary responsibility: driving
safely.
Dial sensibly and assess the traffic; if possible, place calls when you are not
moving or before pulling into traffic. Try to plan calls when your car will be stationary. If you need to make a
call while moving, dial only a few numbers, check the road and your mirrors, then continue.
Do not engage in stressful or emotional conversations that may be distracting.
Make people you are talking with aware you are driving and suspend conversations, which have the potential to divert
your attention from the road.
Use your wireless phone to call for help. Dial 999 or other local emergency
number in the case of fire, traffic accident or medical emergencies.
Use your wireless phone to help others in emergencies. If you see an auto
accident, crime in progress or other serious emergency where lives are in danger, call 999 or other local emergency
number, as you would want others to do for you.
Call roadside assistance or a special non-emergency wireless assistance number
when necessary. If you see a broken-down vehicle posing no serious hazard, a broken traffic signal, a minor traffic
accident where no appears to be injured, or a vehicle you know to be stolen, call roadside assistance or other
special non-emergency wireless number.
Battery life of nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries can be extended
by ensuring that each time a battery is used it is charged and discharged fully. Most of us are unable to do this
every time so try to make sure that it happens at least once a week
Get an Electronic Engineer to fit a couple of ferrite beads on the cable to your
"hands free", that should stop the radio frequency energy traveling up the cable.
If you are concerned that the phone you are buying is giving out an unnecessarily
high level of microwave radiation, you should ask about the SAR rating, a good dealer will be able to tell you. The
rating, and therefore the dosage can vary by up to twenty times. The Institute for Satellite and Mobile
Communications carried out tests that showed Motorola's Star Tac 130(A) to be the best with an SAR of 0.1. The worst
was 2.67 i.e. it was twenty times worse
Pay attention to the signal strength indication on your mobile. The power used by
your phone can vary by as much as sixteen times depending on whether you are getting good signals from the local
transmitter. Your battery will last much longer if you are in a good reception area. Just stepping outside your car
to get better reception can often double the battery life (and halve the amount of energy zapping your head)
Avoid dial and drive as much as drink and drive.
Use the mobile phone only when line phones are not available.
For heavy users, consider a hands free set. The inverse square law
applies here. Keep the source away from the body even if it does not appear too stylish. Do alternate between right
and left brain.
