Distracted driving rules drive you to distraction

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Road trips are a staple of summer travel. You load up the car, cram in the kids and put the pedal to the metal. Well, it’s not that simple any more. The rules with which you have to contend vary from state to state, especially when it comes to distracted driving (also “known as get off your cell phone while driving”). Can you go hands free? Should you just shut up and drive? It depends on the state.

We’ve become more reliant on our cell phones, and not just for talking. Travel apps abound, and iPhones, BlackBerry devices and Androids laden with them help us communicate with each other to get local color, find hotels and cheap gas and even get from Point A to Point B without getting lost. All these tools that make travel easier could make driving safely harder, as you desperately need to monitor the Twitter public timeline while blowing down the highway at an absurd rate of speed.

Well, it turns out that keeping track of distracted driving rules from state to state, particularly if you’re on a long road trip, can lead you into distracted driving. Simply put: trying to obey the law can cause you to break it.Distracted driving laws, according to MSNBC, are far from uniform:

So far, 30 states – and some local jurisdictions, including Chicago and Phoenix – now have laws that address using cell phones or sending text messages while driving. Fines range from $20 to $150 for the first offense.

Unfortunately, the laws aren’t uniform. One state may ban handheld phone use in cars while another may allow it. Texting while driving is banned in dozens of states, but will result in a ticket in others only if you get into an accident.

Just keeping track of distracted driving laws can distract the heck out of you. So, you may want to print them out, MSNBC suggests, particularly since these laws aren’t always posted at state borders. A better idea, I think, is to e-mail or text them to yourself … which only works in states where you can use your cell phone while driving. D’oh!

Even better? Bring a copilot.

[photo by Lord Jim via Flickr]

Five hot weekend travel media stories

by Alex Robertson Textor on

In today’s round-up of the weekend’s newspaper media travel stories: delicious pork, among other edibles, in the French Basque Country; American summer road trips; the Italian border city of Ventimiglia; biking along the Danube; and a guide to the world’s waterfalls. These five stories inspire fantasies of several types, and hit on less popular spots (like the French Basque Country and Ventimiglia) as well as some of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, including Niagara Falls.

1. In the Guardian, Andy Pietrasik goes on a fishing trip in Basque France and gets seriously sidetracked by small-scale local culinary specialties.

2. Also in the Guardian, Jamie Jensen and Max Grinnell offer seven road trip itineraries across the United States. These include a Lake Superior North Shore drive and Highway 61 from Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

3. In the Globe and Mail, Shawna Wagman explores the Italian city of Ventimiglia, which she hilariously refers to as “the Windsor-Detroit corridor of the Riviera.” Wagman is especially taken by Ventimiglia’s Friday open-air market.

4. In South Africa’s Sunday Times, Marilynn Berrington narrates her bike journey with Rad & Reisen from Passau to Vienna.

5. In the Independent, Harriet O’Brien provides a snappy guide to some of the world’s best known waterfalls.

(Image: Flickr/Alberto Mari)

How to deal with touts – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Touts, hawkers and scam artists are a persistent nuisance in countries from Morocco to Vietnam, yet many a novice (and seasoned!) traveler believes that to remain open to local cultures, they must be polite and friendly to a pushy people who just want money.

In my experience, the best bet is to completely ignore anyone trying to sell you something if you did not start the business transaction yourself. Do not make eye contact or even say “no thank you.” If you do business in common markets, the things you want to buy will initiate plenty of genuine, local contact as it is.

[Photo: Flickr | mckaysavage]

Use contact lens cases to transport gels and lotions – Packing tip

by Gadling Staff on

Contact lens cases with screw-on lids make great travel accessories. When you want to take small quantities of hair gel, sculpting wax, eye make-up remover, an essential oil, Aloe Vera, or under-eye cream, you can’t beat contact lens cases. They’re small. They don’t leak. They can hold one week’s worth of lotion or gel in each little section.

If you don’t already own spare contact lens cases, you can buy them at most stores for less than a few dollars.

Related: Use a pill box for jewelry

[Photo: Flickr | Lee J Haywood]

Keep cords organized with TP rolls – Hotel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Keep your power cords — and your sanity! — in check by using the cardboard from paper towel or toilet paper rolls to organize all your electronics’ cords. To make a “cord minder” for each of your gadgets, follow these steps:

  1. cut a piece of cardboard tube to size
  2. cut a notch at each end to “hold” the ends (USB head or plug)
  3. stuff the cord inside the tube, leaving the ends wedged into the notches (add a rubber band for more security)
  4. mark each tube’s contents and place all cords in a plastic bag

When you arrive at your destination, grab the tubes you need and leave the rest in the bag. Rather than having numerous power cords draped around the room, the cords will be contained neatly in the tubes.

Bonus: if you see a toilet paper tube when packing to leave, it’s probably yours. [Photo: Flickr | Andres Rueda]