Time is running out.

Area residents have one month to buy headsets if they want to carry on telephone conversations, legally, while driving their cars.

Under a law that takes effect July 1, every adult driver will have to use a Bluetooth or similar hands-free device to talk on the cell phone, or hang up.

And they shouldn't count on getting warning tickets during a grace period -- there isn't going to be one, state officials say. They note drivers have had almost two years to gear up for the law; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it in September 2006.

Also taking effect July 1 is a companion law that will bar teens under 18 from talking on cell phones at all -- even with hands-free devices -- when behind the wheel. The prohibition will cover all types of communication equipment.

It makes perfect sense to target 16- and 17-year-old drivers, said Richard Robinson, 57, of Oceanside.

"There are just too many things going on in that young person's mind to be talking on a cell phone, much less texting," Robinson said last week.

As for the adults on the road, the restriction against hand-held cells is probably a good thing, he said, though it's hardly the only distraction facing them.

But Robinson, for one, is not running out to buy a Bluetooth. The maintenance supervisor for Air Products and Chemicals Inc. of Carlsbad said he had no reason to.

"I'm probably the only one in Southern California who doesn't have a personal cell phone," he said. "I've never owned one. I just never had use for one. I have a company-provided pager. And so, if people really need to get ahold of me, they can page me."

Besides, his firm went one step farther than the law a few months ago and barred employees from using cell phones, even hands-free devices, while discussing company business, Robinson said.

Waiting until the last minute

Still, a huge number of people do carry cell phones in their cars. Some are ahead of the curve and already have headsets. Many others are procrastinating.

Candi Batze, who lives in the French Valley area of Southwest Riverside County and drives 62 miles to her stem-cell research job in Sorrento Valley, said she is one who keeps putting the decision off.

"I'm probably going to be the last person to buy one," Batze said. "The price will probably go up by the time I get out there. It's kind of low on the priority list."

Batze said she's not worried about the consequences if she fails to make the deadline. She figures she still would have a couple of options at that point.

"You could always let it ring (when a call came in)," she said. "Or, when you get your first ticket, you could say, 'Darn, I guess they are really taking this thing seriously.'"

That first ticket will cost $20 and each subsequent violation will be $50.

Convictions will appear on driving records, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. But an offending driver won't be assigned a violation point. Under state law, a driver can lose his or her driver's license by accumulating four points in a year, six points in two years or eight points in three years.

Rebecca Jones, a San Marcos councilwoman, is one of those who is ahead of the curve.

"I didn't want to wait until the last minute, because if you do, you're going to have glitches and it's not going to work out so well," Jones said.

She said she was already seeing the advantage of placing both hands on the steering wheel instead of one on the wheel and one on the cell.

"I feel like I'm having a conversation with someone sitting next to me in the car instead of with someone on the telephone," Jones said. "And you're able to check your mirrors quicker."

The danger of distraction

Doing everything quicker and avoiding crashes is the goal of the twin laws.

"I introduced this (hands-free) bill because I believe it will save lives," said Sen. Joseph Simitian, D-Palo Alto, in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Simitian cited several studies, initially, including a Harvard University analysis in 2002 that attributed 5 percent of all U.S. traffic accidents to drivers talking on cell phones. That study estimated such crashes kill 2,600 and injure 330,000 annually.

A short time later, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that inattention was the No. 1 cause of crashes in the United States -- and that the cell phone was the single biggest distraction.

However, earlier this year, Arthur Goodwin, a researcher at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, challenged conventional thinking on the matter.

He reported that accident data from Canada and Australia indicated hands-free talking is no safer than talking with one hand on the phone.

Now there is new information that supports the senator's cause.

Last month, the Public Policy Institute of California predicted the legislation would save 300 to 900 lives a year in California, based on the experience of other states.

"Those numbers are very compelling, even at the low end of the spectrum," Simitian said. "Every day of the year, there will be somebody sitting down to dinner with the family who wouldn't have been without this law."

It's been nearly 22 months since Schwarzenegger signed the hands-free law.

The state gave motorists too much lead time, said Michael Caffin, owner of Cinneti Driving School in Valley Center. As a result, he said, some drivers may be slow to make the switch.

"They waited way too long with this," Caffin said. "People have been doing this for a while already, talking on the phone in the car. And you know how hard it is to break a habit."

He also said state officials haven't done enough to get the word out about the change.

Clearing up confusion

California Highway Patrol Officer Brad Baehr, a spokesman for the agency in San Diego, said the state has been going out of its way to notify drivers through news releases, Web site postings and speeches to community groups.

Baehr said the new laws appear to be on many people's minds. He said more than 100 people asked him about them when the Highway Patrol set up a booth at a downtown San Diego street fair recently.

"I don't think there's too many people who don't know about it," he said.

However, it may not be clear what people can and cannot do in every situation.

For example, the law makes an exception for emergencies. But does that mean drivers must pull over to make an emergency call on a hand-held cell? Or may they dial while driving?

"You can make that call while the car is moving," Baehr said.

If a driver is not experiencing an emergency, however, it won't be OK to try to squeeze in a call while sitting at a red traffic signal or in bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic, he said.

"Technically, you're still behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, and you're still driving," Baehr said.

And while the under-18 prohibition covers every kind of communication device, be it a cell phone, laptop, pager or Blackberry, the hands-free law is narrowly focused on the cell. According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, that law does not bar sending text messages while driving.

Mitch James, a beer salesman from Lake Elsinore who bought his head set four months ago, said there ought to be a law against texting, too, because it forces people to take their eyes off the road.

"They're going to have to do something about that next," James said. "That's too much."

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.

Cell phone laws: Questions and answers

Q: Will there be a grace period in which only warnings will be issued after the laws take effect July 1, 2008?

A: No.

Q: Does the ban on talking on a hand-held cell phone apply to vehicle passengers?

A: No, only to drivers.

Q: What fine will I have to pay if I am convicted?

A: $20 for a first offense; $50 for each offense after that.

Q: If I am convicted, will I receive a violation point?

A: No. But the conviction will appear on your driving record.

Q: Can I be pulled over by a police officer just for talking on a hand-held cell phone, even if I am not disobeying any other traffic law?

A: Yes.

Q: Does the law prohibit dialing?

A: No.

Q: Does the law prohibit texting?

A: No.

Q: Does the law allow me to use the speaker-phone function of my cell phone?

A: Yes.

Q: May I make an emergency call on a hand-cell phone while the car is moving?

A: Yes. The law makes an exception for emergency calls to law enforcement agencies, medical providers, fire departments and other emergency services agencies.

Q: If I am under 18, can I talk on my cell phone if I have a head set?

A: No. The law bars all use of cell phones and other communication devices by 16- and 17-year-old drivers.

Source: Department of Motor Vehicles, California Highway Patrol

For more information, visit the California DMV Web site.