Eglin to Ban Motorists From Using Hand-Held Phones on Base
Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 18:00 CST
By Mladen Rudman, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach
Mar. 29--EGLIN AFB -- Starting Tuesday troops, military retirees, pizza deliverers and anyone else driving on the base can talk on cellular telephones only if they use hands-free devices, according to the 96th Air Base Wing.
Once ticketing starts, repeated violations might lead to suspended or revoked driving privileges on Eglin Air Force Base.
Though Air Force Instruction 31-218(I) permits people to use cell phones hands-free, other gadgets such as MP3 players that require headphones or earphones remain illegal.
The two unions on Eglin recently signed off on the handsfree rule.
Hurlburt Field has been enforcing hands-free cell phone use rule for a year.
American Federation of Government Employees Local 1942 president Rocky Tasse said the rule has posed no trouble for drivers on Hurlburt.
"I thought Hurlburt was going to go Gestapo," he said Tuesday. "There's not been a rash of tickets or an onslaught of complaints."
Tasse hoped for the same at Eglin.
Capt. Virgil McGee, spokesman for the 16th Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt, echoed Tasse's conclusion. "Quite honestly, we haven't pulled that many people over," he said. Hurlburt's 16th Security Forces Squadron stops five to six people a week for talking on hand-held phones, McGee said. He figured Hurlburt airmen and civilians have adapted to the hands-free rule in much the same way they alter other driving habits when on base.
For example, speed limits off the base tend to be faster than on base, but drivers adjust when using military roads.
Tasse of AFGE 1942 noted that neither base can prove how many accidents, if any, are caused by drivers using handheld cell phones. But the handsfree rule makes sense, he added.
"It's safer and it offers less distractions," Tasse said.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach
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Source: Northwest Florida Daily News
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