Easy access to portable phones has created issues of safety and propriety. LARRY FINK/EVANSVILLE COURIER AND PRESS

Cellular etiquette

Web posted February 15, 2000

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By Maureen Hayden
The Courier (Evansville, Ind.)

The number of cellular telephones in the United States has risen dramatically in the past decade. According to a recent survey by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, only 2 million cell phones were in use in 1988. By 1999, that number had grown to more than 75 million.

Cell phones are everywhere: In cars, theaters, cinemas, shopping malls, grocery stores, restaurants and seemingly any other place people gather en masse. They are, of course, wondrous inventions and more than just convenience.

You can go out to dinner without worrying all evening whether the baby sitter is surviving your tempestuous 2-year-old.

Due at a meeting and stuck in traffic? Punch in those numbers faster than you can say, ``I'm running late.'' No more does being stranded on a lonely road mean being saved (or savaged) by strangers.

Thanks to technology that has made cell phones cheap and easy to use, millions of people now enjoy nearly universal accessibility. But one person's accessibility may be another person's intrusion.

The yakking of cellular-phone users in inappropriate places is becoming a common disturbance to those around them.

The increased use of cell phones has made it convenient to talk just about anywhere. Some businesses are banning the phones because they can be used in inappropriate places. LARRY FINK/EVANSVILLE COURIER AND PRESS

Restaurants in New York and other big cities have resorted to banning cell phones from their dining rooms, or even creating ``cell phone lounges'' akin to ``smoking sections.''

PGA Tour officials have banned cell phones at most professional golf tournaments, but when pro golfer Phil Mickelson went to the U.S. Open in Pinehurst, N.C., last summer, he packed his cell phone in his golf bag. Turns out the tournament was scheduled less than two weeks before his wife, back in Arizona, was due to give birth.

But he also heeded protocol. He turned the cell phone off during play and asked his caddie to carry his pager.

Cellular phones can be much more than an annoyance. A recent analysis of 1997 crash data by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that cellular phones were a factor in at least 57 deaths that year, compared with only seven in 1991.

But it's obvious that cell phones save lives, too. In November, the Anchorage Daily News ran a story about a 68-year-old hunter mauled by a grizzly bear. He would have bled to death, officials said, if a park ranger who found him hadn't had a cell phone to call for a helicopter to transport the hunter to the hospital.

On the other hand, when was the last time you overheard a cell phone conversation that had anything to do with a medical emergency? Of the millions of people now tethered to their cell phones, most are using them for convenience, according to experts.

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry said the two biggest growing markets are parents who want their teen-age children on a leash and people who carry around a cell phone just in case of an emergency.

But if you're wandering down the supermarket aisle and can't remember if your spouse wanted regular or low-fat cottage cheese, is that an emergency?

Under siege from critics of cell phones, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association recently put together a set of consumer tips addressing good manners and car safety.

The association recommends that cell-phone users ``take it outside'' if their conversation might disturb others.

It recommends that motorists use cell phones only when stopped and advises them to never take notes as they drive.

Tips for cell phone users

Here are consumer tips addressing good manners and car safety from the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. More detailed advice is offered on its Web site (www.wow-com.com).

Mind your manners

Be courteous and considerate of those around you who may view your conversation as an intrusion.

Just as you wouldn't carry on a conversation in a church or theater, neither should you be making wireless phone calls there. Take it outside.

While riding on buses, trains, etc., speak in a quiet or normal conversational tone.

Remember it is a radio-based service. While it is illegal to intentionally intercept and tape wireless calls, there are people who will. Use caution.

Cell phone safety

Safe driving is your first responsibility. Always buckle up; keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road.

Make sure your phone is positioned where it is easy to see and easy to reach. Be familiar with its operation.

Use the speed-dialing feature to program frequently called numbers. Then you can make a call by touching only one or two buttons. Most phones will store up to 99 numbers.

When dialing manually, dial only when stopped. If you can't stop or pull over, dial a few digits, then survey traffic before completing the call.

Always pull off the road to a safe spot to jot something down.

Let your wireless network's voice mail pick up your calls when it's inconvenient or unsafe to answer.