The new year should hopefully be a better year than years past and that isn’t just a festive season wish. The State of California is all set to pass a bunch of laws that are aimed at decreasing the frequency of accidents on its roads.

The most high profile of these laws signed with great fanfare by Governor Schwarzenegger won’t go into effect until June 1st. The cell phone law bans adult drivers from using cell phones or messaging devices when they are behind the wheel, although hands free devices are allowed. Let’s hope there won’t be any more Senator-driving-while-yakking-on-phone-causing-accident type scandals to scuttle any impact of the law.

Moving on to other laws, the no smoking in a car ban will go into effect on January 1st. This law prohibits anyone from lighting up even in a stationery vehicle if there are kids present in the car.

The third law deals with one of the more serious violations out there and hopefully will have some effect on the numbers of DUI accidents in the state. The law requires anyone applying for a driver’s license to be informed that driving under the influence and causing an accident can expose him to a murder charge. This law was born out of the number of drunk drivers who seemed to be getting off with a fine and not much else after their attorneys successfully argued that their drivers were unaware of the dangers of drinking and driving. Lawmakers are taking no more of that nonsense. Every person in line for a driver’s license will have to sign a declaration stating that he or she is aware of the implications of a DUI. Hopefully this should make it more difficult for drunk drivers, who are frequently responsible for some of the most destructive accidents on the road, to get away with their actions.

So that’s what is in California’s traffic safety goodie bag this festive season. All three laws especially the cell phone ban and the DUI declaration law have huge potential for increasing traffic safety and some very promising benefits. At The Reeves Law Group we advocate harsher punishments for drunk drivers to reduce the astounding number of repeat offenders, and this might be a step in that direction.