Cellphone ban takes effect today

Just 30 feet over the hum of northbound Aurora Avenue traffic, Cindy Baker-Williams and others held a banner Monday with a clear and concise reminder to drivers: "Hang Up and Drive."

The handheld cellphone ban for drivers begins today.

Baker-Williams and the women with her, who fought gusts of wind that eventually ripped one paper banner, are part of the Trauma Mamas, a group of mothers whose children have been hit by cars.

Baker-Williams' son Billy was hit when he was 8 and suffered brain damage; witnesses of the accident said the driver who hit him was talking on a cellphone. He is doing well, his mother said, but he still can't attend public school.

Since the law was signed last year, Baker-Williams and the Trauma Mamas wanted to do what they could to remind drivers.

"We're not really thinking the public knows there is a law coming," she said.

She and other advocates wanted a ban on all cellphone communication, not just handheld phones, but they said today's ban is a start and that they hope statistics collected by police will prompt more restrictions on cellphone use.

The new law is a secondary offense in Washington, meaning police need another reason to pull drivers over. Because of this, some people will probably still talk and drive, Baker-Williams said.

"Being a secondary offense, people might just figure they won't get caught," she said. "I don't think the public is really aware of the danger."

Desiree Douglass stood on the other side of the 41st Avenue pedestrian overpass holding a sign her son made for southbound drivers to see. Some drivers honked as they shot by. She agreed that most people, including herself, could not understand the importance of the law unless they saw a loved one disabled.

"If I hadn't seen what I saw and been through it, I wouldn't know that we must not talk on our cellphones when we were driving," she said. "If we knew, we wouldn't take the chance."

Her son, Dominick May-Douglass, was struck by a car when he was 11 and also suffered brain damage. Dominick, now 15, and Billy, 13, were both on the overpass holding homemade signs. Billy's motivation was simple. He stood over traffic "so other people don't go through the same stuff that we went through."

Sean Rose: 206-464-2292 or srose@seattletimes.com