How to comply with 2014 hands-free cell phone law

Don Grady is a CPA and Professor of Accounting at National Louis University, Chicago.

A new state law took effect Jan. 1, 2014 that bans the use of hand-held devices while driving in Illinois. Mo­torists still can chat and drive but only if they use hands-free technology, such as a Blue­tooth device, earpiece, head­set, or speakerphone. Other­wise, they’ll need to pull over and put it in park or face fines that start at $75.

Our second family car is an older model that doesn’t have a feature that links with your cell phone. To comply with the new law, I searched the web for alternatives.

The first alternative I thought of was to use the “speakerphone” feature on our cell phones and just leave the phone on the dash or seat in the car. The downside to this is that background road noise makes the communication un­clear – hard for both the driver and person on the other end of the phone.

I found a second alternative that is popular with the young­er generation – the Bluetooth earpiece that connects wire­lessly with your cell phone. Those devices have a built-in microphone in the earpiece so you can communicate hands-free while walking or driv­ing. I had one of those a few years back. I remember get­ting strange looks from those around me when I used it. They thought I was talking to myself until they noticed the odd device hanging out my ear.

One advantage of this type of device is the privacy of the conversation. The downside is that others cannot share in the conversation. A headset offers similar advantages and disad­vantages. I found a wide va­riety of these types of devices available at retail ranging from $24 to $149.

The third alternative I found was a device that plugs into the cigarette lighter of the car. It is called an ‘in-car FM transmitter.” It has a built-in microphone and uses a Blue­tooth wireless connection to your cell phone just like the earpiece or headset. Howev­er, it uses an FM transmitter to connect to the car’s radio. You “tune” the transmitter to an FM channel on your radio and it works much better than a speaker phone.

The model I chose is called the Flexsmart X2. It has an added feature that allows you to play music through the system, as well as use it with your phone. All you do is store music on a USB/thumb drive and plug it in. The customer reviews on the web spoke very highly of the device and the clarity of the communication. So, I got two for Christmas presents – one for our second family car and one for my daughter’s car.

My wife and I have Android-based phones and my daughter has an iPhone. The system works with both systems. I was truly amazed at how the system blanks out the back­ground noise and provides very clear sound. The best part was the price: $49. That’s a lot cheaper than a $75 ticket.

• Send in your questions and ideas to: Sun Day, Fru­gal Forum Column, P.O. Box 7505, Algonquin, IL 60102, or, by email to: thefrugalfo­rum@gmail.com.

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