Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute – Cellphone Laws: “A jurisdiction-wide ban on driving while talking on a hand-held cellphone is in place in 7 states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) and the District of Columbia. Utah has named the offense careless driving. Under the Utah law, no one commits an offense when speaking on a cellphone unless they are also committing some other moving violation other than speeding.”

• table shows the states that have cellphone laws / Map: hand-held bans / Map: young driver bans / Map: bus driver bans / Map: texting bans
• See also WSJ: A Safer Way to Text on the Road: “Vlingo essentially allows you to speak anywhere that you can type on your BlackBerry. Once installed, you operate the program by pressing and holding the convenience button on the side of the BlackBerry. This launches the recorder, and you can speak commands or series of commands to open applications, dictate messages, make notes, create calendar entries, update your Facebook status, and any other number of functions. Once you release the button, Vlingo will do whatever you’ve told it to do.”
• See also related postings on driving while texting