Question of the Week: Do you talk and drive?

Although 1,542 drivers in the Bay Area were cited for talking on their cell phones and 77 for texting last week, if Fairfax and San Anselmo residents are to be believed they would never be among those irresponsible drivers.

Amid a police and highway patrol crackdown on cell phone use while driving, an informal poll of  residents suggests that we are an unusually lawful bunch -- or we just won't admit we're not.

None of the people I spoke with said they had ever been pulled over by the police for talking on their cell phones and only one admitted to using her phone without a hands-free device.

"It's a bad habit," said Jenny Holden of San Anselmo, who did caveat that she turns on the speaker phone when she picks up calls in the car.

The rest of the residents said they always use a hands-free device, sometimes will pull over to answer their phones, and never text or answer emails while driving.

Although there is a general recognition that cell phone use leads to distracted driving, a number of residents also pointed out that drivers are frequently distracted in a number of ways -- only one of which is talking on their cell phones.

"They shouldn't be eating a cheeseburger while driving either," said Peter, who has been hit on his bike twice by drivers who were on their cell phones. Despite working as a consultant to a cell phone company, he said he hopes police crack down more on cell phone use while driving.

I wanted to see if it really was possible to read an email and write a response while driving. Watch the video to see just how long it took me and how little I was able to keep my eyes on the road. [Caveat: Of course, I wasn't actually driving!! I was parked for the experiment!] 

Even without actually having to look for other drivers and oncoming obstacles, it was really difficult to type a simple one sentence response and try and keep my eyes on the imaginary road.

How does anyone text or email while driving? Would I have crashed? Probably definitely.

Do you answer your phone while driving? Do you think the police are right to crack down on cell phone use?