If N.Y. bans cell phones, what’s next– drinking coffee, driving with pets?

New York’s cell phone ban could clear the way for laws against anything that causes accidents, from having a pet in the car to drinking coffee, warns a lawyer fighting to have the ban declared unconstitutional.

“This is a new kind of law,” James Ostrowski said in Erie County Court. “It’s not about how you drive, it’s about how you live your life.”

Ostrowski is representing a motorist fined $105 for talking on her cell phone in suburban Kenmore in 2004. She is appealing the conviction. But he maintains the case is about more than a traffic ticket.

“Almost all prior legislation concerning driving regulated the rules of the road: how you drive,” he told Judge Shirley Troutman. “With the cell phone law, we entered the previously uncharted territory trying to figure out all the little things in life that may or may not be the cause of accidents, then banning or regulating those activities.”

In 2001, New York became the first state to prohibit drivers from talking on hand-held devices while operating a motor vehicle. Using a phone with a handsfree headset is permitted. Proponents said the law was meant to reduce traffic accidents and save lives.

“It’s a green light to Albany. You’re going to have 15 more laws,” The Associated Press reported Ostrowski arguing on behalf of his client.

But Kenmore village prosecutor Kevin Stocker argued that because the statute addressed safety, it met the constitutional challenge. “Driving a vehicle is a privilege; it’s not a civil right. So the court just has to look at the legislative intent and whether it has a reasonable relation to its intended use,” he said.

Ostrowski argued the statute violates equal-protection clauses by singling out one activity without citing others, such as using a hand-held computer or citizens band radio.