NEW YORK -- New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission has presented proposals that would prohibit cabbies from using an array of new communications technologies. These would include hands-free Bluetooth devices and smart phones. The proposals were made Friday. Public hearings will have to be held before the full commission votes on them. A taxi drivers' group calls the proposals "cruel and irresponsible." The commission says talking while driving is a safety hazard. Taxi drivers have been prohibited from using handheld and hands-free phones while driving since 1999. But the new rules would increase penalties and prohibit drivers from even wearing wireless earpieces.
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