In Ireland, if you are a drive-while-talking-on-your-cell-phone repeat offender, you face up to three months in jail. In Poland, driving while yakking can cost you $1,000.

The United States is often criticized by its citizens for schoolmarm laws. Where is freedom of choice to not wear helmets, to smoke where you darn well please? The complainers congratulate other countries for allowing adults to choose their own risks. You still see free-range smokers in parts of Europe and in most developing nations. Seat belt and helmet laws, though often on the books, aren’t uniformly enforced.

But when it comes to cell phone bans, the United States actually lags behind other countries. China and India, for instance, don’t allow driving while talking.

On July 1, two new laws go into effect in Washington. The first is a ban on driving and talking on your cell phone. The second, which will apply only to Spokane County until 2010 when the rest of the state must comply, will prohibit the sale of dishwasher detergents that contain more than 0.5 percent phosphorus.

Both laws will prompt grumbling. Both will involve changing long-standing habits. But government’s primary responsibility is to protect the health, safety and well-being of its citizens. Both laws do so.

In nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the driver was distracted within three seconds of the event – in many cases by a cell phone. Under the new law, Washington drivers will be able to use a hands-free device, but someday those devices might be banned, too, as they are in some other countries. Phone conversations are distracting, whether you’re holding onto a phone – or onto another person’s every word.

Between 2001 and 2007, 3,229 people died in Washington traffic crashes, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. The cell phone ban has the potential to save lives and prevent injuries.

The link to public health and welfare is less obvious in the high-phosphate detergent ban. But here’s the deal. Phosphorus pollutes the Spokane River by encouraging the growth of algae, which sucks up life-giving dissolved oxygen. The lower the phosphorus content in the Spokane River – and in the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer – the healthier the river and aquifer. Though low phosphate detergent will help solve only a small part of the phosphorus problem, the law allows every dishwashing citizen to participate in the solution.

“This is an enlightened view of what goes down the drain,” explained state Rep Timm Ormsby, sponsor of the legislation.

These two laws go on Washington’s books early next week. Grumble a little, sure, but then heed the new laws. They are part of the community’s enlightened future.