The e-mail was from the following address: governor@govmail.ca.gov.

The e-mail in my in box was from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I wrote to Arnold, and Arnold wrote back. What he had to say was truly extraordinary.

In July, I decided to finally sit down and write a column about cell phone use when driving. Several people had asked me when I was going to broach the subject, and I had been reticent to approach it for the simple reason that I was pretty notorious for committing the act on a daily basis myself.

So I thought I'd write a real middle-of-the-road piece, centered around other drivers' opinions on the subject, pro and con.

When I started to research the subject, however, I came across one tragic story after another of people who had lost friends and loved ones to drivers who had been too distracted talking on cell phones to concentrate on the road.

I wrote about the death of 5-year-old Dameatrius McCreary, who was run over by a driver preoccupied by a cell phone conversation. I wrote about the deaths of Karen "Nikki" Cordell and her unborn son, Dartagnan Rowe, both killed by a driver who was too busy reaching for his cell phone to pay attention to the road. And I wrote about Kimberly and Kathy Seager, the beautiful teen twins who were pronounced dead on the exact same day at the exact same time killed by a young man too engrossed in a cell phone conversation to notice their car stopped at a railroad crossing in front of him.

My research for the column changed my perspective. I no longer felt that it was OK for drivers to talk on cell phones.

In September, I read that Gov. Schwarzenegger was undecided about whether to sign state Senate Bill 1613. While SB 1613 does not call for an all-out ban on cell phone use by drivers, the bill, which would take effect in July 2008, would require drivers to use hands-free equipment when using their cell phones and would impose small fines on those who did not.

So I sent the governor an electronic letter that I titled "Re: SB 1613 A Newspaper Columnist's Perspective." In the e-mail, I urged the governor to sign the bill and sent him a copy of the July 3 column.

Three weeks later, I received the response from the governor, which made my day.

He thanked me for sending the letter in support of the bill, then wrote, "I have decided to sign this bill after extensive consideration and thorough deliberation with proponents and opponents of this issue." And he concluded by saying, "I remain committed to improving traffic safety in California. Thank you again for writing to me. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Now, I know that the e-mail was probably sent by some junior staffer to a myriad of people who wrote the governor supporting the bill.

I must confess, however, that I was so excited about receiving the e-mail and the fantastic news that it contained that I called my mother to tell her about it from my cell phone while I was driving to my Jazzercise class.

Sorry, Arnold. Last time, though. Promise.

Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.