You may think you are the superhuman multitaskers who can use one hand to hold a cell phone to your ear while your foot is on the gas and your other hand is on the wheel. But the city is about to start enforcing a law that makes it illegal for you to test your multitasking limits. Beginning Nov. 1, police will give warnings to anyone pulled over for talking on a non-hands-free mobile phone while operating a vehicle - or virtually any other means of transportation on wheels.

In December, traffic enforcement officers in Center City and other high-traffic areas will issue citations carrying a fine of $75, said Luke Butler, spokesman for Mayor Nutter.

Technically, the law went into effect in May. "But the administration decided not to enforce it right away," said City Councilman Bill Green, one of the bill's sponsors.

The state legislature has opposed the Philadelphia law. Green said bills were pending that would prohibit only texting while driving. Under the state law, that would be just a secondary offense, which means that even if you are caught texting, you can't be pulled over unless you are also seen driving recklessly or doing something else illegal.

Such a law would do virtually nothing to protect public safety, said Green, who believes it is really intended to supersede the city's more stringent policy. Critics, including Green, claim the legislature is buckling to pressure from lobbyists representing wireless providers.

But James Gerace, a national spokesman for Verizon, wrote in an e-mail, "We've been pretty vocal about our support of banning texting and e-mailing behind the wheel for quite some time. We've also been the only wireless company to support and encourage hands-free calling when behind the wheel and, even then, only when it is critically necessary."

Green said he was prompted in part to introduce the city legislation because he once was rear-ended on a highway by a driver who was looking down while making a cell-phone call - the most dangerous aspect of cell-phone use in a car.

"The statistics are overwhelming," Green said.

In a presentation that accompanied the introduction of the bill, he noted that "mobile-phone usage while driving increases the likelihood of a crash fourfold. Drivers operating motor vehicles while using a mobile phone are as impaired as drivers with an 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level - the level that defines drunk driving in most states," and "the cost of crashes caused by mobile-phone usage is estimated at $43 billion annually."

Before police start enforcing the law, Green said, he would like to see public notices about it on billboards and the back of SEPTA buses.

As the November deadline approaches, the mayor's spokesman said, the city plans a series of public-service announcements and a statement from Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey.

State and federal governments, which have been slow to respond to the dangers of driving while talking or texting on a cell, have recently started to take more aggressive action to protect public safety. Last week, at a two-day summit on the problem, President Obama signed an executive order prohibiting federal employees on the clock from tapping messages into their handheld devices while driving. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration reports that more than 500,000 people were injured and 6,000 died last year as a result of crashes involving distracted drivers.

"I know it's not safe," said Rich Vespe, who drives 1,000 miles a week in his van making deliveries for Joseph Krow Fur, Suede & Leather Cleaners. On his way to pick up an order at a dry cleaner on 15th Street near the Vine Street Expressway, Vespe, 68, was negotiating heavy traffic while talking to a client on the cell phone in his left hand. A pencil poked up through the fingers of his right hand on the wheel and a notepad on a suction cup was stuck to the windshield in front of him.

Vespe said he knows he ought to be focusing on traffic, red lights, and pedestrians instead of talking on the phone. But like many Philadelphia drivers, he is waiting for the law to save him from himself.

"I think they're 100 percent right to make it illegal," he said. "In the midst of a conversation, you're not being attentive to the road."

A few years ago when Jean Tomlin was in high school, she was hit by a car near the Kimmel Center. "She was on the phone at a red light," Tomlin, 20, said of the driver. "She was looking at the light instead of me and when the light changed, she drove right into me. It was just a tap, but she freaked out. I think she was worried I would sue. She gave me 50 bucks."

Tomlin now works for Starbucks at the corner of Broad and Pine. The intersection is a prime spot for catching drivers talking or texting, she said. "I saw a guy on a motorcycle get hit right there by someone who was on the phone. It's crazy."