Text Messaging Ban? All drivers. Handheld Cellphone Use: 24 states, D. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using handheld cellphones while driving. All are primary enforcement laws — an officer may cite a driver for using a handheld cellphone without any other traffic offense taking place.
All Cellphone Use: No state bans all cellphone use for all drivers, but 37 states and D. Text Messaging: Washington was the first state to pass a texting ban in Currently, 48 states, D. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers.
All but three have primary enforcement. Of the two states without an all-driver texting ban, one prohibits text messaging by novice drivers. Law Chart Preemption Laws: Some states have preemption laws that prohibit local jurisdictions from enacting their own distracted driving bans.
School Bus Drivers No. School Bus Drivers Yes. Many states have banned school bus drivers from using cellphones while passengers are present. Some of these laws apply to all device use—regardless of whether in hands-free mode.
However, the bus driver restrictions typically contain exceptions for dispatch communications and the like. Depending on the state, school bus drivers who violate distracted driving laws may face the loss of their school-bus certification and criminal penalties that could include jail time. Commercial drivers. Commercial drivers are subject to state and federal regulations. Under federal law, distracted driving violations are generally considered " serious violations.
Some towns and cities have banned certain types of cellphone and electronic device use while driving. These laws are typically more strict than distracted driving laws of the state. In response, some state legislatures have enacted laws that prohibit local jurisdictions from implementing cellphone ordinances.
Depending on the circumstances, a distracted driving violation could additionally lead to reckless driving charges. And if a distracted driving violation results in the death of another person, vehicular homicide charges are a possibility. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site. The attorney listings on this site are paid attorney advertising.
In some states, the information on this website may be considered a lawyer referral service. Please reference the Terms of Use and the Supplemental Terms for specific information related to your state. Grow Your Legal Practice. Meet the Editors. Distracted Driving Laws: Texting and Cellphones. State distracted driving laws that restrict cellphone use and texting while operating a vehicle.
Cellphone and Texting Restrictions A number of states have outlawed handheld cellphone use while driving or have banned cellphone use for certain types of drivers. Talking on a Cellphone While Driving Handheld cellphones. In , distraction caused eight percent of fatal crashes, 15 percent of injury crashes, and 14 percent of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes.
There are three types of distraction: visual, manual, and cognitive. What makes handheld cell phone use so dangerous is that it can represent all three types of distraction at once. Sometimes, we may glance down at our device and continue on with the task at hand, but most of the time we are picking up our smartphones and looking through them intently, consumed in the text message, social media post, or playlist that caught our attention.
In that time, we are likely to miss the car next to us signaling and switching into our lane, or the stoplight turning red. A couple filed a lawsuit against Apple after a Texas driver killed their five-year-old daughter while using FaceTime, an app for video or audio calls in Fatal crashes caused by distracted driving are preventable, but prevention relies on two factors: human behavior and how state laws and fines influence human behavior.
Nearly every state in the United States regulates cell phone use in driving in some form, whether it is by limiting cell phone use for all drivers, novice drivers or school bus drivers through state laws, or banning texting and driving statewide.
Most have primary enforcement laws , which means that a police officer can stop and ticket the driver specifically for the violation of texting and driving. Secondary enforcement means the police officer is only permitted to stop and ticket the driver for texting and driving if there is another act of violation such as speeding. Throughout the United States, most states have laws that ban some but not all cell phone use and provide special guidelines for specific groups of drivers, including young and novice drivers, bus drivers, drivers of commercial vehicles, and federal employees.
No state, however, bans all cell phone use for all drivers. It is especially important for novice drivers — specifically teenagers and young adults — to not use their cellphones while driving, as they are most at risk of being involved in a fatal crash caused by cell phone use. Cell phone use while driving is most common and most distracting for ages 15 to 19, regardless of their intellect.
Straight-A or B students were found to text or email while driving as often as C or D students.
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