In 2001, New York became the first state to prohibit drivers from talking on hand-held devices while operating a motor vehicle. You may use a hand-held cell phone or mobile device only when you call 911 or contact medical, fire or police help in an emergency.

As you are now aware from your ticket, you can be cited by law enforcement for using a hand-held cell phone or mobile device while driving in NYS. At last we heard a citation for this offense comes with a maximum fine of $100 and mandatory surcharges of $50.

In New York when you receive a ticket for this violation, it is not considered a probationary license violation and the DMV does not assign any violation points to the driver's record. From the information we found, previously New York allowed violators to have their cell phone tickets dismissed if they gave the judge a receipt showing they bought a hands-free cell phone system.

To find out if there are options such this that would allow you to get the ticket dismissed you would need to call the clerk of court listed on your citation and request information on the penalty for your ticket and if there are ways in which to get the ticket dismissed.

Or you may choose to fight the ticket in court because you were an out of state driver unaware of this NYS law. However ignorance of the law may not get you out of the ticket. We agree that it would be helpful to those from driving from out of state if signs would be posted informing drivers of laws such as this that are state specific and may not be known nation wide.

New York and Ohio are both members of the Drivers License Compact meaning that normally traffic ticket convictions from NYS will be reported to Ohio. This cell phone ticket will likely be reported to the OH BMV but whether the ticket will be placed on your record or effect your OH driving record in any way is up to the BMV.

Ohio does not currently have a state wide law regarding driving and talking on a hand-held cell phone but does allow individual cities or county jurisdictions to enact cell phone bans. So to find out if the NYS cell phone ticket will be placed on your Ohio record, check with the OH Bureau of Motor Vehicles.