As of July 2008 we are not aware of any legislation in Florida that has yet passed concerning the use of a cell phone while driving. 

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) 5 states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington), the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have enacted cell phone laws prohibiting driving while talking on handheld cell phones.

With the exception of Washington State, these laws are all primary enforcement laws, meaning that an officer may ticket a driver for using a handheld cell phone while driving without any other traffic offense taking place.

Four states (Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington) ban text messaging for all drivers, but many other states have introduced similar legislation.

Seventeen (17) states and the District of Columbia have special cell phone driving laws for novice drivers / graduated licensed drivers.

Some states, such as Utah and New Hampshire, treat cell phone use as a larger distracted driving issue. Utah considers speaking on a cell phone to be an offense only if a driver is also committing some other moving violation (other than speeding).

No state completely bans all types of cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for all drivers the GHSA notes as of June 2008.

The Florida Highway Department of Safety and Motor Vehicles (HSMV) notes that the issue of driver distraction, whether the result of cell phone use or other causes, is being reviewed nationwide. As a result, they have taken steps to identify distractions in their crash reporting process.

So far the Florida Highway Patrol has partnered with Florida’s cellular phone providers to inform the public about potential dangers of using a cell phone while driving. This has included television and radio public service announcements about the dangers of this type of driver distraction.

There have been bills that have been brought up in the Florida legislation regarding both the topic of banning the use of a handheld mobile phone while driving, unless you are using a hands free device, and also prohibit sending cell phone text messages while driving.

Currently Florida State Statute 316.304 states that cellular phone use is permitted as long as it provides sound through one ear and allows surrounding sound to be heard with the other ear. And that is about the only law regarding the use of a cell phone or electronic device in place in Florida presently. So to the best of our knowledge there is no FL law restricting or preventing the use of a Blackberry or similar electronic device while driving.

The latest bill that we are aware of that is making its way through the legislative process in FL is Senate Bill 504. The main portion of this bill is that it would prohibit a person who has not attained 18 years of age from using an electronic wireless communications device while operating a motor vehicle. It provides that this offense must be a secondary action when a driver has been detained for a violation of another noncriminal traffic infraction. It also provides that the driver shall receive a one point assessment against their driver's license, etc.

A text messaging ban was added on to a bill as well. This portion of the bill states that a person may not operate a motor vehicle on the highways of this state while manually writing a text message on an electronic communications device. So while the base of the bill is concerning graduated license holders (those under the age of 18) the driving while texting portion would be for all drivers.

Florida is one of the 9 states in the US that actually has preemption laws which thus prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions. So on their own a locality in Florida cannot ban texting while driving or require a driver to use a hands free device while driving. Other states allow this so while there is not a state law cities enforce their own local law. Some localities that have enacted restrictions on cell phone usage are Phoenix, AZ, Chicago, IL and Detroit, MI to name a few.

You can check with the HSMV and/or FL Senate periodically to find out if any new cell phone laws have passed and will be going into effect. The FL Senate site should give information on any pending cell phone legislation.

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