Cell Phone Driving Laws

June 2009

Current state cell phone driving law highlights include the following:

• Handheld Cell Phone Bans for All Drivers: 5 states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington), the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from talking on handheld cell phones while driving.
  • With the exception of Washington State, these laws are all primary enforcement—an officer may ticket a driver for using a handheld cell phone while driving without any other traffic offense taking place.
• All Cell Phone Bans: No state completely bans all types of cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for all drivers, but many prohibit cell phone use by certain segments of the population.
  • Novice Drivers: 21 states and the District of Columbia ban all cell use by novice drivers.
  • School Bus Drivers: In 17 states and the District of Columbia, school bus drivers are prohibited from all cell phone use when passengers are present.
• Text Messaging: 14 states and the District of Columbia now ban text messaging for all drivers.
  • Novice Drivers: 9 states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers.
  • School Bus Drivers: 1 state legally restricts school bus drivers from texting while driving.
• Preemption Laws: 8 states have laws that prohibit local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions. In 6 other states, localities are allowed to ban cell phone use.
• Some states, such as Utah and New Hampshire, treat cell phone use as a larger distracted driving issue.
  • Utah considers speaking on a cellphone to be an offense only if a driver is also committing some other moving violation (other than speeding).

State	Handheld Ban	All Cell Phone Ban		Text Messaging Ban			Enforcement	Crash Data Collected	Pre- emption Law
		School Bus Drivers	Novice Drivers	All Drivers	School Bus Drivers	Novice Drivers
Alabama
Alaska				Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Primary	Yes
Arizona		Yes					Primary
Arkansas		Yes	<18; 18 - 20 can use hands free only (eff. 10/09)	Yes (eff. 10/09)	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Primary: texting and cell phone use by bus drivers Secondary: cell phone use by novice drivers
California	Yes	Yes	<18	Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Primary	Yes
Colorado			<18	Yes (eff. 12/09)			Primary	Yes
Connecticut	Yes	Yes	Learners Permit and <18	Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Primary	Yes
Delaware		Yes	Learner's permit and intermediate license holders			Learner's permit and intermediate license holders	Primary	Yes
D.C.	Yes	Yes	Learners Permit	Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Primary
Florida								Yes	Yes
Georgia		Yes					Primary	Yes
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois	By jurisdiction	Yes	<19				Primary	Yes
Indiana			<18			<18	Primary	Yes
Iowa								Yes
Kansas			Learner or Intermediate License (eff. 1/10)			Learner or Intermediate License (eff. 1/10)	Primary
Kentucky		Yes					Primary		Yes
Louisiana 1	See footnote	Yes	See footnote	Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Secondary (primary for school bus)		Yes
Maine			<18			<18	Primary
Maryland			<18 w/ Learner or Provisional License	Yes (eff. 10/09)	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Secondary (primary for texting)	Yes
Massachusetts	By jurisdiction	Yes					Primary	Yes
Michigan 2	By jurisdiction		See footnote					Yes
Minnesota		Yes	Learner or Provisional License for 1st 12 mos.	Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Primary	Yes
Mississippi						Learner or Provisional License	Primary		Yes
Missouri
Montana								Yes
Nebraska			<18 w/ Learners or Provisional License			<18 w/ Learners or Provisional License	Secondary	Yes
Nevada								Yes	Yes
New Hampshire 3
New Jersey	Yes	Yes	<21 w/ GDL or Provisional License	Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Primary	Yes
New Mexico	By jurisdiction and in State vehicles
New York	Yes						Primary	Yes
North Carolina		Yes	<18	Yes (eff. 12/09)	Covered under all driver ban (eff. 12/09)	Covered under all driver ban (eff. 12/09)	Primary	Yes
North Dakota
Ohio	By jurisdiction
Oklahoma								Yes	Yes
Oregon			<18 w/ Learner or Provisional License			<18 w/ Learner or Provisional License	Secondary	Yes	Yes
Pennsylvania	By jurisdiction							Yes
Rhode Island		Yes	<18				Primary
South Carolina
South Dakota								Yes
Tennessee		Yes	Learners Permit or Intermediate License	Yes			Primary	Yes
Texas		Yes, w/ passenger <17	Intermediate Stage, 1st 6 mos.		Yes, w/ passenger <17	Intermediate Stage, 1st 6 mos.	Primary	Yes
Utah 4	See footnote			Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Primary	Yes	Yes
Vermont
Virgin Islands	Yes						No data	Yes
Virginia		Yes	<18	Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Secondary (primary for school bus)	Yes
Washington	Yes			Yes	Covered under all driver ban	Covered under all driver ban	Secondary	Yes
West Virginia			Learner or Intermediate Stage			Learner or Intermediate Stage	Primary
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Total	5 + D.C., Virgin Islands By jurisdiction: 6	17 + D.C.	21 + D.C.	14 + D.C.	1	9	Varies	29 + Virgin Islands	8

¹ During the 2008 legislative session, Louisiana passed 3 different cellphone laws addressing teen drivers. The governor signed all three. It is unclear whether both handheld and hands-free phone use is prohibited, or whether only handheld phone use is banned. All 3 laws prohibit text messaging.
² In Michigan, teens with probationary licenses whose cell phone usage contributes to a traffic crash or ticket may not use a cell phone while driving.
³ Dealt with as a distracted driving issue; New Hampshire enacted a comprehensive distracted driving law.
⁴ Utah's law defines careless driving as committing a moving violation (other than speeding) while distracted by use of a handheld cellphone or other activities not related to driving.

Sources: American Automobile Association (AAA), Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and State Highway Safety Offices.

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