Cell Phone Driving Laws

Current state cell phone driving law highlights include the following:

• Handheld Cell Phone Bans: 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—an officer may ticket a driver for using a handheld cell phone while driving without any other traffic offense taking place.
• Text Messaging: 4 states (Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington) have a text messaging ban for all drivers, but many other states have introduced similar legislation.
• Novice Drivers: 17 states and the District of Columbia restrict all cell phone use by novice drivers.
• School Bus Drivers: In 16 states and the District of Columbia, school bus drivers are prohibited from all cell phone use when passengers are present, except for in emergencies.
• Preemption Laws: Some cities, such as Phoenix and Detroit, have cell phone laws, but 9 states have preemption laws that prohibit local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions.
• 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).²
• No state completely bans all types of cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for all drivers.

State	Crash Data Collected	Pre- emption Law	Handheld Ban	Text Messaging Ban	All Cell Phone Ban		Enforcement
					School Bus Drivers	Novice Drivers
Alabama
Alaska	Yes			Yes (eff. 9/1/08)
Arizona					Yes		Primary
Arkansas					Yes		Primary
California	Yes		Yes (commercial drivers exempted until 2011)		Yes	<18	Primary
Colorado	Yes					Learners Permit	Secondary
Connecticut	Yes		Yes (some professions exempted)		Yes	Learners Permit and <18	Primary
Delaware	Yes				Yes	GDL	Primary
D.C.			Yes (applies to all drivers, regardless of residency; some professions exempted)		Yes	Learners Permit	Primary
Florida	Yes ("Driver Distraction" w/ cell phone in the narrative. <0.2% of 2006 reports cited cell phone use.)	Yes
Georgia	Yes				Yes		Primary
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois	Yes		By jurisdiction		Yes	<19 with Permit or GDL	Primary
Indiana	Yes
Iowa	Yes
Kansas
Kentucky		Yes			Yes		Primary
Louisiana		Yes
Maine						<18	Primary
Maryland	Yes					<18 w/ Learner or Provisional License	Secondary
Massachusetts	Yes		By jurisdiction		Yes		Primary
Michigan 1	Yes		By jurisdiction			See footnote
Minnesota	Yes			Yes (eff. 8/1/08)	Yes	Learner or Provisional License or until age 18	Primary
Mississippi		Yes
Missouri
Montana	Yes
Nebraska	Yes					Teens w/ Learners or Provisional License	Secondary
Nevada	Yes	Yes
New Hampshire 2
New Jersey	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	<21 w/ GDL or Provisional License	Primary
New Mexico			By jurisdiction and in State vehicles
New York	Yes		Yes				Primary
North Carolina	Yes				Yes	<18	Primary
North Dakota
Ohio			By jurisdiction
Oklahoma	Yes	Yes
Oregon	Yes	Yes				>18 w/ Learner or Provisional License	Secondary
Pennsylvania	Yes		By jurisdiction
Rhode Island					Yes	<18
South Carolina
South Dakota	Yes
Tennessee	Yes				Yes	Learners Permit or Intermediate License	Primary
Texas	Yes				Yes, w/ passenger <17	<18 in Learner or Intermediate Stage	Primary
Utah 3	Yes	Yes
Vermont
Virgin Islands	Yes		Yes				No data
Virginia	Yes				Yes	Intermediate License	Secondary
Washington	Yes		Yes	Yes			Secondary
West Virginia						Learner or Intermediate Stage	Secondary
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Total	29 States + Virgin Islands	9 States	5 States + D.C., Virgin Islands	4 States	16 States + D.C.	17 States + D.C.	Varies

¹ 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.
² Dealt with as a distracted driving issue; New Hampshire enacted a comprehensive distracted driving law.
³ Utah's law defines careless driving as committing a moving violation (other than speeding) while distracted by use of a hand-held cellphone or other activities not related to driving.

Sources: American Automobile Association (AAA), Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and State Highway Safety Offices. Most recently reviewed February, 2008.

Countries with cell phone driving laws that restrict or prohibit handheld cell phones in cars:
Australia Austria Britain Brazil Chile Denmark Germany	Greece Ireland Israel Italy Japan Norway Poland	Portugal Philippines Romania Singapore Slovenia S. Africa Spain	Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Turkey

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