Cell Phone Driving Laws

November 2009

Current state cell phone driving law highlights include the following:

• Handheld Cell Phone Bans for All Drivers: 6 states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon 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: 19 states, the District of Columbia and Guam now ban text messaging for all drivers.
  • Novice Drivers: 9 states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers.
  • School Bus Drivers: 1 state restricts school bus drivers from texting while driving.
• Preemption Laws: 6 states have laws that prohibit local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions. In other states, localities are allowed to ban cell phone use or texting while driving.
• Some states, such as Maine, New Hampshire and Utah 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	Hand- held Ban	Enforce- ment	All Cell Phone Ban			Text Messaging Ban				Crash Data Col- lected	Pre- emption Law
			School Bus Drivers	Novice Drivers	Enforce- ment	All Drivers	School Bus Drivers	Novice Drivers	Enforce- ment
Alabama
Alaska						Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Arizona			Yes		Primary
Arkansas			Yes	<18; 18 - 20 can use hands free only	Primary: bus drivers Secondary: novice drivers	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
California	Yes	Primary	Yes	<18	Primary: bus drivers Secondary: novice drivers	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Colorado				<18 (eff. 12/09)	Primary	Yes (eff. 12/09)	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Connecticut	Yes	Primary	Yes	Learners Permit and <18	Primary	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary
Delaware			Yes	Learner's permit and intermediate license holders	Primary			Learner's permit and intermediate license holders	Primary	Yes
D.C.	Yes	Primary	Yes	Learners Permit	Primary	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Florida											Yes
Georgia			Yes		Primary					Yes
Guam						Yes			Primary
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois 1	See footnote		Yes	<19	Primary	Yes (eff. 1/10)	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Indiana				<18	Primary			<18	Primary	Yes
Iowa										Yes
Kansas				Learner or Intermediate License (eff. 1/10)	Primary			Learner or Intermediate License (eff. 1/10)	Primary	Yes
Kentucky			Yes		Primary						Yes
Louisiana			Yes	Yes (eff. 4/10)	Primary: bus drivers Secondary: novice drivers	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Secondary	Yes	Yes
Maine 2				<18	Primary			<18	Primary	Yes
Maryland				<18 w/ Learner or Provisional License	Secondary	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Massachusetts			Yes		Primary					Yes
Michigan 3				See footnote						Yes
Minnesota			Yes	Learner or Provisional License	Primary	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Mississippi								Learner or Provisional License	Primary		Yes
Missouri								<21	Primary
Montana										Yes
Nebraska				<18 w/ Learners or Provisional License	Secondary			<18 w/ Learners or Provisional License	Secondary	Yes
Nevada										Yes	Yes
New Hampshire 4						Yes (eff. 1/10)	Covered under all driver ban		Primary
New Jersey	Yes	Primary	Yes	<21 w/ GDL or Provisional License	Primary	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
New Mexico	In State vehicles									Yes
New York	Yes	Primary				Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Secondary	Yes
North Carolina			Yes	<18	Primary	Yes (eff. 12/09)	Covered under all driver ban		Primary
North Dakota										Yes
Ohio
Oklahoma										Yes	Yes
Oregon	Yes (eff. 1/10)	Primary		<18 (eff. 1/10)	Primary	Yes (eff. 1/10)	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Pennsylvania										Yes
Rhode Island			Yes	<18	Primary	Yes			Primary
South Carolina
South Dakota										Yes
Tennessee			Yes	Learners Permit or Intermediate License	Primary	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Texas 5			Yes, w/ passenger <17	Intermediate Stage, 1st 12 mos.	Primary		Yes, w/ passenger <17	Intermediate Stage, 1st 12 mos.	Primary	Yes
Utah 6	See footnote					Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary	Yes
Vermont
Virgin Islands	Yes	No data								Yes
Virginia			Yes	<18	Primary: bus drivers Secondary: novice drivers	Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Primary: bus drivers Secondary: novice drivers	Yes
Washington	Yes	Secondary				Yes	Covered under all driver ban		Secondary	Yes
West Virginia				Learner or Intermediate Stage	Primary			Learner or Intermediate Stage	Primary
Wisconsin
Wyoming										Yes
Total	6 + D.C., Virgin Islands	Primary (5) Secondary (1)	17 + D.C.	21 + D.C.	Primary (20) Secondary (2) Varies (4)	19 + D.C., Guam	1	9	Primary (25) Secondary (4) Varies (1)	33 + D.C., Virgin Islands	6

¹ Illinois bans the use of cell phones while driving in a school zone or in a highway construction zone.
² Maine has passed a law making it against the law to drive while distracted in the state.
³ 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.
⁴ Dealt with as a distracted driving issue; New Hampshire enacted a comprehensive distracted driving law.
⁵ Texas has banned the use of hand-held phones and texting in school crossing zones.
⁶ 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.

© 2009, GHSA | 444 N. Capitol St., NW, Suite 722, Washington DC 20001 | 202-789-0942 | 202-789-0946 fax | Email | Privacy Policy