Cell Phone Driving Laws

Several states restrict cell phone use while driving. State cell phone driving laws address issues specific to each state. For example, many states have identified cell phone use by novice drivers as an emerging highway safety problem and have restricted the practice. In some states, localities restrict cell phone use while driving through local ordinances or policies. Others prohibit localities from implementing such ordinances through preemption laws. Current state cell phone driving law highlights include the following:

• 5 states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington), the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have enacted jurisdiction-wide 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.
• 17 states and the District of Columbia have special cell phone driving laws for novice drivers.
• School bus drivers in 15 states and the District of Columbia are prohibited from all cell phone use when passengers are present, except for in emergencies.
• Washington and New Jersey are the only states to ban text messaging for all drivers, but other states are expected to follow suit.
  • New Jersey has primary enforcement—an officer may ticket a driver for texting while driving without any other traffic offense taking place. Washington's law is secondarily enforced.
• No state completely bans all types of cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) while driving.
• 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

State	Crash Data Collected	Preemption Laws	Handheld Ban	All Cell Phone Ban		Enforcement
				School Bus Drivers	Novice Drivers
Alabama
Alaska	Yes
Arizona				Yes		Primary
Arkansas				Yes		Primary
California	Yes		Yes (eff. 7/2008; commercial drivers exempted until 2011)	Yes	<18 (eff. 7/2008)	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.)	State law prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions.
Georgia	Yes			Yes		Primary
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois	Yes		By jurisdiction	Yes	<19 with Permit or GDL	Primary
Indiana	Yes
Iowa	Yes
Kansas
Kentucky		No city, county, urban-county, charter county, consolidated local government or special district can impose a restriction.		Yes		Primary
Louisiana		Cities and parishes are forbidden from enacting legislation.
Maine					<18	Primary
Maryland	Yes				<18 w/ Learner or Provisional License	Secondary
Massachusetts	Yes		By jurisdiction	Yes		Primary
Michigan	Yes		By jurisdiction
Minnesota	Yes				Learner or Provisional License or until age 18	Primary
Mississippi		State law prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions.
Missouri
Montana	Yes
Nebraska	Yes				Teens w/ Learners or Provisional License	Secondary
Nevada	Yes	State and local entities prohibited from regulating use.
New Hampshire 1
New Jersey	Yes	Localities are prohibited from enacting restrictions.	Yes Text messaging prohibited	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	State law prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions.
Oregon	Yes	State law prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting restrictions.			>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 2	Yes	Municipalities may not establish regulations.
Vermont
Virgin Islands	Yes		Yes			No data
Virginia	Yes			Yes	Intermediate License	Secondary
Washington	Yes		Yes (eff. 7/2008) Text messaging prohibited			Secondary
West Virginia					Learner or Intermediate Stage	Secondary
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Total	29 States + Virgin Islands	9 States	5 States + D.C., Virgin Islands Text Messaging: 2 States	15 States + D.C.	17 States + D.C.	Varies

¹ Dealt with as a distracted driving issue; New Hampshire enacted a comprehensive distracted driving law.
² 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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