Texting While Driving Banned in Florida

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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As of October 1st, texting while driving in Florida will net you a ticket. Florida is now part of a growing number of states that are taking actions against drivers who text while in motion. As compared to most other states, Florida’s law is quite tame since it is a secondary offense, but repeated offenses will begin to drain your wallet significantly and also raise your insurance rates.

With Florida’s law going into effect by the end of the year, texting and driving has now been banned in 10 states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington
 
been banned here in TN for a while, still hasnt stopped anyone from what i can tell.
 
I remember reading somewhere, they are claiming that the amount of deaths from texting and driving has surpassed the number for DUI related deaths.
 
Banned here in Illinois as well. This stuff should be common sense, really - distracted driving is distracted driving.

Then again, anyone is liable to do something foolish. Just viewed a young lady reading some sort of magazine while driving last week.
 
I remember reading somewhere, they are claiming that the amount of deaths from texting and driving has surpassed the number for DUI related deaths.

that's because the drunk driver ALWAYS survives :/
 
Yep it's been banned here in PA for a while now and yet I still see people texting and driving... phone up on the steering wheel in plain site texting away and swerving back and forth into oncoming traffic..
 
I don't think any of the laws do enough. Even a first offense should revoke your driver's license and make you go back to the beginning where you have to take a class then pass the road test again to get your license back at a minimum. Honestly they should mandate the suspension of being able to receive/send texts for a year on any carrier. The most important thing is to really inconvenience the offender so they learn their lesson. Having almost been hit by one of these f**kers in the past I don't think any punishment goes too far.
 
I don't think any of the laws do enough. Even a first offense should revoke your driver's license and make you go back to the beginning where you have to take a class then pass the road test again to get your license back at a minimum. Honestly they should mandate the suspension of being able to receive/send texts for a year on any carrier. The most important thing is to really inconvenience the offender so they learn their lesson. Having almost been hit by one of these f**kers in the past I don't think any punishment goes too far.

Glad you're not in charge.
 
a bad careless driver will always be that way, doesnt matter what laws you put out there. until a car requires a drivers license to start, that wont stop them
 
Being a resident in Florida I'll go as far as to say, no one will give a shite about this law. Most drivers ignore most of the other driving laws here already.
 
Being a resident in Florida I'll go as far as to say, no one will give a shite about this law. Most drivers ignore most of the other driving laws here already.

I live in Miami and I always see people driving slow on the phone.
 
Florida drivers don't give a shit... really, the only way people will get caught is if they are stupid or if actually involved in accident with police pulling cell records.
 
Yep it's been banned here in PA for a while now and yet I still see people texting and driving... phone up on the steering wheel in plain site texting away and swerving back and forth into oncoming traffic..

The problem in PA is you can't ask the driver to see the phone to see if they were texting or not. Because you can't see if they are texting or dialing, it's essentially unenforceable. If there is an accident caused by cell phone use, I whack the driver with careless driving which is a much more serious offense anyway.
 
While I like to see more people driving instead of talking and texting it makes me wonder if they'll just text below the dash, farther removing their eyes from the road.

Much rather see jamming in cars.
 
I don't think any of the laws do enough. Even a first offense should revoke your driver's license and make you go back to the beginning where you have to take a class then pass the road test again to get your license back at a minimum. Honestly they should mandate the suspension of being able to receive/send texts for a year on any carrier. The most important thing is to really inconvenience the offender so they learn their lesson. Having almost been hit by one of these f**kers in the past I don't think any punishment goes too far.

Agree with this 100%.
 
Its banned in Nevada too pretty much. The law is more general though. No cell phone usage unless its completely hands free. If you are touching your phone, you can be tickted.
 
I don't think any of the laws do enough. Even a first offense should revoke your driver's license and make you go back to the beginning where you have to take a class then pass the road test again to get your license back at a minimum. Honestly they should mandate the suspension of being able to receive/send texts for a year on any carrier. The most important thing is to really inconvenience the offender so they learn their lesson. Having almost been hit by one of these f**kers in the past I don't think any punishment goes too far.

Please tell me you don't vote.

This is the very definition of a "feel good" law. It's nothing more than a photo opportunity for another do nothing lawmaking body and a governor up for re-election who is fishing for votes from people just like *you.*

Until you ban the ten trillion other distractions while driving you are accomplishing absolutely NOTHING excepting piling more bullshit legislation onto the back of the common man.

For those that may not have bothered to read here is how this breaks down:

Before if a cop saw you texting he could do absolutely nothing unless you started swerving and became a reckless driving hazard or commited a different offense. Then he could write you a sizeable ticket for those offenses that risk the loss of your license.

Now if a cop sees you texting he can do NOTHING still unless you become a reckless driving hazard or commit a different offense.. The only difference is he now can write you a 30 dollar ticket on top of the reckless driving charge which is still the offense that is actually punishable. OH WAIT? You say you were "navigating?" Well then no texting ticket for you!

Nothing has changed. Well nothing except snagging a few brain dead voters for the next election cycle.
 
Glad you're not in charge.

because it's ok when someone takes their eyes off the road and causes an accident? driving is a serious responsibility and it totally appropriate for the penalties to be serious as well. it isn't like the government is taking away some natural right.

in NY, the penalty is 5 points on your license (just started yesterday). about time. no one needs to be in constant contact. put down the phone and drive
 
Please tell me you don't vote.

This is the very definition of a "feel good" law. It's nothing more than a photo opportunity for another do nothing lawmaking body and a governor up for re-election who is fishing for votes from people just like *you.*

Until you ban the ten trillion other distractions while driving you are accomplishing absolutely NOTHING excepting piling more bullshit legislation onto the back of the common man.

For those that may not have bothered to read here is how this breaks down:

Before if a cop saw you texting he could do absolutely nothing unless you started swerving and became a reckless driving hazard or commited a different offense. Then he could write you a sizeable ticket for those offenses that risk the loss of your license.

Now if a cop sees you texting he can do NOTHING still unless you become a reckless driving hazard or commit a different offense.. The only difference is he now can write you a 30 dollar ticket on top of the reckless driving charge which is still the offense that is actually punishable. OH WAIT? You say you were "navigating?" Well then no texting ticket for you!

Nothing has changed. Well nothing except snagging a few brain dead voters for the next election cycle.

the GPS loophole doesn't exist here. it's all part of distracted driving. doesn't matter what you're doing on your phone, it's 5 points. 5 points for looking up directions, texting, changing songs, whatever
 
It's been banned in Louisiana as well. Also, unlike most of those states, Louisiana considers texting a "primary" offense, not a secondary.
 
I don't really see the point of the law.

If a cop sees you texting, and you are actually driving poorly/dangerously, there is already an offense for this: careless driving.
 
the GPS loophole doesn't exist here. it's all part of distracted driving. doesn't matter what you're doing on your phone, it's 5 points. 5 points for looking up directions, texting, changing songs, whatever

And this is how it should be done. Now just add 50K more cops to the road and it might actually be enforceable.
 
It's been banned in Louisiana as well. Also, unlike most of those states, Louisiana considers texting a "primary" offense, not a secondary.

Ah so they decided to give every cop on the road the perfect reason to harass the citizenry with.
 
I don't think any of the laws do enough. Even a first offense should revoke your driver's license and make you go back to the beginning where you have to take a class then pass the road test again to get your license back at a minimum. Honestly they should mandate the suspension of being able to receive/send texts for a year on any carrier. The most important thing is to really inconvenience the offender so they learn their lesson. Having almost been hit by one of these f**kers in the past I don't think any punishment goes too far.

I agree completely. It is as bad as driving drunk and people loose their lives to it constantly.
 
It's banned in MD too. I wish people would actually follow that law, though. That, and people who talk on the phone the entire car trip, every time... ugh, makes driving a chore when you have to watch out for people who do it as a secondary focus.
 
It wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't combined with a lot of other factors. People drive big trucks around. People think they're race car drivers and go really fast or take stupid risks. People have children. People drink booze. People live in crowded places. People don't take care of their cars. People have MP3 collections... There's just a host of repugnant things humans do and adding a phone addiction just makes it that much more dangerous. It's one of many problems that really awful examples of humankind demonstrate as a symptom of their broken marriages or how they hate their jobs, but have to go to work because the bank owns a super expensive house they got a loan for because they couldn't afford it or the car they got to impress everyone else who doesn't care when their friends come over to pretend to be interested in their crappy expensive home theater. People like that should really not be allowed to drive or have a cell phone.
 
It wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't combined with a lot of other factors. People drive big trucks around. People think they're race car drivers and go really fast or take stupid risks. People have children. People drink booze. People live in crowded places. People don't take care of their cars. People have MP3 collections... There's just a host of repugnant things humans do and adding a phone addiction just makes it that much more dangerous. It's one of many problems that really awful examples of humankind demonstrate as a symptom of their broken marriages or how they hate their jobs, but have to go to work because the bank owns a super expensive house they got a loan for because they couldn't afford it or the car they got to impress everyone else who doesn't care when their friends come over to pretend to be interested in their crappy expensive home theater. People like that should really not be allowed to drive or have a cell phone.

I think this rubs off as very anti-materialistic and doesn't reflect at all on whether or not someone is going to be a bad driver. In my experience, people with nice cars actually try to keep them nice, and the people who drive crappy cars, don't care if they crash them.
 
Glad you're not in charge.

Unless it is

1. Enforceable and
2. The penalties are stiff enough to make someone think twice,

it will basically have no effect on the dangers of morons texting and driving. It is out of control here is Ohio as I find it unbelievable how many text and drive. You can often tell too because they can't seem to stay centered in their lane on the interstate or they blow past a red light at an intersection with that confused look when people blare their horns at them. It is just plain stupid to text and drive, and I honestly don't think anything will be done unless jail time or stiff monetary penalties starts getting involved. I fear for my life far more driving back here in Ohio than I did over in rural Alaska driving windy iced over roads during a snow "event."(their definition of a snow storm is very different).
 
I remember reading somewhere, they are claiming that the amount of deaths from texting and driving has surpassed the number for DUI related deaths.

I kinda believe it. I used to do it, until about the second "close call". Now I have a strict phone-in-console policy. It really is dangerous.

I can't tell you how many times I've almost been hit and noticed the person was texting.
 
I remember reading somewhere, they are claiming that the amount of deaths from texting and driving has surpassed the number for DUI related deaths.

Is your point supposed to reinforce the good of the law? Last I remember, driving drunk is illegal too.

The law will not have an impact on preventing idiots from causing accidental deaths. It will just give the police something else to charge people with.
 
Unless it is

1. Enforceable and
2. The penalties are stiff enough to make someone think twice,

it will basically have no effect on the dangers of morons texting and driving. It is out of control here is Ohio as I find it unbelievable how many text and drive. You can often tell too because they can't seem to stay centered in their lane on the interstate or they blow past a red light at an intersection with that confused look when people blare their horns at them. It is just plain stupid to text and drive, and I honestly don't think anything will be done unless jail time or stiff monetary penalties starts getting involved. I fear for my life far more driving back here in Ohio than I did over in rural Alaska driving windy iced over roads during a snow "event."(their definition of a snow storm is very different).

Funny, from reading that, one would think you believe a 'police' state will solve all the problems of idiocy.
 
Even though this is not directly enforceable, it now changes the complexion of a death that may result where texting was involved. Instead of doing something that might or might not fall under a catch all of a general distracted driving law, you now will have been clearly doing something you legally shouldn't be doing.
 
I remember reading somewhere, they are claiming that the amount of deaths from texting and driving has surpassed the number for DUI related deaths.

I know a manager for a body shop and he says that cell phones keep them very busy...
 
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