Texting While Driving Now Against the Law in Florida

Florida Law now makes it illegal to text while driving in the State of Florida.

FS 316.305 (3)(a) states that “A person may not operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers, symbols, or other characters into a wireless communications device or while sending or reading data on such a device for the purpose of nonvoice interpersonal communication, including, but not limited to, communication methods known as texting, e-mailing, and instant messaging. As used in this section, the term “wireless communications device” means any handheld device used or capable of being used in a handheld manner, that is designed or intended to receive or transmit text or character-based messages, access or store data, or connect to the Internet or any communications service as defined in F.S. 812.15 and that allows text communications. For the purposes of this paragraph, a motor vehicle that is stationary is not being operated and is not subject to the prohibition in this paragraph.”

It is important to note a few details about the law to ensure you comply:

• The law only prohibits your actions while operating a moving vehicle and does not limit you if you are parked, at a stop light or stopped in the emergency lane.
• It’s a secondary violation which means that you have to be pulled over for another infraction to be cited for texting.
• The law not only prohibits texting while driving it prohibits all personal communication that requires typing, such as e-mailing, instant messaging and updating your Facebook.

The law is intended to make driving on Florida’s roads safer and there’s no reason to think it will not if we all comply.