Beginning Tuesday, October 1st, it will now be illegal to text while driving in the state of Florida. You can still talk on your cell phone while driving, but you can no longer text. Florida lawmakers have finally realized what 40 other states have already registered: texting while behind the wheel of a vehicle is extremely dangerous. However, texting while driving will only be a secondary offense, meaning you cannot be pulled over for texting alone. If you’re pulled over for driving over the speed limit AND texting, you will be ticketed for speeding and get an additional 30$ ticket for texting.
I believe this will be a very difficult violation to prove or disprove. There are limitations and allowances with this law, such as being allowed to text while at a stoplight or while stopped in traffic. If you’re going to ban something like texting while driving, I don’t think lawmakers should allow it at all. It makes it seem as if it is not a serious law. The law allows drivers to still use their cell phones for things like music, navigation directions, and using voice commands.
I think that will make things difficult for police. How will they know if someone is texting or just using their phone’s navigation system? It does not make sense to outlaw part of a device’s use, but allow other equally dangerous aspects of it. Perhaps Florida will eventually update the law to be like New York, where drivers aren’t allowed to use a hand-held cell phone at all. I think that is a more effective law.