Florida texting-while-driving law: Next week, no holding phones in school zones - Tampa Bay Times

Floridians are still adjusting to a new law against texting while driving, but starting next week they’ll be required to put their phones down entirely while driving through school and construction zones.

As of Tuesday, police will be able to pull drivers over for holding a phone in those zones, regardless of how they are using it.

A new state law made texting while driving a primary offense as of July 1. But police couldwrite a citation only if the driver was texting. Talking on the phone, using navigation or scrolling were still allowed.

The second part of the law takes that a step further, making it illegal to use a handheld cell phone while driving in a designated school crossing, school zone or active work zone area. Though the law goes into effect Tuesday, police won’t start writing tickets until Jan. 1.

“These are very populated areas that can be somewhat volatile,” said Mark Jenkins, Florida spokesman for the American Automobile Association. “If you’re driving through this area, you need to be fully focused on the environment around you. ... You’re not going to be able to respond as quickly if you’re looking down at your phone.”

In 2017 and 2018, more than 900 crashes occurred near schools in Pinellas County during the times students would be walking to and from the campuses, according to data from Forward Pinellas, the county’s transportation planning agency.

Across the bay, 1,845 crashes took place in school zones in Hillsborough County from Aug. 1, 2017, to Aug 1, 2019.

Those numbers include all kinds of crashes, and it’s not clear how many are related to phone use. But the numbers did catch the attention of transportation officials.

“It absolutely is a lot,” said Al Bartolotta, planning division manager for Forward Pinellas. “We generally find we have way more crashes than we should. ... We were very, very supportive of trying to get these laws passed."

Once law enforcement starts writing tickets next year, the penalties will be much tougher than texting on normal stretches of road.

The current penalty for using a phone behind the wheel of a moving vehicle is a non-moving violation, with no points on the driver’s record. The fine is $30, in addition to court costs that vary by county and can run more than $200.

Starting Jan. 1, texting in a school or work zone will be a moving violation with three points on a driving record, plus a $60 fine.

Law enforcement has been slow to enforce the texting-while-driving ban, ticketing just 542 drivers for texting while driving between July 1 and Sept 18.

“I’d actually like to to see them ramp up that activity a little bit more,” Bartolotta said. “Maybe this will be a way for them to start focusing on schools before they hopefully start enforcing it more broadly.”

Once police do start enforcing the law, he said it will be interesting to see what happens to the crash rate. Prior to the passage of the law, Bartolotta said a lot of information about distracted driving was anecdotal.

“We ourselves couldn’t put our fingers on how many of these crashes were related to texting while driving," Bartolotta said. “We anticipated this definitely would have a huge effect of putting a dent in these distracted while driving crashes. "

AAA’s position is that even more can be done to combat distracted driving, but Jenkins said these laws are a step in the right direction.

A recent AAA study found sending a text takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of five seconds.

At 55 mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the length of a football field blind.

Times staff writer Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.

2019-09-28 08:57:00Z
https://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/2019/09/28/florida-texting-while-driving-law-next-week-no-holding-phones-in-school-zones/