Car Cell Phone Use Restricted in 2020

By Jonathan Blecher on December 12, 2019

Texting while driving is responsible for more accidents than DUIs and The Florida legislature has finally put some teeth into the problem. Section 316.305 went into effect on January 1, 2019. It provides that motorists can be stopped and cited for texting and driving as a primary offense. The second part of the law, which went into effect in October, provides that a motorist can be pulled over and issued a warning for using a wireless communication device in a hand-held manner in school and work zones. Starting January 1, 2020, motorists can be stopped and cited for not using the device in a hands-free manner in school and work zones.

What interferes with driving performance, it must be cognitive, not manual. In other words, it’s not physical interference from the phone but mental interference from the phone conversation that distracts from driving. Cellphones interfere with driving performance because they divert attention from one task (the driving) to another (the phone conversation). When phone conversations divert attention from driving, drivers are prone to causing car accidents.