Texting while driving is now a ticketable offense across the state.
The “Florida Ban on Texting While Driving Law,” which went into effect today, designates texting while driving as a secondary offense, which means police can ticket drivers for texting only if they were pulled over for something else.
According to the bill, “A person may not operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers ... into a wireless communications device or while sending or reading data in such a device.”
The bill does make exemptions for drivers using their cellphones to navigate, get safety information or report emergencies to authorities.
Gainesville Police spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said local officers will focus on educating drivers about how the new law applies, but they also won’t be shy about ticketing.
“There’s not going to be a grace period,” he said. “People know it’s been coming.”
Because texting is a secondary offense, officers will be forced to find other reasons to pull texters over.
“It’s taking your attention away from such a complicated task,” he said. “Finding a primary offense is going to be easy.”
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/1/2013 under the headline "Texting and driving law in effect"
