Florida has upgraded its anemic distracted driving law.
The measure signed May 17 by Gov. Ron DeSantis makes texting while driving a primary offense, meaning police can stop and cite offenders for that reason alone.
State Rep. Emily Slosberg
The strengthened law takes effect July 1.
“Distracted driving has become an epidemic and I thank my colleagues in both the Senate and House for passing this much-needed common-sense legislation,” said state Rep. Jackie Toledo, who sponsored the bill along with Rep. Emily Slosberg. The session marked Slosberg’s third attempt at toughening the Sunshine State’s distracted driving laws. Her sister was killed by a distracted driver. Toledo also is a veteran of the distracted driving wars in Florida’s Legislature.
The law would require police to note the race of offenders as a racial-profiling safeguard. Much of this year’s opposition to a tougher distracted driving law centered on that issue.
The state capital has hosted a longtime resistance to distracted driving regulations, though, with opponents typically citing “individual freedoms” and, more recently, the threat of police using the law to pull over minorities. That resistance was notably short on troops April 29, when the bill sailed through the House in a 108-7 vote. The plan was approved by the Senate 33-5 vote on April 25.
The school and work zone prohibitions for cell phone use came from state Sen. Wilton Simpson, who had pushed for a general handheld cell phone ban. That issue is sure to return for the 2020 session.
At the bill signing, at a Sarasota high school, DeSantis called texting & driving “one of the worst of all driving distractions.”
“Many, many lives will be saved by the texting and driving bill — many more lives would be saved by a hands-free bill,” Simpson said after the vote on CS/HB 107.
Warnings will be issued through the end of the year. First-time offenders can have their charges dismissed if they show proof of the purchase of a hands-free device.
The current Florida texting law is limited to secondary enforcement, meaning another offense must be observed in order to stop and cite an offender. Police say they write few distracted driving tickets because of this restriction.
> Read more about Florida’s distracted driving laws.
