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#State Distracted Driving Driving Laws

This chart outlines state distracted driving laws. Some localities have additional regulations. Enforcement type is shown in parenthesis.

• Hand-held Cell Phone Use: 14 states, D.C. Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving. All are primary enforcement laws an officer may cite a driver for using a hand-held cell phone without any other traffic offense taking place.

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All Cell Phone Use: No state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, but 38 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice drivers. and 20 states and D.C. prohibit it for school bus drivers .

Text Messaging: Washington was the first state to pass a texting ban in 2007. Currently, 46 states, D.C. Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers. All but 5 have primary enforcement. Of the 4 states without an all driver texting ban:

• 2 prohibit text messaging by novice drivers .
• 1 restricts school bus drivers from texting.

Crash Data Collection: Nearly all states include at least one category for distraction on police crash report forms, although the specific data collected varies. The Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) guideline provides best practices on distraction data collection.

NOTE: GHSA does not compile any additional data on distracted driving laws other than what is presented here. For more information, consult the appropriate State Highway Safety Office.