Cellphone and texting laws

May 2013

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Talking on a hand-held cellphone while driving is banned in 11 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia.

The use of all cellphones by novice drivers is restricted in 37 states and the District of Columbia and the use of all cellphones while driving a school bus is prohibited in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

Text messaging is banned for all drivers in 40 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, novice drivers are banned from texting in 6 states (Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas) and school bus drivers are banned from text messaging in 3 states (Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas).

Many localities have enacted their own bans on cellphones or text messaging. In some but not all states, local jurisdictions need specific statutory authority to do so.

The table and maps below show the states that have cellphone laws, whether they specifically ban text messaging, and whether they are enforced as primary or secondary laws. Under secondary laws, an officer must have some other reason to stop a vehicle before citing a driver for using a cellphone. Laws without this restriction are called primary.

• Table
• Map: hand-held bans
• Map: young driver bans
• Map: bus driver bans
• Map: texting bans

¹California drivers older than 18 may dictate, send or listen to text-based messages if they're using voice-activated, hands-free devices.

²In Ohio, the text messaging ban for all drivers and the all device ban for young drivers are currently scheduled to become effective on the 91st day after the act is filed with the Secretary of State, approximately Aug. 30, 2012. There will be a 6 month warning period before citations are issued.