Traffic laws can be complicated, but at Sinclair Law we’re happy to help make sense of them. Whether you need an attorney after a car accident or for some other kind of injury, you won’t find a better personal injury lawyer than the skilled legal team of Sinclair Law. Call Sinclair Law today or visit http://www.sinclairlaw.com

1. No Texting While Driving: What You Need to Know about Florida’s New Law
We’ve all done it. You’re on your way somewhere, running late, and you know they’re wondering
where you are, so out comes the cell phone. Texting while driving has become commonplace, but it’s
also very dangerous. That’s why the Florida legislature passed SB 52, the “Texting While Driving
Ban.”
In studies, texting while driving has been shown to slow driver reflexes approximately as much as
being drunk while driving, and mobile devices are implicated in many car crashes. However, as
dangerous as texting on the road is, this new law takes a surprisingly soft approach. Here’s what you
need to know about the ban:
• It’s not just texting. The law prohibits entering any letters, numbers or symbols into a wireless
device. So email and messaging, or even searching for a favorite artist on a music site, are
illegal too.
• It’s only illegal if the vehicle is moving. The law specifically exempts texting in a vehicle
that’s not moving. However, it still may not be wise to whip out your iPhone at the stop light:
This exemption was almost certainly meant to apply to a parked car, or texting while sitting
outside of a store waiting to pick up a friend. Zealous law enforcement officers may still
consider sitting at a red light to be operating a vehicle.
• Certain uses are okay. You can still use your device in the car to navigate, get weather or
safety alerts, or play the radio. Of course, you may not want to try explaining that to a police
officer (and looking at your GPS is just as dangerous as looking at an email).
The Consequences
So what if you do keep using your mobile phone in the car: What can you expect?
Texting is considered a secondary offense in Florida. That means that police officers can’t pull you over
only for texting, but if they pull you over for running a stop sign, they can add a texting ticket as
frosting on the cake.
That first texting ticket only carries a $30 fine, and isn’t considered a moving violation. If you get a
second (or more) texting tickets, though, the fine goes up to $60, and these additional offenses are
upgraded to be considered moving violations. That’s a bigger deal because it dings three points off of
your driver’s license, and it can affect your insurance rates. (Those point values go up by two in a
school zone, or six if your texting leads to an accident.)

2. Traffic laws can be complicated, but at Sinclair Law we’re happy to help make sense of them. Whether
you need an attorney after a car accident or for some other kind of injury, you won’t find a better
personal injury lawyer than the skilled legal team of Sinclair Law.