What laws are in place in California for distracted drivers?

Distracted driving is a huge problem all across the country, and each state has a different way of dealing with the issue. But if there is one place in the U.S. that may have more of a problem with distracted driving than other places, it is the Bay Area. The sacred tech grounds of the Bay have led to the proliferation of cellphones and the many uses that they have. And for many, that means using their cellphones even while driving.

So what laws are in place to curtail to dangerous act of driving while using a cellphone? In California, there are two primary laws on the books that ban handheld devices for all drivers and ban texting while driving for all drivers. Additional laws ban any cellphone use by bus drivers and novice drivers (though the law for the latter group is only a secondary law).

When you consider the facts about distracted driving, you will see why these laws are so necessary. More than 3,100 people were killed in distracted driving accidents in 2013, and another 424,000 people suffered injuries in those accidents. That’s a lot of lives that were affected, changed, or lost just because someone wanted to send an “LOL” to their friend.

Maybe the most shocking figure is just how many people are using an electronic device while driving at any given moment during the day. According to a report, roughly 660,000 people are “manipulating an electronic device” at any given moment during daylight hours in the United States.

Source: Distraction.gov, “Facts and Statistics,” Accessed Aug. 10, 2015