Latest IIHS Maps Show Spread of Cellphone, Texting Laws
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has added four new U.S. maps to its Web site that show how states and the District of Columbia are regulating and enforcing restrictions on drivers' use of cellphones and the practice of text messaging while driving. Seventeen states now ban the use of cellphones by bus drivers; California extends its ban to transit bus drivers, according to IIHS.
The organization's Cellphone laws page is the portal for all of the maps, with a table below them showing the status of cellphone and texting regulation in each state. Nineteen states have no regulation in place restricting either practice, according to the table.
Two states, Arkansas and Utah, have restrictions set to take effect later this year. As of Oct. 1, Arkansas will ban use of hand-held devices for drivers 18-20 years old, ban cellphone use by drivers younger than 18, ban texting by all drivers, and use primary enforcement to deter texting by all drivers and cellphone use by bus drivers. Utah's ban on texting by all drivers will take effect May 11.