• Laws regulate drivers' cell phone use.cell phone image by MateiA from Fotolia.com
  
  Cell phone laws vary among nations and, in the U.S., among states. U.S. traffic laws regulate various uses of cell phones in moving vehicles, including hand-held calling and text messaging. Legal use may also depend upon a driver’s age, the length of time licensed, or the kind of vehicle driven, whether a public or private conveyance.
  
  

Hand-held Cell Phones

• Because the use of hand-held cell phones restricts drivers from operating steering wheels with both hands, their use is specifically banned in seven states as of June 2010: California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington. The District of Columbia and Guam also ban their use. For all but one of those jurisdictions, the prohibition is considered a primary enforcement offense, which means that a police officer may ask a driver to stop and may issue a citation solely on the basis of seeing a hand-held cell phone used. Maryland is the only exception, where hand-held cell phones are banned at the level of secondary enforcement; a police officer can issue a citation for hand-held cell phone use only if there is evidence of a concurrent primary enforcement offense.
  
  

Complete Cell Phone Bans

• Cell phone use, whether hand-held or hands-free, may infringe upon a driver’s attention to the road and other vehicles, so several states impose some restrictions on cell phone use of any kind. While no state completely outlaws cell phone use for all drivers, the District of Columbia and 28 states ban any kind of cell phone use among novice drivers. Novice drivers may be defined as those under 17 or 18 years of age, or those with learner’s permits, depending upon the state. School bus drivers are restricted from cell phone use of any kind in the District of Columbia and in 18 states.
  
  

Text Messaging

• Text messaging or other functions involving typing into a keyboard or touchscreen may endanger drivers by requiring them to look away from the road and/or take their hands off of steering wheels. Therefore, 28 states, the District of Columbia and Guam ban text messaging for all drivers. The prohibition is considered a primary enforcement infraction in all but four of the states; in Iowa, Nebraska, New York and Virginia, it is considered secondary enforcement. In addition, test messaging is expressly prohibited for novice drivers in nine additional states and for school bus drivers in two additional states.
  
  

Distracted and Careless Driving

• Maine and New Hampshire do not specifically legislate against cell phone use, including it within a larger ban on distracted driving. In both states, distracted driving constitutes a primary enforcement infraction. In Utah, state law prohibits careless driving, which is defined as any moving violation besides speeding that is committed while using a hand-held cell phone or undertaking any other activities not related to driving. Thereby, Utah’s careless driving policy makes hand-held cell phone use a secondary enforcement offense.