After numerous near-accidents with distracted drivers while cycling and attempting to navigate lighted, controlled pedestrian crosswalks is it time for Florida to pass a distracted-driving law with more teeth?
According to the Distraction.gov website, currently 46 of the 50 States ban texting while driving, and many even ban all handheld phone use. Of those 46 States, all but five make it a primary offense. Unfortunately, Florida’s no-texting law is only a secondary offense, which means you only can receive a citation after being stopped for another infraction.
It is quite obvious that the secondary-offense status of Florida’s law is not a deterrent, as one can readily observe while driving on any of our roads. How many lives need to be lost in accidents before Florida steps up to the plate to stop this madness?