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Ocala
Friday, March 29, 2024

It’s ticket time for motorists who insist on texting while driving

The warning period for those who text while driving is ending.

Beginning Wednesday, Jan. 1, law enforcement officers across the Sunshine State can begin issuing tickets for those who are caught texting and driving. It’s the second phase of a law that went into effect on July 1 that made texting while driving a primary driving offense. At the time, drivers were told they’d have a six-month grace period that most likely would come with warnings if they were caught texting and driving.

But that grace period ends at midnight on Tuesday, Dec. 31, meaning drivers must avoid the urge to pick up their phones and send text messages if they want to avoid the chance of getting a ticket.
Here are the fines and penalties of Florida’s texting law:

  • First-offense drivers will be fined $30 and no points will be assessed to their driving record.
  • A second texting-and-driving offense within five years will be considered a moving violation and carry a $60 fine and 3 points on your driving record.
  • Two points will be added to the primary offense for texting in a school zone.
  • Six points will be added to the primary offense for texting that results in a crash.

Area motorists also are being reminded that since Oct. 1, wireless communications devices have only been allowed in a hands-free manner when driving in a designated school crossing, school zone or active work-zone area. Beginning Wednesday, drivers could face fines and penalties for those infractions as well.

When the anti-texting-and-driving law was passed earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he was proud to provide law enforcement officers across the state with the ability to more proactively enforce safe driving.

“Texting and driving is one of the most dangerous driving behaviors and it is every driver’s responsibility to help ensure we all get home safely,” he said.

Col. Gene S. Spaulding, director of the Florida Highway Patrol, said the new law will undoubtedly prevent crashes and save lives on Florida’s roadways.

There have certainly been examples of dangerous behavior on the roads in the tri-county area. In May, a woman with a history of texting while driving was arrested after fleeing a rear-end collision not far from The Villages Charter School in the mega-retirement community. The same woman had been arrested in March after a deputy spotted her texting while driving at the same intersection where May’s crash occurred.

In May 2018, a resident of The Quarters Apartments in Lady Lake admitted that he had been texting when he was pulled over by a Lake County sheriff’s deputy. He had been spotted swerving while driving on U.S. Hwy. 27/441 at Griffin Road.

In March 2018, an Ocala woman admitted to texting while driving and then fleeing from the scene of a hit-and-run crash. The victim of the rear-end collision got the woman’s license tag number and she was apprehended a short time later traveling at a speed of more than 100 mph on State Road 40, about six miles from the scene of the incident.