When California passed the statewide ban on using your mobile phone while driving a car it was 2006 and people mostly used their phones for things like texting and those now-antiquated ‘phone calls.’ The first iPhone hadn’t even been released back in those dark times. In the decade since, smartphones have changed what people do with their mobile devices—but it took until yesterday for the law to catch up.
“Smartphones have an abundance of available features that demand a driver’s attention, leading to very dangerous driving behavior. However, such activities are not clearly prohibited by law,” California assemblymember Bill Quirk wrote in a press release about his support for AB 1785, the bill that updated the hands-free ban.
The L.A. Times reports that, with the bill’s passage, it is now officially illegal to operate any communication device with your hands for any reason at all—getting directions, live streaming the traffic and snapping car selfies are all included—anywhere in California.
The language of the law allows for using a finger for a single tap or swipe on your phone to answer or end a call while in hands-free mode, but only that one touch. If you like using your phone’s maps to tell you where you’re going, you still can under this law, but you’ll need to have the phone locked into an approved mount on the dashboard or center console which keeps it visible without obstructing your view of the road.
Penalties are set at a minimum of $20 for a first violation and $50 for a second—but don’t assume you’ll get off that easy if you’re caught. Those are just the state minimums and local municipalities often issue tickets with much higher fines.
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