After six months of issuing warnings, police can now begin handing out tickets for those caught texting while driving in Ohio.
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Senate Bill 288, which was signed into law in January, makes texting and driving a primary offense in the state, which means law enforcement can stop and issue citations to drivers solely for that offense and will no longer need another reason to pull drivers over if they are seen texting while driving.
"We truly believe this will inevitably change the behavior of distracted driving," Cpt. William Haymaker with Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
Before, police in jurisdictions where texting was a secondary offense needed another reason to initiate a stop, such as speeding or blowing through a red light.
"Now, with this new law, all we need is the officer observing it," said Sgt. Bridget Matt with Ohio State Highway Patrol during a conversation with News 5 when the law first went into effect in April. "That’s good enough for the citation, and that will stand up in court."
With the grace period ending for warnings, the following penalties go into effect:
- First Violation: Up to $150 fine and two points on your license unless a distracted driving safety course is completed.
- Second Violation (within two years): Up to $250 fine and three points on your license
- Third Violation (within two years): up to $500 fine, four points on your license and a 90-day driver's license suspension
During the grace period, which lasted from May to September, Ohio State Highway Patrol told News 5 they issued 1,355 distracted driving warnings. That's in addition to the 2,549 secondary offense distracted driving tickets issued to drivers who were already pulled over for another reason.
Matt told News 5 that even in her patrol car, she still sees distracted drivers every single day.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
"I’ve seen people texting with the phone up at their face, below in their lap with their face completely diverted from the roadway," she said. "The majority of people passing, you see a cell phone in their hand."
While drivers are no longer allowed to have any part of their body physically holding a phone while driving, The new law does have several exceptions to it:
- Drivers reporting an emergency can legally hold their phone
- Drivers can legally still hold their phone to their ear
- Drivers can hold their phone to slide/push to accept or decline a call
- Drivers can hold their phones if they are parked or at a red light
According to Gov. Mike DeWine's Office, the new law has already caused a drop in distracted driving and crashes. Officials say distracted driving crashes peaked in 2018 with 1,383 crashes. Last month, Ohio had a record-low number of crashes at 576.
"In just six months, this law is saving lives by changing the culture around distracted driving and changing the behavior of drivers behind the wheel," said DeWine. "I am grateful to every driver who has chosen to put their phones down, and I encourage other drivers to commit to doing the same. There is no acceptable amount of distracted driving."
Delving further into the numbers, when you compare crashes for the first nine months of this year to last year, there were 1,255 fewer distracted driving crashes, as well as a 25% decrease in distracted driving fatalities.
Here's the state's breakdown of the numbers, according to the state:
- When you compare crashes for the first nine months of this year to last year, there were 1,255 fewer distracted driving crashes, as well as a 25% decrease in distracted driving fatalities.
- The impact of the new law is also reflected in the total number of overall traffic crashes in Ohio, supporting the theory that the actual number of crashes caused by distracted driving is underreported. With the exception of April 2020, when significantly fewer people were traveling due to the COVID pandemic, September 2023 had the lowest number of overall crashes in nearly six years. The total number of traffic crashes was at its highest in January 2018 at 29,264 crashes as compared to approximately 14,458 traffic crashes last month, a difference of more than 50%.
- When comparing the first nine months of 2022 and 2023, there were nearly 23,000 fewer overall traffic crashes this year. Traffic fatalities also decreased during this time period, with approximately three dozen fewer people killed.
This week, officials said that the Ohio State Highway Patrol will conduct high-visibility traffic enforcement on distracted driving corridors across the state, including here in Northeast Ohio on I-77 in Summit County.
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard or on Facebook Clay LePard News 5.
