Maintaining cheap car insurance in states with cell phone bans
Using a cell phone while driving can drive up cheap car insurance costs in two different ways. First, any involvement in an accident will inflate premiums. Secondly, a traffic violation will similarly increase premiums. It’s important to understand the different kinds of bans that are out there so you can be a safe driver and a safe cell phone user.
Handheld Bans
A handheld ban means that driving while talking on the phone is allowed, as long as the driver is using a hands-free device such as Bluetooth or speakerphone. States which have total handheld bans for all drivers include:
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Maryland
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- Oregon
- Washington D.C.
Other states ban handheld cell phone use only for minor or novice drivers, or under specific circumstances. These states include:
- Arkansas (banned for drivers age 18-20 only)
- Hawaii (banned in some counties only)
- Illinois (banned in school zones and construction zones only)
- Louisiana (banned for those with learning licenses)
- New Mexico (banned for use in state vehicles only)
- Oklahoma (banned for those with learning licenses)
All Cell Phone Ban
This ban is in effect for some states which allow no phone use of any kind, including utilizing a hands-free device, although there are not any states which completely ban all cell phone use for all drivers. States which enforce an all cell phone ban for school bus drivers and/or minors under 18 and novice or learning drivers include:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Washington DC
Text Messaging Ban
The majority of states have laws banning any text messaging while driving. Of the 35 states which make texting while driving illegal, 32 of them list texting as a primary offense. This means the driver can be pulled over and cited for texting while driving even if they’re doing nothing else wrong. Only seven states have no provision regarding texting while driving:
- Arizona
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Montana
- Ohio
- South Dakota
It’s easy to see how important it is to stay safe on the roads while using a cell phone, in order to keep yourself and other drivers safe, and also hang onto your cheap car insurance.