Governor Doug Ducey has signed legislation that prohibits teenage drivers from texting while driving or using a cell phone for any reason except in an emergency where stopping the vehicle is impossible.
“The state already regulates a number of things when it comes to early driving by teens, and for good reason. For our youth, these laws can act as a teacher. In fact, I’d be in favor of a law that goes further, banning texting while driving for all minors. Driving is a privilege for our youth, and they are still the responsibility of their parents, financially and otherwise, before the age of 18,” declared the governor.
Senate Bill 1080 makes it illegal for teens within the first six months of driving to text while on the road. The law applies to teenagers who have been driving for less than six months, or until they reach the age of 18, and it also applies to teens with a learner’s permit.
The law also states that a destination navigator may only be used if the driver does not manually enter the destination while driving and doesn’t have to manually adjust the device while driving.
According to the AAA Foundation’s Traffic Safety Culture Index for 2016, most drivers view texting or emailing while driving as a very serious threat to their own personal safety and consider it completely unacceptable. However, nearly one in three admit to typing or sending a text message or email while driving in a given month, and two in five report reading a text message or email while driving in a given month.
The report also shows that motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death for people aged 16 to 24 each year from 2012 through 2014. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation indicate that 35,092 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2015, a 7.2 percent increase from 2014.
With passage of the bill, Arizona joins ranks with 48 other states and Washington, D.C., that ban texting for all or most motorists. The law goes into effect in July 2018.
