Can you text behind the wheel in Florida? What the law allows may surprise you

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Can drivers in Florida use their phone while stopped at a red light? At a stop sign? Behind the wheel of a self-driving car?

What to know about the state’s texting-and-driving rules:

Can you use your phone at a red light?

Drivers can use the phone when their car is fully stopped, such as at a red light or stop sign or maybe gridlocked in traffic. But you need to put it down once the car is moving again.

Can you be pulled over for being on your phone?

Using your phone while driving is a primary offense, which means a police officer can stop you solely for that reason.

This wasn’t always the case. Phone use behind the wheel used to be a secondary offense until Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new driving law in 2019. Before then an officer could only give you a citation for using your phone after you had been pulled over for another primary offense, such as speeding.

While moving, drivers are still permitted to use phones and devices for GPS navigation, talking on the phone and reading emergency messages, such as weather and traffic alerts.

Will you get a ticket for using the phone while driving?

Texting and driving are penalized with fines. In a first offense, the ticket is $30 and a possible three points on your your driver’s license.

If a second offense happens within five years of the first one, the ticket base is $60 and a possible three points on your driver’s license.

In school zones or construction zones, it’s a minimum $60 fine and possibly three points on your license if you have your phone in your hand — even if it’s your first offense.

What if I have a Tesla? Can I text while it drives itself?

You can text away while you leave the driving to your Tesla. The law says that a driver whose car has an “automated driving system engaged” won’t be punished for using the phone while behind the wheel.

Does my insurance go up if I use my phone while driving?

Some insurance companies have apps that track your driving habits, such as speeding, hard braking and, yes, your phone use while driving.

Progressive’s Snapshot app and Geico’s DriveEasy app track “distracted driving,” which is handling your phone while driving. It includes texting and other uses, but not hands-free phone calls.

This information assesses the level of risk in your driving and can affect your rate. The more dangerous your driving is, the more you’ll pay. Or — a better way to look at it — the better you drive, the more you save.

This story was originally published July 11, 2023 at 5:00 AM.

Natalie La Roche Pietri

Miami Herald

Natalie is an intern reporter at the Miami Herald on the Real Time desk. She has reported from Washington, D.C., as an NBCU Academy Diversity, Equity and Inclusion fellow on national issues that affect the South Florida community. She’s a senior at Florida International University double majoring in digital communications and English.