Hands off!
Steer yourself away from trouble with new cellphone law
State Police are doubling up on patrols, allowing one trooper to act as a “spotter” looking to catch drivers breaking the new hands-free law.
It’s all part of a crackdown on motorists who text away — or worse — while driving.
State Police Col. Christopher Mason announced the department has also placed “dozens of additional patrols” on the road to allow motorists to “get home safely to the ones that you care about and the ones that care about you.”
Drivers can only touch their phone or other electronic device, which must be mounted to the windshield, dashboard or center console, to activate hands-free mode — texting, emailing or surfing the web is not allowed — even at red lights and stop signs.
Even holding a phone or other device while driving is breaking the new hands-free law, the statue states. But drivers can still talk on the phone, change a song, use GPS and voice-to-text if the phone is properly mounted in the car and set to handsfree mode.
Police will only give out warnings for violations through March 31, after which they will begin issuing fines.
A first offense will cost drivers $100, a second offense is a fine of $250 plus mandatory completion of a distracted driving class and a third offense brings a fee of $500, an insurance surcharge and obligatory completion of another distracted driving class, the law says.
State police don’t yet have data on how many warnings and citations they have issued for the hands-free law, according to spokesman David Procopio, who added that will be calculated in about a week.
The law doesn’t apply to first responders or other public safety officers and drivers could still use their phone in certain emergency situations.
Drivers in Massachusetts got into more than 16,500 crashes that were caused by using an electronic device between 2014 and 2018, according to data from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Talking on a handheld device caused just over 1,000 crashes during that time period, while using a handsfree device caused just under 300, the data shows.
Those under 18 years old are still not allowed to use electronics behind the wheel at all, even while using hands-free mode.
In 2010, Massachusetts banned drivers from texting and emailing while driving, but stopped short of a full ban on handheld use to make phone calls. Gov. Charlie Baker signed the hands-free bill into law in November.