Florida waits for law against texting and driving; Georgia already seeing changes

Florida texting driving ban waits for Gov. Rick Scott's signature

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When Floridians cross into Georgia, the signs are very visible, texting while riving is illegal in Georgia.

As Florida lawmakers consider following suit on Georgia's texting and driving ban, Channel 4 took a look at how effective this law is.

"I try not to do it a lot because I drive for my job, but I see everyone doing it on the interstate," said driver, Tracie Spinwall.

"They know it's the law, they still do it" said Jimmy Way. "You can sit down here and hide the whole time you're texting, I got a 20-year-old son that does it constantly."

Florida's law if Governor Scott signs it could have less teeth than Georgia. The Florida law is written so you can only be cited for texting if you're pulled over for something else like speeding first, in Georgia you can be pulled over for texting itself.

Still, in talking to the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety I found this is not an easy law to enforce.

"To the observer, texting looks exactly like dialing your phone and trying to prove someone is texting versus dialing your phone is a difficult thing to do," said GA Governor's Office of Highway Safety's Harris Blackwood.

In fact, only 2158 drivers have been convicted of texting while driving from July 1, 2010, when the Georgia law went into effect early this year. The Highway Safety Office does defend the law saying traffic deaths have gone down because of their texting law.