DATA: FLORIDA'S TEXTING WHILE-DRIVING LAW RARELY ENFORCED

A Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy was heading east on Interstate 4 in his red Dodge Charger on a brilliantly sunny afternoon in Florida when he saw him: A young driver behind the wheel of a Jeep texting on his phone.

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The deputy, Donald Hess, didn’t hit his lights and siren right away. He watched over more than a mile while he pulled around both sides of the Jeep, he said, as the driver kept texting before he pulled him over on the I-4 shoulder. When the driver rolled down his window, the deputy waved away a cloud of smoke.

“How much weed have you all been smoking?” the deputy said in dialogue captured on police body camera video. “The reason I stopped you is for you using your texting while you’re driving.” Hess mimicked texting with his left thumb.

That roadside encounter, in November, was the exception rather than the rule when it comes to enforcing a new Florida law against texting and driving. With a flourish, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law in 2019 making texting while driving a primary traffic offense in Florida, with a $30 fine for a first offense that routinely climbs to over $100. “It’ll make our roads safer,” DeSantis said.

But the new law against texting is rarely enforced, according to official state figures. Florida also has failed its requirements under the law to track comprehensively how many drivers are ticketed statewide – and whether police are targeting minorities. Those in charge of writing tickets also complained that the young law has too many loopholes.