No Hand-Held Cell Phone Use While Driving
- Even when stopped in traffic or at a traffic light
- No typing messages or accessing information
- No watching videos or using cameras
Cost
- First E-DUI: $136
- Second E-DUI (within five years): $234
- All violations will be available to your insurance company and may lead to rate increases
You CAN Use Your Device If You Are:
- Hands-free (such as using Bluetooth) and can start use by a single touch or swipe without holding the phone
- Parked or out-of-the-flow of traffic
- Starting your GPS or music before you drive
- Contacting emergency services
Dangerously Distracted
You can also get a $99 ticket for other types of distractions such as grooming, smoking, eating, or reading if the activity interferes with safe driving, and you are pulled over for another traffic offense.
Why?
- Fatalities from distracted driving increased 32 percent from 2014 to 2015 in Washington.
- 71 percent of distracted drivers engage in the most dangerous distraction, cell phone use behind the wheel
- One out of four crashes involves cell phone use just prior to the crash.
Police in Bellevue will have a new reason to pull you over starting this Sunday, July 23rd. It will be against the law for Washington drivers to use hand-held electronics while they are driving. A Driving Under the Influence of Electronics ticket, an E-DUI, will cost more than before, they will go on your record, and they will be reported to your insurance.
Texting or holding a phone to your ear while driving is already illegal in Washington state, and the new law expands the distracted driving law to outlaw handling a phone behind the wheel for any reason, even when stopped in traffic or at a red light.
To read the actual language of the law, click here: RCW 46.61.668
To learn more about your rights, contact Bellevue DUI attorney James Banks for a free consultation.