Wisconsin drivers who choose to text while driving will be breaking the law starting Dec. 1.
First-time offenders could be fined between $20 and $400 dollars if they are pulled over for texting and will also have four points added to their license. Second-time offenders could rack up fines from $200 to $800.
By comparison, first-offense drunken driving in Wisconsin merits a fine of $150 to $300. Speeding 11 to 15 mph over the speed limit results in a $175 fine, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
The new ban is also a primary law, which means officers can pull over drivers solely for texting without having to identify another violation first, such as speeding or a lane violation, according to the state DOT.
Wisconsin joins the ranks of 30 other states as well as the District of Columbia and Guam who have also banned texting while driving, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association. Eleven of those bans are starting this year alongside Wisconsin.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed the legislation banning texting while driving in May as a way to cut down on driving-related deaths.
“For far too long, inattentive driving has been a serious problem in Wisconsin and across the country,” Doyle said in a statement.
The state DOT has highlighted the specific risk texting while driving poses to teenage drivers, who the DOT says are especially susceptible to the risks of distracted driving from cell phone conversations and texting.
Meanwhile, drivers of commercial vehicles have been prohibited from texting while driving since the federal DOT established new guidelines in January.
Drivers of vehicles such as large trucks or buses who text while driving are subject to civil or criminal fines of up to $2,750, according to the U.S. DOT.
Research from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has shown drivers who send and receive text messages end up taking their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds while texting.
The FMCSA also found drivers who text are 20 times more likely to get in an accident than drivers who are not texting.
Of all fatal traffic accidents in 2008, the U.S. DOT reported 16 percent involved distracted drivers and nearly 6,000 people were killed.
