Lawmakers hope to crack down on texting and driving

Texting and driving has been illegal in Florida since October of 2013, but drivers can still be spotted tinkering with their phones behind the wheel.

Some Florida lawmakers are trying to crack down on the dangerous practice. Several bills were filed for the 2015 legislative session in hopes of changing texting and driving to a primary offense.

Currently, the ban stands as a secondary offense, meaning law enforcement can only cite people for texting and driving if they pull the driver over for something else.

State Senator Maria Sachs sponsors one of the bills.

“If it would work with just having the ban on texting and driving as a secondary offense, we would have left it at that,” Sachs said.  “We don’t need more rules and regulations, but it didn’t work.”

About five months after the ban went into effect in Florida, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said they only issued 14 citations for texting and driving.  The Florida Highway Patrol only issued two.

WOKV is reaching out to law enforcement for updated citation numbers.