For years Florida's texting rule had no teeth. It was on the books, but police couldn't stop you for it alone. That changed in 2019, and the state now treats texting behind the wheel as its own reason for a traffic stop. If you were just hit by a driver who was staring at a screen, the specifics of Florida's law matter, both for the ticket that driver may face and for how you prove they caused the crash.
In 2024, crashes involving a distracted driver killed 277 people in Florida and left another 2,312 with incapacitating injuries, according to the state's official crash facts report.1 Here's what the law actually says.
What Florida bans
The core rule is Florida Statute § 316.305, the Florida Ban on Texting While Driving Law. It makes it illegal to operate a moving vehicle while "manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers, symbols, or other characters" into a wireless device, or while sending or reading data on that device for nonvoice communication. The statute names texting, e-mailing, and instant messaging by name.2
Two things make this stronger than it first sounds. It is primary enforcement: since July 1, 2019, an officer can stop you for texting alone, with no other violation needed.3 Before that date the ban existed but was only secondary, so police could cite you for it only after pulling you over for something else. And the rule reaches any manual typing for nonvoice interpersonal communication. Typing an email or messaging inside an app counts, the same as a classic text.2
What the statute leaves out matters just as much. It targets typing and reading text, so talking on a handheld phone on an ordinary road is not by itself a violation of § 316.305. Florida has no general handheld ban for regular streets. The big exception is school and work zones.
The tougher rule in school and work zones
Florida Statute § 316.306 goes further in three settings: designated school crossings, school zones, and active work zones where workers are present. In those areas you cannot use a wireless device "in a handheld manner" at all while the vehicle is moving.4 Holding the phone to talk is enough, not only texting. Hands-free and voice operation are still allowed.
This rule is also primary enforcement, and it is treated as a moving violation carrying three points against your license.4 A first-time violator in one of these zones can avoid the points and the fine by showing proof of a hands-free device purchase or by completing an approved wireless-communications-device safety program.4
What a ticket costs and the points that follow
Penalties under § 316.305 climb with repeat offenses. A first texting violation is a nonmoving infraction with a base fine of $30 plus court costs, and no license points. A second or later violation within five years becomes a moving violation with a $60 base fine and three points.2 Those base amounts come from the state penalty schedule, and county court costs and fees push the real total well above them.5
Points are where a distracted-driving habit turns expensive. A handheld violation in a school or work zone, or a repeat texting offense, adds three points apiece.4 Under Florida Statute § 322.27, 12 points in 12 months triggers a suspension of up to 30 days, 18 points in 18 months means up to three months, and 24 points in 36 months means up to a year.6 A couple of these citations can move a driver a long way toward a suspended license.
The exceptions written into the statute
Section 316.305 lists situations that are not violations, and the list is broad. You are not breaking the law when the vehicle is stationary, or when you are:2
- reporting an emergency, a crime, or suspicious activity to authorities;
- receiving navigation, safety, weather, traffic, or emergency information;
- using the device in hands-free or voice-operated mode; or
- operating an autonomous vehicle with the automated driving system engaged.
Because a parked or stopped vehicle is exempt, a driver checking a phone at a red light isn't "operating" the vehicle the way the ban targets. That carve-out is one reason the law is hard to enforce, and one reason citation counts stay low next to how often people actually type while driving.
Your phone, a search, and a crash
Florida wrote unusual privacy protections into the texting law. If an officer stops you, they have to tell you that you can decline a search of your device, and they cannot access it without a warrant or pressure you into consenting.2 Consent can't be presumed.
There is also a hard limit on when your phone data becomes evidence. A driver's billing records, or their own statements about device use, may be admitted "only in the event of a crash resulting in death or personal injury."2 The data trail from a phone is reserved for serious cases, which is exactly the situation many injury claims involve. The statute also requires officers to record the race and ethnicity of every driver they cite, with agencies reporting those figures to the state by April 1 each year.2
What it means for your injury claim
Florida is a no-fault state. Your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays first, up to $10,000, and you have to get initial treatment within 14 days of the crash or you forfeit PIP entirely.7 PIP covers 80% of your medical bills and 60% of lost wages, but the full $10,000 applies only if a provider certifies an emergency medical condition. Without that certification the cap drops to $2,500.7
To step outside no-fault and pursue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering, you generally need a permanent or serious injury. When you get there, proving the other driver was texting is powerful. A citation under § 316.305 or § 316.306 shows the driver broke a safety statute, and that goes straight to who was negligent. Florida uses a modified comparative negligence rule, and a person found more than 50% at fault for their own injuries recovers nothing.8 Evidence that the other driver was heads-down on a phone helps keep the fault where it belongs.
One coverage gap catches a lot of Florida crash victims by surprise. The state doesn't require drivers to carry bodily injury liability at all, only PIP and property damage, so the person who hit you may have nothing set aside to pay an injury claim.9 If that's the case, your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, if you bought it, becomes your main source of recovery.10
Timing is tight. For crashes on or after March 24, 2023, you have two years from the crash date to file a negligence lawsuit, half the four-year window Florida used to allow.11 If you need the official crash report, the process is covered on our Florida crash reports page. For the car itself, including the value it loses simply from having been wrecked, see our Florida diminished value guide. And if the injuries are significant, talk to a lawyer while the two-year clock still has room. You can start with our legal directory.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Florida Traffic Crash Facts Annual Report 2024 (Driver Distracted table). https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/crashreports/2024-Crash-Report.pdf
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Florida Statutes § 316.305, Wireless communications devices; prohibition. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.305
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Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, "Texting and Driving a Primary Offense Starting July 1" (June 28, 2019). https://www.flhsmv.gov/2019/06/28/texting-and-driving-a-primary-offense-starting-july-1/
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Florida Statutes § 316.306, Wireless communications devices; prohibition in school and work zones. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.306
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Florida Statutes § 318.18, Amount of penalties. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/318.18
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Florida Statutes § 322.27, point system for driver license suspension. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/322.27
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Florida Statutes § 627.736, Required personal injury protection benefits. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/627.736
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Florida Statutes § 768.81, Comparative fault. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/768.81
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Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Florida Insurance Requirements. https://www.flhsmv.gov/insurance/
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Florida Statutes § 627.727, Motor vehicle insurance; uninsured and underinsured vehicle coverage. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/627.727
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Florida Statutes § 95.11, Limitations other than for the recovery of real property. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/95.11