Penalties increased for cell phone use in car
Effective July 1, 2014, 39:4-97.3 imposes increased fines for first, second and
subsequent offenses of talking on a hand-held wireless telephone or texting a
message with a hand-held wireless electronic communication device while
driving. Specifically, A person who violates this section shall be
fined as follows:
(1) for a first offense, not less than
$200 or more than $400;
(2) for a second offense, not less
than $400 or more than $600; and
(3) For a third or subsequent offense, not
less than $600 or more than $800. Under the
provisions of this bill, all fines collected are to be paid to the State
Treasurer for allocation to the Chief Administrator of the Motor Vehicle
Commission (MVC) for use in the MVC’s public education program on this offense,
which will include informing motorists of the dangers of texting while driving.
These Assembly
amendments change the distribution of the fines collected pursuant to this
bill. Under these amendments, 50 percent of the fines collected are to be
paid to and divided equally between the county and municipality where the
violation occurred, and 50 percent of the fines collected are to be paid to the
State Treasurer for allocation to the MVC for use in the public education
program.
For a third or subsequent violation, the court, in its discretion, may
order the person to forfeit the right to operate a motor vehicle over the
highways of this State for a period of 90 days. In addition, a person
convicted of a third or subsequent violation shall be assessed three motor vehicle
penalty points pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1982, c.43 (C.39:5-30.5).
A person who has been convicted of a previous
violation of this section need not be charged as a second or subsequent
offender in the complaint made against him in order to render him liable to the
punishment imposed by this section on a second or subsequent offender, but if
the second offense occurs more than 10 years after the first offense, the court
shall treat the second conviction as a first offense for sentencing purposes and
if a third offense occurs more than 10 years after the second offense, the
court shall treat the third conviction as a second offense for sentencing
purposes.
e. Except as provided in
subsection d. of this section, no motor vehicle penalty points or automobile
insurance eligibility points pursuant to section 26 of P.L.1990, c.8
(C.17:33B-14) shall be assessed for this offense.
