Davis Law Group, P.S.

WA State Celebrates 1 Year Anniversary: Texting/Talking Primary Law

Today marks the one year anniversary of Washington State’s hand-held device and texting while driving law becoming a primary offense. The secondary offense was in affect June 2009 and changed to a primary offense last June.

When the law was originally put in place as a secondary offense, statewide, there were 1,344 citations written for talking on a hand-held device and 225 citations for texting. In comparison to last year, when it became a primary offense, there were a total of 6,850 citations for talking and 549 for texting. These numbers are based on an 11 month period of time and the information only contains activity with Washington State Patrol (WSP), no local agencies were included.

It is interesting to look at the amount of people who were actually pulled over for these offenses verse the amount of citations actually given – as a primary offense, 14,518 were pulled over for talking on a hand held device, yet only 6,850 were cited statewide. Based on information from WSP, the ratio of citations to warnings is normal. The Washington State trooper’s value driver education therefore chose to warn more often than cite.

King County is in the lead for the amount of citations over both time periods. It has also been reported that there are several more violators in Western Washington than Eastern Washington.

Of the 50 states, 40 states have implemented some sort of offense for texting while driving. In 27 states, it is a primary offense. In regards to banning hand-held devices while driving, only eight states have implemented a law against this act.

Even though this has been changed to a primary offense, several drivers continue to talk on the phone and text. The violation fee in Washington State is $124.