Cellular telephone

Mobile phones ranging from a 1980s-era phone to a 2000s phone

A cellular telephone is a hand held device used for communicating, commonly known as a "cell phone", and also known as a mobile phone in Britain and Ireland.

The following is a summary of jurisdictions that have regulated the use of hand-held cell phones while driving (as of September 2006):

• California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, New York, and New Jersey.

• Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, and Pennsylvania permit local municipalities to ban handheld cell phone use. Localities that have already done this include: Chicago, IL; Brookline, MA; Detroit, MI; Santa Fe, NM; Brooklyn, North Olmstead and Walton Hills, OH; and Conshohocken, Lebanon and West Conshohocken, PA.

• Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah do not allow local governments to ban cell phone use.

• Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas ban the use of all cell phones while driving a school bus.

• Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia have restrictions on the use of cell phones by young drivers.

• In Montana it was for many years technically illegal to even possess a cell phone inside a car, due to an archaic law which was repealed in 2001.

• All except four states with cell phone bans allow police to stop and ticket drivers for breaking the law. The exceptions are New Jersey, which is a secondary enforcement law except for school bus drivers and learner’s permit and intermediate license holders, and Colorado, Maryland, and West Virginia which have secondary enforcement laws. Secondary enforcement laws require observation of another violation before stopping the driver.