You can get a ticket for holding your phone while driving starting this Sunday

Beginning Sunday, California drivers will not be allowed to hold their cellphone in their hand while driving. While texting and calling while behind the wheel has already been deemed a no-no, Assembly Bill 1875 makes it illegal to do anything on the phone while driving – skipping a song on a playlist, looking at a map, taking on a speakerphone, etc. – unless the phone is mounted (with something like this) on the windshield or dashboard.

“You can tap it with your finger, swipe with your finger,” attorney Pascal Benyamini told ABC 7. “It’s a split second. But you can no longer hold it to look at the navigation to decide where you’re going. Or scroll through your music to determine what music you’re going to pick. So it’s really hands-free.”

If you get busted, the new law carries with it a $20 fine for a first offense, and $50 for each subsequent ticket.

There are seperate fines for texting while driving (same as above, $20 for first offense, $50 each additional), as well as talking on a phone without headphones or hands-free mode ($76 for first offense, $190 for a second offense).

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