Driving while using a cellphone is unlawful

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20: The Ministry of Tourism and Transport moved to clarify recent reports regarding the legislation on motorists’ use of mobile devices while driving.  

The public is reminded that the amendments to the Motor Car (Construction Equipment and Use) Regulations 1952, and the Auxiliary Bicycle Construction and Equipment in Use 1954, and the Traffic Offences Procedures Act 1974 became law recently.

And today the Ministry reconfirmed that the use of cellular phones and other hand held electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle is unlawful.

To provide further clarity for the public, the Ministry offered a list of devices which are prohibited under the amended legislation. This is by no means and exhaustive list:

• All hand-held cell phones, i.e. Blackberry, iPhones, Palm and other mobile devices (LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, HTC, etc.).
• All hand-held electronic equipment, i.e. Nintendo Gameboy, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite,  iPods (all models including the iPad), PDAs, PlayStation Portable game systems, and all hand-held educational gaming systems (Leapsters, etc.).

With regard to display screens, the following are prohibited:

• Computers, televisions, DVD players, blu-ray players, or any other device with a display screen where the display screen is visible to the driver of the vehicle.

Exemptions from the prohibition of display screens are as follows:

• GPS devices Logistical transportation tracking system devices used for commercial purposes
• Collision avoidance system devices
• Instrumental display screens used to provide info regarding the status of various systems of the motor vehicle.
• Driver exemptions: drivers of an ambulance, fire-fighting vehicle or police vehicle (emergency vehicles only).