Georgia State Troopers have given out almost 1,000 tickets under the new Hands-Free Law which went into effect July 1st of this year (2018)

A number of law enforcement agencies around the state said they would probably give out a number of warnings during the first month the law was in effect, however that month is over now, so heads-up!  A lot of law enforcement agencies have already been giving out tickets.  The Georgia State Patrol said they gave out 961 tickets and 2,990 warnings over the month of July.

Director of the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Harris Blackwood said the law is needed to make roads safer.  He said the insurance rates in Georgia and the number of people injured and killed in cell phone-related collisions have skyrocketed.  He’s gone on record as saying “There are so many crashes that are symptomatic of texting and driving – such as rear-end collisions, departure of the roadway on the right, crossing the centerline, striking an object and so on, that we have lost a lot of people in the last three or four years to these kinds of crashes.”

Blackwood said the rules as outlined in the new measure are easy to understand – if you’re going to use your cell phone while driving, you can’t have the phone in your hand. You have to use a hands-free device.

(WGNN/AM1180 Chattooga County Radio)