Mississippi Bans Texting, Social Networking While Driving

Author: Ashley Shaw, XpertHR Legal Editor

March 19, 2015

Mississippi has become the 45th state to ban texting and social networking while driving, expanding its previous distracted driving ban. An employer that engages commercial drivers or that requires employees to drive as part of their work assignments (e.g., travelling sales professionals) will need to update its driving polices to comply with this new law.

The law, which will go into effect on July 1, 2015, will cause it to be a civil violation to write, send or read a text message while operating a car. This ban will also extend to messages on a social media site. The ban will include "the manual entry, sending, or retrieval of a text message" that is used as a means to communicate with another person or device.

Any violation that occurs as of July 1, 2015 and before July 1, 2016, will result in a $25 fine. Any violation that occurs as of July 1, 2016, will result in a $100 fine. Mississippi will keep records on anyone who violates this statute that will include the violator's age, race and whether an accident occurred as the result of the violation.

Previously, Mississippi had laws banning distracted driving as well as a texting ban for drivers under the age of 18. While a workplace driving policy should include and acknowledge state driving laws, it is still good practice to ban activities such as texting even in the absence of an applicable state law. Further, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has frowned on texting and driving and uses its General Duty Standard as the basis to issue citations to employers who actively encourage workers to text while driving.