The sheriff in Cherokee County, Alabama, issued a warning to local motorists Sunday that can serve as a heads-up for drivers in all Georgia border counties.
Sheriff Jeff Shaver's talking about Georgia's new hands-free cellphone law which goes into effect July 1 just across the Alabama-Georgia line.
"I want to make you aware of the new Georgia law, because we have a large number of Cherokee County citizens who work or travel frequently in Georgia," Shaver said, giving a run down on the new rule in a statement. "Under the new law, a person cannot operate a motor vehicle while operating a cellphone, holding a cellphone with your hand, or supporting a cellphone with any other part of your body in Georgia.
"Additionally, a person may not read, write, or send any text based communication, and a person cannot watch or record a video," the sheriff said.
Alabama has no similar law for handheld cellphones although texting while driving is against the law.
Georgia's law includes cellphones, personal digital assistants, computers, global positioning system navigation devices and any other device used for communication or that stores audio or video files. Exceptions under the Georgia law include in-car voice-based communication and navigation systems, Shaver noted.
Georgia joins 16 other states in the ban.
Elsewhere across the South, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia have partial bans in place regarding handheld devices, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Highway Loss Data Institute. For Tennessee, use of handheld devices is prohibited in school zones.
All but three states - the exceptions being Montana, Arizona and Missouri - also have bans against texting while driving for all drivers, the institute's data shows.