Driving while talking on a cell phone in Henderson

New Nevada Traffic Law About Cell Phones and Driving

Here are some important new traffic laws passed by the 2011 Nevada Legislature which police officers in Las Vegas and Henderson are cracking down on. A short description of each is followed by its effective date, legislative bill number and applicable Nevada Revised Statute or NRS Chapter.

No Texting and Hands-Free

Texting, accessing the internet and hand-held cell phone use while driving are now illegal in Nevada.

You can talk using a hands-free headset and, while making voice calls, touch the phone to “activate, deactivate or initiate a feature or function on the device.”

The fines are $50 for the first offense in seven years, $100 for the second and $250 for the third and subsequent offenses. Fines are subject to doubling if the offense occurs in a work zone. The first offense is not treated as a moving violation for DMV and insurance purposes.

Exceptions include:

• Any person reporting a medical emergency, a safety hazard or criminal activity.

• Drivers using a voice-operated navigation system affixed to the vehicle or those riding in autonomous vehicles.

• Drivers using citizen band or other two-way radios that require a license and have a separate, hand-held microphone.

• Law enforcement officers, firefighters or emergency medical personnel acting within the scope of their employment.

• Utility workers responding to an outage or emer- gency and using devices provided by the company.

• Amateur radio operators providing communications services during an emergency or disaster.

Remember, for misdemeanor crimes, you will not get a court appointed public defender.  If you want a criminal defense attorney to represent your interests, you will have to hire one in private practice.