• Young drivers in Mississipi may not text and drive.mobile phone outdoors image by MichMac from Fotolia.com
  
  As of 2010,Mississippi only limits cell phone for young drivers. In this case, drivers with a learner's permit, intermediate or temporary license may not send or receive text messages while driving. This ban mainly affects drivers without a permanent license who are typically between 15 and 16 years of age.
  
  

Senate Bill 2280

• The Mississippi legislature banned teen texting while driving in April, 2009, as a part of a larger teen driving reform bill referred to as Senate Bill 2280 (SB 2280). The law amends the Mississippi Code of 1972 by adding a section specifically addressing texting. The law also increased the time required to obtain a full license by requiring an additional six months the learner's permit must be held and also requires teenagers remain in school to keep their driver's license.
  
  The law prohibits "drivers holding an intermediate license or temporary learning or driver permit from sending or receiving written messages while driving." Despite this wording which makes all types of reading and writing communications illegal while driving the lawmakers mainly intend for this to ban texting.
  
  

Reasoning Behind SB 2280

• According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, Mississippi led the nation in teen driving deaths for more than a decade prior to the passage of SB 2280. "Reader's Digest" confirms this, stating the "teenage driving fatalities" for Mississippi for the decade prior to 2009 was 35.1 per 100,000 children.
  
  Though the causes of these accidents may not be related to texting, Mississippi is following a trend of other states with high teen automobile fatality rates by trying to eliminate a common source of driver distraction. Additionally by piggy-backing two additional new stipulations to the law they have raised the age for a full (unsupervised) license from 15.5 to 16 years of age as well as provided an incentive to keep teenagers from dropping out of high school.
  
  

Enforcement of SB 2280

• The enforcement of the texting ban is primary, allowing a law enforcement officer to pull over anyone caught text messaging prior to the driver committing any additional offense.
  
  As of August, 2010, the fines associated with the texting ban are up to $500 and a misdemeanor offense when an officer catches them texting while driving. Teens who text and end up in a crash because of this behavior are subject up to a $1,000 fine.
  
  

Controversy Surrounding SB 2280

• Many Mississippians are outraged the law made it through the legislature. In an article for the "Insurance Journal," Mississippi epresentative Sam Sims commented "it's also unsafe to eat while you're driving, unsafe to fool with the radio." He and other lawmakers are angry that the legislature made its first attempt with this bill to limit what one is allowed to do in the privacy of the vehicle.
  
  Other lawmakers, such as Mississippi representative Ed Blackmon are concerned with the profiling implications of the texting ban. As the law applies to those mainly 15 to 16 years old, he believes there is little to stop police officers from pulling over young African American men suspected of other activities for questioning or vehicle searching.
  
  Many teens surveyed by a local newspaper, the "Dispatch," feel the law should apply to everyone regardless of age. As it is hard to visually determine the age of a person, many younger looking drivers may be pulled over if caught texting while driving.