Cellphone Ticket Writing is Down!

In this post we’ll break down New York State Cellphone ticket data from 2022 in comparison to the previous years and present some interesting points you’ve probably never considered when it comes to Cellphone tickets in New York. When referencing Cellphone tickets in this post we are including Improper Cellphone Use and Use of Portable Electronic Device tickets as well. The data for this post was gathered and published by The Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research (ITSMR).

We’ll start by looking at how many Cellphone tickets have been issued in New York State over the past decade and end with what day of the week had the highest number of Cellphone tickets issued throughout 2022. For the following analysis, we’ve decided to exclude preliminary 2023 data. The data for 2023 is too incomplete at the moment and would skew the numbers too much.

Table 1

As can be seen in Table 1, the number of Cellphone tickets issued throughout New York State has decreased dramatically over the past 10 years. In 2012 there were approximately 216,980 Cellphone tickets issued throughout New York State and by 2022 only 36,117 were issued. The drop in Cellphone tickets issued is impressive considering how seriously New York State has taken their Cellphone Laws over the past decade. Less distracted drivers on the road mean safer driving conditions for drivers and safer streets for pedestrians.

However, the number of Cellphone tickets issued went up in 2022 breaking a 9-year pattern of decreases. In 2022 there were 36,116 Cellphone tickets issued in the State of New York, an increase of approximately 1,150 tickets from 2021. The preliminary numbers for 2023 are too incomplete to predict whether the number of Cellphone tickets issued will have risen or decreased at the end of the year in comparison to 2022. We’ll be sure to update you once the final numbers for 2023 have been released but we do think there will be an increase as the number of tickets overall has been increasing.

Table 2

Next, let’s take a look at what month of the year the majority of New York State Cellphone tickets were issued. As can be seen in Table 2, April was by far the month with the most Cellphone tickets issued in the State of New York. Over the last 10 years, April has consistently been the month with the most Cellphone tickets issued. The ONE exception is April 2020 which only had 395 (1.1% of 2020’s total) Cellphone tickets issued. That extremely low number can be directly correlated with the Covid-19 pandemic we were going through. There were significantly fewer drivers on the road and traffic tickets were not being issued as frequently.

Table 3

Next, let’s take a look at what time of day most New York State Cellphone tickets were issued. As can be seen in Table 3, the period of 9 AM-12 PM was the time of day with the most Cellphone tickets issued.

Table 4

Lastly, the day of the week with the highest count of Cellphone tickets issued was Wednesday. As can be seen in Table 4, Tuesday – Thursday accounted for the majority of Cellphone tickets issued throughout the year 2022. Saturdays and Sundays were the days with the lowest number of Cellphone tickets issued.

Conclusion

Cellphone tickets are one of the most frequently issued traffic tickets in New York State. If you are found guilty of this violation you will receive 5 points on your New York State license. In addition to 5 points, these tickets carry fines that are determined by your driving record.

Under New York State law you cannot use a mobile telephone or portable electronic device while you drive. You will receive a ticket if you are driving and holding a Cell Phone or a Portable Electronic Device while:

• Talking on a handheld mobile phone
• Composing, sending, reading, accessing, browsing, transmitting, saving, or retrieving electronic data such as e-mail, text messages, or webpages
• Viewing, taking, or transmitting images
• Playing games

The best way to avoid a Cellphone ticket is to never hold a cell phone or electronic device while driving. However, if you have received an Improper Cellphone Use or Use of Electronic Device ticket don’t hesitate to reach out to our office to see how we can help.

Hiring an experienced attorney gives you the best chance of beating these types of tickets in court. Experience matters when dealing with traffic tickets and Attorney Michael Block has over 35 years of experience fighting traffic tickets in court and getting positive results for his clients.