Kulesh, Kubert & Bolis' Law
The Kulesh, Kubert, and Bolis’ Law, passed by the State of New Jersey, became effective July 18, 2012.
It empowers prosecutors to charge those driving illegally using a cell phone as being reckless. The law allows criminal charges to be filed, such as assault by auto or vehicular homicide, if the motor vehicle crash causes serious bodily injury or death.
Due to the unfortunate circumstances in which New Jersey driving laws were written at the time of Toni and RJ’s crash, the sentencing of the offender included a two-year loss of license and a $257 fine. Additionally, he is required to attend three presentations given by the Toni & RJ Foundation - one a year for three years, anonymously.
http://www.nj.com/washington-township -times/index.ssf/2012/07/family_of_toni_donato-bolis_re.html
Distracted Driving Laws by State
GHSA November 2016 (A complete chart of all states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands’ cell phone and texting bans)
Handheld Cell Phone Use: 14 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving. All are primary enforcement laws—an officer may cite a driver for using a handheld cell phone without any other traffic offense taking place.
All Cell Phone Use: No state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, but 38 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice drivers, and 20 states and D.C. prohibit it for school bus drivers.
Text Messaging: Washington was the first state to pass a texting ban in 2007. Currently, 46 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, ban text messaging for all drivers. All but 5 have primary enforcement. Of the 4 states without an all-driver texting ban:2 prohibit text messaging by novice drivers, 1 restricts school bus drivers from texting
Graduated Driver Licensing Laws (GDL) by State
Graduated Driver Licensing Laws (GDL) by State, GHSA November 2016 (A complete chart of all states, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands’ GDL laws)
Since novice and young drivers have the greatest crash rates, with motor vehicle crashes being the leading cause of death for young drivers, many states have a Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) law with interim steps before full driving privileges are granted. The programs vary from state to state. Below are a few of the highlights:
Cell Phones/Texting: 38 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice drivers (See GHSA’s Cell Phone laws page for more information.)
Nighttime Driving Restriction: 48 states and D.C. restrict nighttime driving during the intermediate stage.
Passenger Restriction: 46 states and D.C. restrict the number of passengers during the intermediate stage.
Novice Driver Decal: New Jersey is the only state with a measure requiring those younger than 21 without full-privilege licenses to display a decal on their vehicle identifying them as new drivers
Highway Safety Laws by State
GHSA 2015 (Includes drunk, drugged, and aggressive driving, passenger restraint, helmet laws, and more) – Click on the U.S. map for any state to review the highway safety laws.