55-8-192 - Use of mobile telephone by school bus drivers.
55-8-192. Use of mobile telephone by school bus drivers.
(a) No driver shall operate a school bus as defined by § 55-8-101 on any highway while using a hand held mobile telephone while the vehicle is in motion and the vehicle is transporting children; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to mobile telephone or two-way radio communications made to and from a central dispatch, school transportation department or its equivalent.
(b) For the purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires, mobile telephone means a cellular, analog, wireless or digital telephone.
(c) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor punishable only by a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00).
(d) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section, which must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence, that the driver's use of a mobile telephone was necessitated by a bona fide emergency.
[Acts 2003, ch. 180, § 1.]