CALIFORNIA—In a press release from Wednesday, December 23, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) is reminding residents new traffic laws that will be going into effect next year, where the CHP highlighted three laws. Two of them will immediately go into effect on Friday, January 1, 2021 and another on Thursday, July 1, 2021.
- Assembly Bill 47: The state of California currently has a hands-free law, which bans drivers from holding their cellphones while driving. But this law (effective this July) will add a point to the driver’s record if caught holding his/her cellphone “for a second time within 36 months of a prior conviction for the same offense,” states the press release.
- Assembly Bill 2717: Starting January 1, this law will exempt individuals from “civil or criminal liability for trespassing or damaging a vehicle” if they save a child 6 years or younger and “in immediate danger from heat, cold, lack of ventilation, or other dangerous circumstances.”
- Assembly Bill 2285: This law is an extension of California’s “Move Over, Slow Down” law, which requires vehicles on freeways “approaching a stationary emergency vehicle displaying emergency lights” to “move to another lane when possible.” The updated law now applies to local roads and streets.
For more information, visit https://www.chp.ca.gov/home/
