Overview
- Brazil’s Traffic Code, Article 252, classifies holding or manipulating a cellphone at the wheel as a very serious infraction.
- A phone in a mount is allowed only as a passive aid that is set up before the trip and not touched while the vehicle is in traffic.
- Touching the screen to type, unlock, search an address, or change settings counts as manual handling and can trigger the top penalty tier.
- Enforcement can treat a red light as a momentary stop within traffic, so interaction with the device there can lead to citation and points.
- Traffic psychologists note that texting at 40 km/h is like driving blind for about 50 meters and can raise crash risk up to 23 times, with young drivers at higher risk.