Georgia's hands-free law took effect more than two months ago, and people caught using their phones behind the wheel have started paying tickets.
We've previously reported the cost of a ticket for a first-time offender would be $50, but one Macon man emailed us saying his wife's ticket for a first-time offense cost them much more.
So we wanted to verify, what is the cost for a first-time violation of the new hands-free law?
13WMAZ's Ensley Nichols spoke with Bibb County Solicitor General, Rebecca Grist, and Municipal Court Judge, Bobby Faulkner to verify.
According to her husband, one Georgia driver, Kristy Skinner, got busted while at a red light.
"She heard her phone go off, she got a text, so she reached over picked up her phone, checked her text, set it back down. When she drove off, she was pulled over and given a citation," says Jeffery Skinner.
The new Georgia statute says first-time offenders pay a $50 fine, but Jeffery says their citation ordered them to pay $204.
When he spoke to a Macon municipal court clerk, Jeffery says she didn't explain the cost clearly.
After speaking with Grist, we found out Skinner was right, and the Bibb County court was wrong.
Grist says computers generate ticket prices, and the Skinners' bill was a mistake.
"The computer had been programed previous to the change in the law, and there were add-ons and surcharges that were associated with that," says Grist.
We verified that it's true, first offenders pay a flat fee of $50 for distracted driving.
Before the law came into effect, traffic citations had additional fees, but after the law was in effect those charges were supposed to be gone.
Grist says, "That's not an automatic fix, it's something done manually, and I just believe that had not been done."
Grist says the tickets come from the municipal court, not from her office.
So we went to visit Judge Bobby Faulkner, who wasn't there, but he later told us by phone quote, "We made an error and we will fix it. It slipped through the cracks. I would be happy to give that man his money back."
Judge Faulkner says they are just now going though hands-free citations and working through the kinks.
He did add that he is working to resolve any computer problems.