Texting while you drive is no longer OK under state law. Tuesday, the state's new cell phone-texting ban went into effect.

Thousands across the country die every year because of distracted driving. Now, many Coloradans are hoping this law will help keep everyone safe on the road.

The message is getting out. "Today drivers will have to start breaking a bad habit," says Governor Ritter. From Colorado's governor to local teens.

"If I had rolled into a car with a family, I could have killed someone," says Pine Creek senior Mari McGilton knows just what damage can be done when it comes to distracted driving. "I looked down at my phone to read a text message. I swerved to the right hit the curb got scared, apparently I over-corrected and hit the median, hit a tree, and went into oncoming traffic," says McGilton.

As her fellow classmates pledge to not text and drive, McGilton hopes teens and adults everywhere follow the new law. "To text and drive now is worse than drinking and driving because you think it's just one time, but when you look down for one second you've traveled the length of a football field," says McGilton.

So how will this new law be enforced? "Ya know, it's going to be an act if they observe texting and they may choose to write the citation based on the totality of the circumstances and the evidence that is available" says Col. Jim Wolfinbarger of the Colorado State Patrol.

"No text or call is worth the cost of a human life," says Gov. Ritter.

Gov. Ritter also announced the winner of a teen-texting PSA contest this morning. Kimberly Strong, of Palmer Ridge in Monument made a poster saying "You can't LOL at a funeral."

For your first offense of the new law, you'll have to pay a $50 fine. That doubles the second time you're caught.