Getting hit by someone who was looking at their phone is one of the most common ways a crash happens in Arizona, and it's also one of the most provable. The state's rules on handheld phone use are specific, and they cut two ways after a wreck: they tell you what the other driver was legally required to do, and a violation can help pin down who was at fault in your injury claim.
Arizona banned handheld phone use behind the wheel statewide in 2021. The details trip up a lot of drivers, so here's what the law actually says.
What the Hands-Free Arizona law bans
The rule is A.R.S. § 28-914, known as the "Hands-Free Arizona" law, and it has two separate prohibitions. You cannot physically hold or support a portable wireless communication device with any part of your body while driving. And you cannot write, send, or read any text-based communication, including a text message, email, instant message, or internet data, even when the phone is mounted.1
That second part matters. A phone clipped to a dash mount is fine for a call, but thumb-typing a text on that same mounted phone is still a violation. The Arizona Department of Public Safety spells out the rest: scrolling social media, watching a video, and reading or sending messages are all off-limits behind the wheel.2
What you're still allowed to do
The law targets handheld use, not the phone itself. You can talk in a genuinely hands-free mode, over Bluetooth or a single earpiece, and you can use voice-to-text.12 GPS navigation is allowed, and so is a single touch to start a route, answer a call, or end one.2
Subsection C adds narrow exceptions. On-duty emergency responders and police are exempt, as are certain licensed two-way radio operators, and so is any driver using a device to report a crime or summon emergency help.1 Dialing 911 to report a wrong-way driver is not a violation.
Penalties and how the law is enforced
The fines are set by subsection D. A first violation runs from $75 to $149, and a second or later violation from $150 to $250.1 Handheld use is a primary offense, which means an officer can pull you over for that alone, without needing to catch you doing anything else first.2
The law had a long runway. The Legislature passed it in 2019 as HB 2318, but officers could only issue warnings at first and were barred from writing actual citations until January 1, 2021.13 There's also a statewide preemption provision: subsection H stops cities, towns, and counties from writing their own device rules, so the standard is the same everywhere in the state.1 Before the state law took over, Phoenix, Tucson, and other cities each ran their own texting ordinances.
A ticket under § 28-914 is a civil penalty, not an automatic finding that the driver caused your crash. But it is powerful evidence, which is where the law starts to matter for an injury claim.
Stricter rules for teen and newly licensed drivers
Arizona holds its newest drivers to a higher standard. Under A.R.S. § 28-3174, a driver in the first six months of holding a Class G (graduated) license may not use a wireless communication device for any reason while driving, hands-free or not.4 The only outs are a genuine emergency where stopping is impossible or would be unsafe, and audible turn-by-turn directions where the destination was entered before the car started moving.4 A hands-free call that is perfectly legal for an adult is a violation for a teen in that first six-month window.
Distractions the phone law doesn't reach
Section 28-914 is about devices. It does not cover eating, reaching for something on the floor, grooming, or wrangling kids in the back seat, and none of those carry a specific ticket of their own. They can still support a negligence claim, though, and in a serious case a badly distracted driver can be charged with reckless driving under A.R.S. § 28-693, which makes it a class 2 misdemeanor to drive "in reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property."5 The label on the conduct changes; the fact that it caused your crash does not.
How a distracted driver's phone use affects your claim
Arizona is an at-fault state, and it follows pure comparative negligence under A.R.S. § 12-2505. Your compensation is reduced by your own percentage of fault, but you can still recover something even if you were found mostly to blame.6 Against that backdrop, a § 28-914 citation is strong proof that the other driver broke a legal duty. Cell phone records, which can be subpoenaed in a lawsuit, often show a text sent or read in the seconds before impact.
Timing is the part people miss. In most Arizona injury cases you have two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit, under A.R.S. § 12-542.7 Miss that deadline and the claim is usually gone for good. It also helps to know that Arizona's minimum liability coverage is only $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for injuries, under A.R.S. § 28-4009, so a serious injury can easily run past what the at-fault driver's policy pays.8
If a distracted driver hurt you, pull the police crash report early, since it records any citation and the officer's notes. If your car lost value even after a solid repair, that is a separate diminished value claim. And when injuries or liability are in dispute, it is worth talking to an attorney before you deal with the insurer.
Distracted driving by the numbers in Arizona
The scale is easy to underestimate. In its 2023 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts report, ADOT counted at least 8,657 drivers involved in collisions who were engaged in distracted-driving behavior, and 62 of those drivers were in fatal crashes.9 The agency notes the real total is almost certainly higher, because drivers do not always admit they were distracted and some distracted drivers die in the crash.9 Arizona recorded 1,307 traffic deaths overall in 2023, the second-highest yearly total in state history.9
That gap between the reported number and the real one is exactly why documentation matters after a crash. What the other driver was doing with a phone is often the whole case.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
-
Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-914, Use of portable wireless communication device while driving; prohibition; civil penalty; state preemption; definitions. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00914.htm
-
Arizona Department of Public Safety, Hands Free. https://www.azdps.gov/handsfree
-
Arizona Legislature, HB 2318 (54th Legislature, 1st Regular Session), Chapter 112 session law. https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/54leg/1r/laws/0112.htm
-
Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-3174, Graduated driver license; restrictions. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/03174.htm
-
Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-693, Reckless driving. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00693.htm
-
Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-2505, Comparative negligence. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/02505.htm
-
Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-542, Injury to person; injury when death ensues; injury to property. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00542.htm
-
Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-4009, Minimum liability limits. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/04009.htm
-
Arizona Department of Transportation, "Traffic fatalities in Arizona dip slightly in 2023" (2023 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts). https://azdot.gov/news/traffic-fatalities-arizona-dip-slightly-2023