Texting and distracted driving laws in California

If a driver was looking at a phone when they hit you, California law is unusually specific about what that driver was and was not allowed to do. Getting the exact rule right matters, because the same statute that earns a driver a ticket can also help prove they were at fault for your injuries.

Here is what the law actually says in California, with the numbers, deadlines, and exceptions that apply.

The two phone statutes, and what each one bans

California splits handheld phone use across two Vehicle Code sections.

Section 23123 covers talking. A driver may not use a wireless telephone to talk unless the phone is configured for hands-free listening and talking and is used that way.¹

Section 23123.5 is broader and does most of the work. It bars driving while "holding and operating" a handheld wireless phone or an electronic wireless communications device.² That language reaches texting, checking email, scrolling an app, and filming video. Reading a text counts. So does holding the phone up to follow a map.

There is one narrow way to touch a mounted phone legally. Under 23123.5, a device mounted on the windshield, dashboard, or center console may be operated with "a single swipe or tap" of one finger.² Anything more than that single motion, and the driver is holding and operating in violation of the statute.

Both sections carry the same base fine: $20 for a first offense and $50 for each later one.¹²

Drivers under 18 face a stricter standard

If the driver who hit you was a teenager, the rule is tougher. Section 23124 bars anyone under 18 from using a wireless phone or an electronic communications device while driving, "even if equipped with a hands-free device."³ For a minor, hands-free is not a defense. No calls, no mounted maps.

One wrinkle works in the teen driver's favor. The under-18 ban is secondary enforcement, so an officer cannot stop a minor for the sole purpose of checking for phone use; there has to be another reason for the stop.³ For adults, 23123 and 23123.5 are primary offenses, so a handheld phone in view is reason enough to be pulled over.

The exceptions the law actually allows

California carves out genuine emergencies. Section 23123 does not apply to a driver using a phone to make an emergency call to a law enforcement agency, a medical provider, the fire department, or another emergency service.¹ Operators of authorized emergency vehicles acting within their duties are exempt under both sections, and so are certain transit and school bus drivers covered separately.¹² Section 23123 also does not apply to a person driving on private property.¹

That is close to the whole list. "I was stopped at a red light" is not on it. California treats a driver who is stopped in traffic as still driving.

What a ticket really costs, and the points question

The $20 and $50 figures are base fines only. California layers a stack of mandatory penalty assessments on top of them. Penal Code section 1464 by itself adds a $10 state penalty for every $10 of the base fine, a one-to-one add that lands before county assessments and court fees are even counted.⁴ Once everything is folded in, a first citation commonly runs well over a hundred dollars.

The license point is the part most drivers, and a lot of websites, get wrong. A distracted-driving conviction does not automatically put a point on your DMV record. Under Vehicle Code section 12810.3, added by Assembly Bill 47, a point is assessed only for a second conviction of the same phone offense that falls within 36 months of the first, and only for offenses committed on or after July 1, 2021.⁵ A single first-time ticket is a fine, not a point.

How the ticket helps your injury claim

This is where the statute does more than punish a driver. California recognizes negligence per se. Evidence Code section 669 presumes that a person failed to use due care if they violated a statute, the violation proximately caused the injury, the harm was the kind the statute was meant to prevent, and the injured person belonged to the class the statute protects.⁶

A driver who was texting in violation of 23123.5 fits every element for a crash victim. The phone laws exist to prevent exactly this kind of collision, and you, as another person on the road, are exactly who they were written to protect. So a citation, or other proof the driver was on the phone at the moment of impact, can shift the presumption of fault onto them. You still have to show the violation caused your specific injuries. What you no longer have to argue from scratch is that using the phone was careless in the first place. The Legislature settled that question.

California also follows pure comparative negligence, the rule the state Supreme Court adopted in Li v. Yellow Cab Co.⁷ Even if you were partly at fault, you can still recover, with your award cut by your share. A driver who was staring at a screen rarely has much room to shift blame onto you.

The numbers behind the rule

Distraction is a real problem on California roads. The California Office of Traffic Safety reports that 148 people were killed in the state in 2022 in crashes involving a distracted driver, and in its 2025 public opinion survey, 71.4% of Californians named texting-related distraction as one of their top traffic safety concerns.⁸ Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration counted 3,283 deaths in distraction-affected crashes in 2023, with cell phone use recorded in 12% of the fatal ones.⁹

Deadlines you cannot miss

California gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.¹⁰ Miss that window and the claim is almost always gone, no matter how clearly the other driver was on a phone. Damage to your vehicle and other personal property runs on a longer clock of three years.¹¹

Both deadlines run whether or not the driver was ever ticketed, so acting early helps preserve phone records and other evidence before it disappears. If the crash hurt your car's resale value, California has its own approach to a diminished value claim after the repair. And if you need the official record of the collision, obtaining your California crash report is handled separately.

When injuries are serious or fault is being contested, that is the point to talk with a lawyer who handles California car crashes. You can find one through the legal directory.

This article is general information about California law, not legal advice for your specific situation.

Sources

1. California Vehicle Code § 23123 (handheld wireless telephone). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=23123.

2. California Vehicle Code § 23123.5 (holding and operating a handheld phone or electronic wireless communications device; mounting exception). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=23123.5.

3. California Vehicle Code § 23124 (drivers under 18). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=23124.

4. California Penal Code § 1464 (state penalty assessment). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=1464.

5. California Vehicle Code § 12810.3 (violation points, added by AB 47). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=12810.3.

6. California Evidence Code § 669 (presumption of negligence). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=EVID&sectionNum=669.

7. Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804 (pure comparative negligence). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1139343/li-v-yellow-cab-co/

8. California Office of Traffic Safety, Distracted Driving. https://www.ots.ca.gov/grants/distracted-driving/

9. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Distracted Driving in 2023 (Research Note, DOT HS 813 703). https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/813703

10. California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 (two-year limit for personal injury and wrongful death). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=335.1&lawCode=CCP

11. California Code of Civil Procedure § 338(c)(1) (three-year limit for property damage). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=338.&lawCode=CCP