Texting and distracted driving laws in Hawaii

If another driver hit you while they were looking at a phone, the specifics of Hawaii's distracted driving law matter to your case twice over. They decide whether that driver broke the law, and they help prove the driver was at fault for your injuries. The national hub page covers how distracted driving claims work in general. This page is about what is actually true in Hawaii: the exact rule, the fine, the deadline, and how a phone ticket fits into a no-fault claim.

The problem is not abstract here. In 2023, the Honolulu Police Department alone cited more than 4,700 people for using a cell phone behind the wheel.¹ That same year, the state counted 26 of the 119 drivers involved in fatal crashes as distracted at the time of the crash.¹ Statewide, 92 people died on Hawaii roads in 2023.² Nationally, distracted driving was a factor in crashes that killed 3,275 people that year, about 8 percent of all fatal crashes.³

What Hawaii's handheld device law bans

Hawaii's rule lives in Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 291C-137. It says no person shall operate a motor vehicle while using a mobile electronic device, and it defines "using" as simply holding the device while driving.⁴ You do not have to be typing a text. Holding a phone to your ear, checking a map, or scrolling while stopped in traffic all count, because the ban applies even when the car is not moving.

The term "mobile electronic device" is written broadly. It reaches a cell phone, a text-messaging or paging device, a personal digital assistant, a laptop, a video game, and a digital camera.⁴ A permanently installed navigation system and equipment used to call for help in an emergency are carved out.⁴

The fine is $300 for a first stop.⁴ If the stop happened in a school zone or a construction area, it rises to $400.⁴ Court surcharges are added on top, so the amount you actually pay runs higher than the base figure. This is a primary-enforcement law, so an officer can pull you over for the phone alone, with no other violation needed.⁴ There is one narrow out: using a device only to place a 911 emergency call is an affirmative defense to the ticket.⁴

The rule is stricter for drivers under 18

An adult in Hawaii can legally use a hands-free setup, a mounted phone on speaker or a paired car system. A driver under 18 cannot. Section 291C-137 bans any use of a mobile electronic device by a driver under 18, hands-free included, with the same lone exception for a 911 call.⁴ So if the driver who hit you was a teenager talking on a paired phone, they violated the statute even though an adult doing the identical thing would not have. That distinction can shape how fault gets assigned.

Distraction is more than a phone

The phone law gets the headlines, but Hawaii's fatal-crash data counts distraction more broadly. When the state reported that 26 of 119 drivers in 2023 fatal crashes were distracted, it included drivers pulled away by another person in the car, or by eating, smoking, or some activity unrelated to driving.¹ Enforcement is heavy: in an earlier awareness campaign, police issued about 14,500 distracted driving citations statewide in a single year.⁵ For your claim, the label matters less than the proof. What helps is evidence the other driver was not paying attention, whether that is a phone ticket, a witness, or the driver's own admission.

How a phone ticket affects your claim

Hawaii follows modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar. Under Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 663-31, you can recover damages as long as your share of the fault does not exceed the other side's, and your award is reduced by your own percentage.⁶ Once your fault reaches 51 percent, you recover nothing. A citation under Section 291C-137 is direct evidence the other driver broke a specific safety rule, which is why the police report and any phone ticket carry so much weight when fault gets divided.

Getting the report is step one. Hawaii has no state highway patrol, so the crash report comes from the county police department where the crash happened, whether that is Honolulu, Hawaii County, Maui, or Kauai.⁷ Our Hawaii crash report page walks through how to request yours.

You still have to clear Hawaii's no-fault threshold

Here is the part that surprises people. Even with a plainly distracted driver, Hawaii's no-fault system changes the order of things. Your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage, a minimum of $10,000 per person, pays your early medical bills regardless of who caused the crash.⁸ Your insurer has to pay or deny a PIP claim in writing within 30 days of receiving proof of loss, and late payments carry interest at 1.5 percent per month.⁹

To step outside no-fault and sue the distracted driver for pain and suffering, you have to cross a threshold set in Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-306. You qualify if the crash caused death, a significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body, or a permanent serious disfigurement, or once your PIP benefits paid or accrued reach $5,000.⁸ Serious injuries usually clear that bar without difficulty, but it is the reason a minor fender-bender rarely becomes a pain-and-suffering lawsuit in Hawaii.

When the driver who hit you is underinsured

Since January 1, 2026, Hawaii's minimum liability limits rose to 40/80/20 under Act 138 of 2024: $40,000 for injury to one person, $80,000 per crash, and $20,000 for property damage.¹⁰¹¹ That replaced a 20/40/10 minimum that had stood for roughly 25 years.¹⁰ It still may not cover a serious injury. If the distracted driver carried only the minimum, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is what fills the gap. Hawaii insurers must offer UM/UIM up to your bodily injury limits, but you can reject it in writing, and once you do the insurer does not have to offer it again (Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-301(b)).¹² It is worth pulling your own policy to see whether you kept that coverage.

If your car was worth less after repairs because of the crash, that loss is a separate property-damage claim outside the injury threshold. Our Hawaii diminished value page covers it.

Punitive damages when distraction turns reckless

Hawaii does not cap damages in an ordinary car-crash case. If the distracted driver was also impaired, or acted wantonly or with conscious indifference to the consequences, punitive damages can be on the table. The Hawaii Supreme Court allows them on clear and convincing evidence of that kind of conduct (Masaki v. General Motors Corp., 71 Haw. 1, 780 P.2d 566 (1989)).¹³ A driver streaming video at 60 miles per hour is a different case from one who glanced at a text at a light, and Hawaii law treats the extremes differently.

Deadlines and next steps

You have two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit for injuries or property damage in Hawaii (Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 657-7).¹⁴ One two-year window covers both. Miss it and the court will almost certainly dismiss the case, no matter how clear the other driver's fault was. That deadline runs quietly while you are focused on recovering, so it is the one date to protect early.

Save what you have: photos, the crash report number, the other driver's insurance information, and any note that they were on a phone. If you are weighing whether to bring a claim, you can find a Hawaii attorney through our legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Hawaii Department of Transportation, "Put the Phone Away or Pay" Distracted Driver Awareness Month. https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/hdot-and-its-partners-remind-drivers-to-put-the-phone-away-or-pay-for-distracted-driver-awareness-month/

2. Hawaii Department of Transportation, 2023 Traffic Fatality Update. https://hidot.hawaii.gov/administration/2023-traffic-fatality-update/

3. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Distracted Driving in 2023 (Traffic Safety Facts Research Note). https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813704

4. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 291C-137, Mobile electronic devices. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol05_ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0137.htm

5. Hawaii Department of Transportation, April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/april-is-national-distracted-driving-awareness-month-3/

6. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 663-31, Contributory negligence no bar to recovery. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm

7. Honolulu Police Department, Police Reports. https://www.honolulupd.org/police-reports/

8. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 431:10C-306, Abolition of tort liability. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm

9. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 431:10C-304, Obligation to pay personal injury protection benefits. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0304.htm

10. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 431:10C-301, Required motor vehicle policy coverage (as amended by 2024 Act 138). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm

11. Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Insurance Division, Auto Minimum Limits FAQs (Jan. 2026). https://cca.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Auto-Minimum-Limits-FAQs.pdf

12. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 431:10C-301(b), uninsured and underinsured motorist offer and rejection. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm

13. Masaki v. General Motors Corp., 71 Haw. 1, 780 P.2d 566 (1989). https://law.justia.com/cases/hawaii/supreme-court/1989/13023-2.html

14. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 657-7, Damage to persons or property. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm