Texting and distracted driving laws in Massachusetts

If a driver who was looking at a phone hit you, Massachusetts law is on your side in a specific way. Since February 23, 2020, it has been illegal for any driver in the state to hold a phone or other mobile electronic device behind the wheel, and an officer can stop a driver for that alone.¹ The rule goes further than a plain "no texting" ban, and the details matter both for the ticket the other driver may receive and for the claim you may file.

thatcarhitme.com logged 128,769 reported crashes across Massachusetts in 2025.² Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 12 percent of all police-reported crashes in 2024 were distraction-affected, and that distracted drivers killed 3,208 people and injured an estimated 315,167 that year.³ Distraction rarely gets written plainly on a crash report, so those counts almost certainly run low.

What the hands-free law actually bans

The statute is M.G.L. c. 90, section 13B. For drivers 18 and older it does three things. You cannot hold or support a mobile electronic device with any part of your body. You cannot use one at all unless it is in hands-free mode. And you cannot read or view text, images, or video on a device while driving.¹

"Mobile electronic device" is defined broadly. It reaches phones, tablets, laptops, gaming and messaging devices, and similar handheld electronics, but not equipment built into the vehicle itself.¹

There is one narrow carve-out. You may look at a navigation map if the device is mounted to the windshield, dashboard, or center console and does not block your operation of the vehicle.¹ A single tap or swipe to activate hands-free mode is allowed. Scrolling, typing, dialing by hand, or holding the phone to your ear is not.

The fines, and when it reaches your insurance

The penalty climbs with each offense: $100 for a first violation, $250 for a second, and $500 for a third or later.¹

The insurance consequence is where the statute is precise. A first or second offense is not a surchargeable incident, so it should not raise your premium by itself.¹ A third or subsequent offense is a surchargeable incident under the state's Safe Driver Insurance Plan (M.G.L. c. 175, section 113B), which insurers can use to raise rates.¹⁴ Anyone who commits a second or later offense also has to complete a distracted-driving program chosen by the Registrar of Motor Vehicles.¹

Primary enforcement, with two real defenses

Enforcement is primary. An officer can pull a driver over solely for holding a phone, with no other violation required.¹ That is what makes the citation useful as evidence: the at-fault driver can be ticketed on the spot.

Two exceptions can beat the charge. The law does not apply when a vehicle is stationary and outside any part of the road meant for travel, so a phone used while parked off the roadway is not covered.¹ Sitting at a red light in a travel lane does not qualify. There is also an emergency affirmative defense: using a device to report a disabled vehicle, a crash, a medical emergency, a fire, or a road hazard is a defense to the ticket.¹ Public safety officers operating emergency vehicles are separately exempt.¹

Drivers under 18 face a total ban

Massachusetts holds young drivers to a stricter line. Under M.G.L. c. 90, section 8M, no one under 18 may hold or use a mobile phone or mobile electronic device at all while driving, even in hands-free mode.⁵ What is legal for an adult is illegal for a junior operator.

The penalties add a license suspension that adults never face for this. A first offense brings a $100 fine and a 60-day suspension, plus a required attitudinal retraining program. A second offense is a $250 fine and a 180-day suspension. A third or later offense is a $500 fine and a one-year suspension, and it becomes surchargeable.⁵ The same emergency defense is available.⁵

A Massachusetts feature: enforcement is tracked for profiling

When the Legislature passed the hands-free law in 2019, it wrote in a data requirement most states skip. The act directs the RMV to record the age, race, and gender of every cited driver, and it requires an annual, publicly posted analysis of whether the law is being enforced unevenly by race.⁶ If that analysis points to profiling by a particular department, the state can order the agency to log data on all of its traffic stops for a year and to run implicit-bias training.⁶ It is worth knowing this exists if you ever question how a stop was handled.

What a distracted-driving crash means for your claim

Massachusetts is a no-fault state, so your own Personal Injury Protection coverage pays first. PIP is mandatory at $8,000 per person and covers medical bills and part of your lost wages no matter who caused the crash. The insurer has to start paying, or send a written denial, within 10 days of receiving notice from your treating physician.⁷

To step outside no-fault and pursue the distracted driver for pain and suffering, you have to clear the tort threshold in M.G.L. c. 231, section 6D. Your reasonable medical expenses must exceed $2,000, unless the crash caused death, a fracture, permanent and serious disfigurement, or loss of sight or hearing.⁸ Below that line, a general-damages claim is barred.

A section 13B citation helps prove negligence, but it does not settle the case by itself. Massachusetts follows modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar: you can recover as long as your share of fault is not greater than the other driver's, and your award drops by your own percentage.⁹ You have three years from the date of the crash to sue, under M.G.L. c. 260, section 2A.¹⁰ File late and the claim is gone.

Two practical points. The distraction usually surfaces in the police crash report, often the first document that matters; you can request the Massachusetts report through thatcarhitme.com's crash-report page. PIP does not touch your car, so vehicle damage, including any diminished value on your repaired car, moves through a separate property claim.

When injuries are serious or fault is disputed, an attorney who handles Massachusetts crash cases can preserve phone records and the citation before they vanish. You can start with the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.

Boston alone recorded 451 crashes in April 2026.¹¹ Most were not caused by a phone. But when one is, section 13B hands you a clear rule the other driver broke, on the date it happened.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, section 13B (use of mobile electronic device while operating a motor vehicle). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90/Section13B

2. thatcarhitme.com, "Massachusetts Year-over-Year Crash Report, 2025" (128,769 reported crashes statewide). https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/statewide/2025-annual-report

3. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "Distracted Driving in 2024," Traffic Safety Facts Research Note, DOT HS 813 790 (April 2026). https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813790

4. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, section 113B (Safe Driver Insurance Plan; merit-rating surcharges). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXII/Chapter175/Section113B

5. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, section 8M (junior operators; use of mobile devices). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90/Section8M

6. Acts of 2019, Chapter 122 (An Act requiring the hands-free use of mobile telephones while driving; effective date and enforcement-data provisions). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2019/Chapter122

7. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, section 34M (Personal Injury Protection benefits). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90/Section34M

8. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 231, section 6D (tort threshold for pain and suffering). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter231/Section6D

9. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 231, section 85 (comparative negligence). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter231/Section85

10. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, section 2A (three-year statute of limitations). https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section2A

11. thatcarhitme.com, "Boston, MA Crash Report, April 2026" (451 reported crashes). https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/april-2026-report