Texting and distracted driving laws in New Jersey

Distracted driving is tied to a large share of the crashes on New Jersey roads. In 2024, the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety reported that 42 percent of crashes in New Jersey involved a distracted driver, and those crashes left 175 people dead and about 1,500 seriously injured.¹ If a driver looking at a phone hit you, New Jersey law shapes two things at once: the ticket that driver faces, and how you recover for your injuries.

What the handheld ban actually prohibits

The core rule is N.J.S.A. 39:4-97.3. It bans using a handheld wireless phone or electronic communication device while operating a moving vehicle, and it defines "use" broadly to cover talking, listening, text messaging, and sending an electronic message.² Reading or typing a text, scrolling an app, dialing by hand, or holding the phone to your ear all fall inside the ban.

Two things people get wrong. Sitting at a red light or stuck in traffic does not make it legal, because you are still operating the vehicle unless you are lawfully parked. And this is a primary offense, so a New Jersey officer can pull you over for the phone alone, with no other violation needed.²

Hands-free is the carve-out. The statute allows a hands-free phone or device, so a mounted phone, Bluetooth, or voice commands are permitted.² There is also a narrow emergency exception: you may use a handheld phone if you fear for your life or safety or believe a criminal act may be committed against you, or to report a fire, a traffic crash, a serious road hazard, a medical or hazardous-materials emergency, or another driver who appears reckless or impaired.²

The fines, points, and license exposure

The fines climb with each offense under N.J.S.A. 39:4-97.3:²

• First offense: $200 to $400.
• Second offense: $400 to $600.
• Third or later offense: $600 to $800.

Points are where it bites. There are no motor vehicle points for a first or second offense, but a third or subsequent conviction adds three points to your license, and the court may also suspend your driving privileges for 90 days at its discretion.² A ten-year lookback softens the escalation. If your second offense comes more than ten years after the first, the court treats it as a first offense for sentencing, and the same ten-year gap resets a third offense down to a second.²

When a phone ticket becomes a crime

A handheld violation is a traffic offense. Causing a crash while distracted can be far more serious. Police also charge distracted drivers under the careless driving statute, N.J.S.A. 39:4-97. During the state's April 2025 enforcement wave, officers wrote 6,872 tickets for phone use or texting and another 4,337 for careless driving.¹

New Jersey went further after three people were killed by distracted drivers. The Kulesh's, Kubert's, and Bolis' Law, signed in 2012, amended the vehicular homicide and assault-by-auto statutes so a jury may infer that a driver who was unlawfully using a cell phone was driving recklessly.³ Assault by auto is a fourth-degree crime when reckless driving causes serious bodily injury, which can carry state prison time, and a disorderly persons offense when it causes bodily injury.³ A distracted driver who kills someone can face a vehicular homicide charge under the same framework.³

What the numbers say about the risk

The scale is not abstract. The Division of Highway Traffic Safety reports that from 2012 to 2016, nearly 800,000 crashes in New Jersey involved a distracted driver.⁴ Nationally, NHTSA counted 3,208 people killed and more than 315,000 injured in distraction-related crashes in 2024.⁵ New Jersey has put money behind enforcement: for the 2026 "Put the Phone Away or Pay" campaign, the state distributed $918,680 in grants, including funding for 126 local and county departments plus the State Police, to run high-visibility patrols each April.¹

If a distracted driver hurt you

New Jersey is a no-fault state, so your own auto policy pays first through Personal Injury Protection, regardless of who caused the crash. PIP is mandatory medical coverage under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4, and Standard policies default to $250,000 in medical benefits unless you chose a lower limit in writing.⁶ Whether you can sue the distracted driver for pain and suffering depends on the tort option you selected. Most drivers carry the limitation-on-lawsuit option, often called the verbal threshold, which lets you recover non-economic damages only if your injury fits one of six statutory categories, such as a displaced fracture, permanent injury, or significant scarring.⁷

Fault still decides the money. New Jersey uses modified comparative negligence: you can recover as long as you are not more than 50 percent at fault, and your award is reduced by your share.⁸ A driver who was texting has an obvious problem on that scale. There is also a distinctly New Jersey wrinkle on the sending end. In Kubert v. Best, the Appellate Division held that a person who texts a driver can owe a duty to others on the road, but only if the sender knew or had special reason to know the recipient was driving and would read the message right then.⁹ That remote-sender theory is narrow, and the driver holding the phone remains the primary responsible party.

Evidence disappears fast, so the practical steps matter. Phone records, carrier data, and a vehicle's infotainment logs can show exactly when a screen lit up, but securing them usually takes a preservation letter before the data is overwritten. The police crash report anchors the file, and you can order the New Jersey report through the crash reports page for New Jersey. If your car lost resale value even after a clean repair, that is a separate claim covered on the New Jersey diminished value page.

Watch the clock. A personal injury lawsuit in New Jersey generally must be filed within two years of the crash under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2, and missing that deadline usually ends the claim no matter how clear the other driver's fault.¹⁰ If the injuries are significant, it is worth talking to a lawyer through the legal directory well before that date arrives.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, "AG Davenport, Division of Highway Traffic Safety Announce Increased Enforcement to Combat Distracted Driving" (April 1, 2026). https://www.njoag.gov/ag-davenport-division-of-highway-traffic-safety-announce-increased-enforcement-to-combat-distracted-driving/

2. N.J.S.A. 39:4-97.3, Use of wireless telephone or electronic communication device in moving vehicles. https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-39/section-39-4-97-3/

3. Kulesh's, Kubert's, and Bolis' Law, P.L. 2012, c.22 (amending N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5 and 2C:12-1(c)). https://pub.njleg.gov/bills/2012/PL12/22_.HTM

4. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Division of Highway Traffic Safety, Distracted Driving. https://www.njoag.gov/about/divisions-and-offices/division-of-highway-traffic-safety-home/division-of-highway-traffic-safety-distracted-driving/

5. NHTSA, "Distracted Driving in 2024," Research Note DOT HS 813 790. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813790

6. N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4, Personal Injury Protection coverage. https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-39/section-39-6a-4/

7. New Jersey Model Civil Jury Charge 5.33, Limitation on Lawsuit Option (N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8). https://www.njcourts.gov/sites/default/files/charges/5.33.pdf

8. New Jersey Model Civil Jury Charge 7.30, Comparative Negligence (N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1). https://www.njcourts.gov/sites/default/files/charges/7.30.pdf

9. Kubert v. Best, 432 N.J. Super. 495 (App. Div. 2013). https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/appellate-division-published/2013/a1128-12.html

10. New Jersey Courts, Statute of Limitations FAQ (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2). https://www.njcourts.gov/faq/what-statute-of-limitations-claim-my-case