Texting and distracted driving laws in Pennsylvania

If a driver was looking at a phone when they hit you, Pennsylvania law was already on your side before the crash ever happened. As of 2025 the state bans holding a phone at all behind the wheel, and as of June 2026 police are writing tickets for it. That same rule that governs the citation also helps prove who was at fault in your injury claim.

Here is what the law actually says in Pennsylvania, with the section numbers and the numbers that matter.

Paul Miller's Law and the full handheld ban

Pennsylvania's newest distracted-driving rule is Paul Miller's Law, codified at 75 Pa.C.S. § 3316.1.¹ It took effect June 5, 2025 and is named for Paul Miller Jr., a 21-year-old killed in 2010 by a tractor-trailer driver who reached for a phone.

The law makes it illegal to use an interactive mobile device while driving. Use is defined broadly: holding the device in one hand or propping it against any part of your body, dialing or answering by pressing more than a single button, or reaching for it in a way that pulls you out of your seated, seat-belted position.¹ The ban applies even when you are stopped at a red light or stuck in traffic. The car does not have to be moving.

This is a primary offense. An officer can pull a driver over for the phone alone, without needing any other reason. A violation is a summary offense carrying a $50 fine, plus court costs and fees.¹

The law built in a soft landing. For the first 12 months, through June 4, 2026, police could only issue written warnings.¹ That grace period is over. Since June 5, 2026, a driver who breaks the rule gets an actual citation.

There is one narrow exception. You may use a device if you need to contact police or emergency services to prevent injury.¹ Hands-free use stays legal: a mounted phone, voice commands, or one tap to answer a call.

The texting ban that was already on the books

Paul Miller's Law did not start from scratch. Pennsylvania has banned texting behind the wheel since 2012 under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3316, which prohibits using a device to send, read, or write a text-based communication, meaning a text message, instant message, email, or other written message, while the vehicle is in motion. That offense is also a summary offense with a $50 fine.²

The difference is scope. The 2012 law reached typing and reading text. The 2025 law reaches the phone in your hand at all, including holding it to your ear for a call. Together they leave very little handheld phone use that is legal in Pennsylvania.

How often this happens here

Distraction shows up in the crash data even though drivers rarely admit to it. In 2024, Pennsylvania recorded 9,687 crashes involving a distracted driver, and 43 of those crashes were fatal, according to PennDOT's 2024 Crash Facts and Statistics.³ PennDOT treats this category as underreported, since a driver who was scrolling is not eager to say so to the responding officer.

The court system tracks the tickets. Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System counted 1,934 distracted-driving offenses filed in 2024, part of more than 10,000 over the five years from 2020 through 2024.⁴ Drivers in their 20s were the most common offenders, and violations peaked between 10 a.m. and noon.⁴ Those figures predate the full handheld ban, so the count of cited drivers is likely to climb now that warnings have given way to tickets.

What a distracted-driving violation means for your claim

A phone ticket is a traffic matter, but it can carry real weight in your civil case for injuries.

Pennsylvania follows modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar. You can recover damages reduced by your share of fault, as long as you are not more than 50% responsible; at 51% or more, you recover nothing.⁵ A driver who was holding a phone in violation of a safety statute is in a weak spot on that question. Breaking a law written to protect against exactly this kind of harm is evidence of negligence, and it pushes the fault split toward the other side.

Watch the clock. You generally have two years from the crash date to file a personal-injury lawsuit in Pennsylvania, under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524.⁶ The same two-year limit applies to a claim for your vehicle and other property damage.⁶ Miss it and the claim is usually gone, no matter how clear the other driver's fault.

Your own coverage matters too. When you bought your policy, you elected either full tort or limited tort under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1705.⁷ Limited tort trades a lower premium for giving up most of your right to sue for pain and suffering, unless your injury is serious or another statutory exception applies. If you never made an election in writing, the default is full tort.⁷ It is worth pulling your declarations page to see which one you have before you assume what you can claim.

Pennsylvania also requires first-party medical benefits on every auto policy. At least $5,000 in personal injury protection, usually called PIP, pays your medical bills regardless of who caused the crash, under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1711.⁸ Your insurer has to pay a bill within 30 days of getting reasonable proof of it; after that the benefit is overdue and draws 12% annual interest, under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1716.⁹

Sometimes the conduct is bad enough to support punitive damages, which go beyond compensating you and are meant to punish. Ordinary carelessness does not qualify. Pennsylvania courts allow punitive damages only for outrageous conduct showing reckless indifference to others, a standard the Superior Court set out in Focht v. Rabada for dangerous driving.¹⁰ Whether a driver's phone use clears that bar depends on the facts, but phone records and the driver's own statements often tell the story.

If a distracted driver hit you

Get the paperwork moving early. The police crash report documents what the officer found and whether a citation was issued; you can request a Pennsylvania crash report here. Phone records can be subpoenaed later to show what the driver was doing in the seconds before impact, so note the exact time of the crash while it is fresh.

Do not overlook the car itself. Even a well-repaired vehicle loses resale value after a wreck, and you can pursue that separately as a diminished value claim in Pennsylvania.

If your injuries are more than minor, or the insurer is slow-walking your PIP, talking to a lawyer who handles these cases is usually worth it. You can find a Pennsylvania attorney through our directory. Many take car-crash cases on contingency, so the first conversation costs nothing.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Pennsylvania General Assembly, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3316.1 (Prohibiting use of interactive mobile device; Paul Miller's Law). https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/75/00.033.016.001..HTM

2. Pennsylvania General Assembly, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3316 (Prohibiting text-based communications). https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/75/00.033.016.000..HTM

3. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 2024 Pennsylvania Crash Facts and Statistics, p. 23. https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/penndot/documents/travelinpa/safety/documents/2024_cfb_linked.pdf

4. Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System, Distracted driving offenses in Pennsylvania. https://www.pacourts.us/news-and-statistics/news/news-detail/1217/distracted-driving-offenses-in-pennsylvania

5. Pennsylvania General Assembly, 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102 (Comparative negligence). https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/42/00.071.002.000..HTM

6. Pennsylvania General Assembly, 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524 (Two year limitation). https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/42/00.055.024.000..HTM

7. Pennsylvania General Assembly, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1705 (Election of tort options). https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/75/00.017.005.000..HTM

8. Pennsylvania General Assembly, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1711 (Required benefits). https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/75/00.017.011.000..HTM

9. Pennsylvania General Assembly, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1716 (Payment of benefits). https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/75/00.017.016.000..HTM

10. Focht v. Rabada, 217 Pa. Super. 35, 268 A.2d 157 (Pa. Super. 1970). https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/superior-court/1970/217-pa-super-35-1.html