Texting and distracted driving laws in Vermont

If a driver looking at a phone hit you in Vermont, the law was already on your side before the crash. Vermont bans handheld phone use for every driver, and police can pull someone over for that alone. Here is what the state prohibits, what it costs, and how a distracted driver's violation can shape the injury claim you file afterward.

Vermont recorded 59 traffic deaths in 2024, and its crashes skew toward the pattern distraction makes worse. Seventy-eight percent of those deaths happened in single-vehicle crashes and 54 percent involved speeding, both the highest shares of any state that year.¹ A car that drifts off a rural road or across the center line is often a car whose driver stopped watching the road.

What Vermont's hands-free law bans

The core rule is 23 V.S.A. § 1095b. It makes it illegal to use a portable electronic device while operating a moving motor vehicle on any Vermont highway or in any area open to the public.² Enforcement is primary, so an officer needs no other reason to stop you.³ The ban also reaches farther than many drivers assume. You are still breaking the law while stopped at a red light or sitting in stalled traffic, because the statute counts a vehicle that is temporarily stationary because of traffic or a traffic control device.²

Use means holding the device in your hand or supporting it with your body. The exceptions are narrow. You can use a device hands-free, you can touch a phone to reach law enforcement or emergency responders when there is no reasonable alternative, and you can run a GPS or navigation system that is mounted in the vehicle.²³

Texting has its own statute, 23 V.S.A. § 1099, which separately bars reading, composing, or sending any electronic message, including text messages, instant messages, and email, while driving.⁴ Between the two sections, there is very little you can legally do with a phone in your hand behind the wheel here.

The fines, and how fast they climb

A first handheld or texting violation carries a civil penalty of $100 to $200.² A second or later violation within any two-year period runs $250 to $500.²³ On top of the fine, the state adds points to your driving record under the schedule in 23 V.S.A. § 2502, and points build toward a suspension.⁵⁶

One detail catches people off guard. You cannot be handed separate tickets for the handheld ban and the texting ban out of the same act, because Vermont limits an officer to a single complaint per incident across sections 1095b, 1095a, and 1099.⁴

Stricter rules for drivers under 18

Vermont draws a hard line for its youngest drivers. Under 23 V.S.A. § 1095a, a junior operator, meaning a driver under 18 or one holding a learner's permit or junior license, may not use a portable electronic device at all, not even hands-free.⁷ The exception adults rely on does not exist for them.

The consequence reaches the license itself. When a driver is adjudicated for a single texting violation under § 1099, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles must recall that person's learner's permit or junior operator's license for 30 days.⁸ For a teen, one phone-in-hand ticket can mean a month off the road.

How a distracted-driving crash changes your claim

Vermont handles crashes on an at-fault, or tort, basis, and it does not use a no-fault system, so drivers are not required to carry personal injury protection.⁹ The driver who caused your crash, and that driver's insurer, are responsible for the harm. A documented phone violation is strong evidence of negligence, and it can move the number that matters most to your recovery, which is fault.

Vermont uses modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar, set out in 12 V.S.A. § 1036. You can recover as long as your share of the fault is not greater than the other driver's, so 50 percent or less keeps your claim alive, and your damages drop by your own percentage.¹⁰ At 51 percent or more, you recover nothing.¹⁰ When the other driver was texting, that fact tends to push the fault split in your favor.

You have three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit under 12 V.S.A. § 512, and the same three-year deadline applies to a claim for damage to your vehicle and other property.¹¹ Miss it and the court will almost certainly dismiss the case, so do not let the clock run while you wait on an adjuster. When you are ready to talk to a lawyer, you can search the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.

Insurance minimums and the coverage that protects you

Every registered vehicle in Vermont must carry liability insurance of at least $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per crash, and $10,000 for property damage, the limits fixed by 23 V.S.A. § 800.¹²⁹ Those are floors, and against a serious injury they run out fast.

Vermont adds a protection many states leave optional. Under 23 V.S.A. § 941, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is mandatory unless you reject it in writing, and the required minimum is $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident, higher than the basic liability floor. It also has to rise to match your liability limits if you carry more.¹³ If the distracted driver who hit you was uninsured or carried only the state minimum, your own UM/UIM coverage is often what actually pays your bills. If your car lost resale value even after a clean repair, Vermont law lets you pursue that loss separately; the Vermont diminished value guide covers how.

Getting your crash report

Police crash reports in Vermont run through the DMV rather than the local department. Requests go to the Vermont DMV's Driver Improvement and Driver Control unit at 120 State Street in Montpelier, and a report is generally available 30 days after the collision.¹⁴ Crashes investigated by the Vermont State Police are released through the DMV as well.¹⁴ For how to pull yours and what it holds, see the Vermont crash reports guide.

A phone record and a crash report often tell the same story from two directions. Together they can be the difference between an insurer's first lowball offer and a fair one.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Fatality Facts 2024, State by state (Vermont). https://www.iihs.org/research-areas/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state

2. 23 V.S.A. § 1095b, Handheld use of portable electronic device prohibited. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/013/01095b

3. Vermont State Highway Safety Office, Handheld Device Laws. https://shso.vermont.gov/content/handheldlaws

4. 23 V.S.A. § 1099, Texting prohibited. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/013/01099

5. 23 V.S.A. § 2502, Point assessment; schedule. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/025/02502

6. Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Distracted Driving. https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/road-safety/distracted-driving

7. 23 V.S.A. § 1095a, Junior operator use of portable electronic device prohibited. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/013/01095a

8. 23 V.S.A. § 607a, Recall of learner's permit or junior operator's license. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/009/00607a

9. Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Insurance. https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/laws/insurance

10. 12 V.S.A. § 1036, Comparative negligence. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/027/01036

11. 12 V.S.A. § 512, Injuries to the person or property. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/023/00512

12. 23 V.S.A. § 800, Maintenance of financial responsibility. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/011/00800

13. 23 V.S.A. § 941, Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/011/00941

14. Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Crashes. https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/laws/crashes