PA to outlaw holding phone while driving

A new Pennsylvania law known as “Paul Miller’s Law” will outlaw holding your phone while driving effective June 5, 2025. The good news for those who plan to flout the law is that police may only issue a warning for the first year. Those more concerned about the safety of drivers will be happy when that one year period is up.

Some interesting analysis: The new law is a summary offense. It is not a high level offense and the only penalty is a $50 fine. We can think of many busy people who would rather pay $50 than be banned from using their phones while driving around Pennsylvania. But here’s the rub. No one plans to have an accident, but they happen all the time. What if you are involved in an accident where someone is killed or seriously injured? The fact that you have violated a law while driving can then be used to charge you with a crime such as Homicide by Vehicle or Aggravated Assault by Vehicle. These offenses outlaw driving with gross negligence and causing death (Homicide by Vehicle) or serious injury (Aggravated Assault) while violating any law applying to the use of a vehicle. Thus, driving in a grossly negligent fashion, which we would argue more than half of the cars on the road at any given time in our area are doing, in conjunction with holding your cell phone, would support these serious felony charges. This is a game changer that citizens needs to pay attention to, although we are not sure that it will actually change driver behavior.

What course of action should you take to deal with this new risk of being charged with a felony just for driving and answering your phone? First, it’s probably better to leave the phone in your pocket (hopefully not the back one). Second, it will be a great idea to get a quality phone holder that holds your phone securely on the dash so that you can answer a call by tapping one button, without actually holding the phone.

Why is that important? Because the law prohibits using at least one hand to hold the phone or supporting it with another part of the body. So if it’s in a holder then you are not guilty of one way they can prove the offense. But there are two more. The law also prohibits dialing or answering a device by tapping more than one button. So Siri is your friend. Using Siri or an equivalent will let you make or answer calls without touching buttons. There is one more way to violate the law, but it’s almost not worth mention except to show how our legislators have taken complete leave of common sense. The new law also outlaws reaching for a phone in a manner that requires the driver to leave a seated position no longer restrained by a seatbelt installed in accordance with 9 CFR 393.93 (regulations that govern seatbelt installation by the manufacturer). Who wrote this? Why? At a time when our laws have become so complex and voluminous that we have citizens being convicted of crimes they didn’t know existed on a daily basis, is that third prong really necessary? If you reach for your phone by removing your seat belt and getting out of the driver’s seat while driving, isn’t that already covered by Reckless Driving? If anyone can think of a good reason for this third prohibition please let us know in the comments below. We’d also love to hear any other feedback you have about Paul Miller’s Law.