Bill headed to Gov. Shapiro’s desk would ban hand-held cellphone use while driving

PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania is poised to become the 27th state to ban hand-held cellphone use while driving.

Wednesday, House Democrats announced the bill has passed both chambers of the General Assembly and is headed to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

“In Pennsylvania specifically, in 2022, we know that almost 12,000 people were in distracted driving crashes,” said Tiffany Stanley, AAA East Central’s Public and Community Relations Manager.

Handheld cellphone use is already illegal in every state that borders Pennsylvania.

“The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found in a study back in 2022 that 93% of motorists believed that it was dangerous to text and drive, yet four out of 10 of them admitted to doing it within the past 30 days.”

According to Stanley, distracted driving claimed 3,500 lives nationwide in 2021 — around nine per day.

“Pull off the road, look at your phone in your car or get out and look at it, but make sure you’re not driving, because all it takes is a few seconds, if you’re not paying attention, and that’s how accidents happen,” said North Hills driver, Edward.

He and other drivers who spoke with Channel 11 support the new bill.

“I think it’s a good idea because too many people aren’t paying attention,” Edward said.

“I support it because I think it’s going to save lives, it’s going to increase safety, and ultimately it’s just going to help people be a little bit more aware of what’s going on around them,” said driver, Tyler Whiteford.

The bill allows for hands-free or Bluetooth phone conversations as well as using your phone for GPS navigation and in emergencies.

It bans holding your phone up to your ear, in front of you, or any type of texting, typing, or scrolling.

There will be a one-year warning period after the law takes effect.

After that, drivers who get caught will be fined $50.

“Anything you need to do you can just press the little speaker button and say, ‘Call so and so,’ or honestly if it’s a text, it can wait,” said Whiteford.

The bill also calls for distracted driving to be a larger focus in driver education. It will require at least one distracted driving question on all driver’s license exams.

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