{"id":208296,"date":"2026-06-02T10:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T10:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/208296\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T10:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T10:37:11","slug":"fines-start-friday-for-holding-a-phone-while-driving-in-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/208296\/","title":{"rendered":"Fines start Friday for holding a phone while driving in Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">(WHTM) \u2014 Police in Pennsylvania will start issuing fines on Friday to drivers stopped for holding a cellphone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The state banned hand-held devices while behind the wheel last year through Paul Miller\u2019s Law, which made using a cellphone in a vehicle a primary offense, meaning police can stop someone solely for the violation. Miller was killed in 2010 when a distracted driver crossed a center grass divider and collided head-on with his car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"#sailthru-signup-widget\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Close;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Close&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Close<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Watch for us in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Subscribe Now<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For the first 12 months, the penalty was a written warning. Now, violators will get hit with a $50 fine plus court costs and other fees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The law also allows for drivers convicted of homicide by vehicle and driving while distracted to be sentenced up to an additional five years in prison.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc27.com\/pennsylvania-politics\/pennsylvania-house-passes-school-cellphone-ban\/?ipid=promo-link-block1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Pennsylvania House passes school cellphone ban;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Pennsylvania House passes school cellphone ban&quot;}\"> Pennsylvania House passes school cellphone ban <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Drivers will be generally prohibited from using phones in vehicles, including when stopped at a red light. However, they may pull over to the side of or off a highway and stop the vehicle to use their phone. There is also an exception to communicate with law enforcement or other emergency services to prevent injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The ban does not include a GPS device, a device integrated into the vehicle or a communications device affixed to a mass transit vehicle or bus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc27.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WHTM) \u2014 Police in Pennsylvania will start issuing fines on Friday to drivers stopped for holding a cellphone.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[26842,91554,34339,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-208296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-distracted-driver","tag-holding-a-cellphone","tag-paul-miller","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}