Distracted Driving Crash Claims in Harrisburg, PA Paul Miller's Law and Phone Evidence

What the 2024 act changed

Act 18 of 2024, approved on June 5, 2024 and known as Paul Miller's Law, amended Title 75 in several places. It rewrote the definition in section 102, replacing the older phrase about wireless communications devices with the term interactive mobile device, and expanded what that covers to include browsing, gaming, taking or transmitting images, recording or broadcasting video, and creating or sharing social media, alongside calling and messaging. It kept exclusions for devices used exclusively for navigation, devices operated in a hands-free manner including systems integrated into the vehicle, devices affixed to a mass transit vehicle or school bus, licensed amateur radio, emergency notification use, emergency responders on duty, and commercial drivers acting within federal regulations. The act stated that most of its provisions took effect twelve months after approval.

The new section, and what use means

Section 5 of the act added section 3316.1, which prohibits a driver from using an interactive mobile device while driving a motor vehicle, subject to an exception for communicating with law enforcement or emergency services to prevent injury to persons or property. The definition is physical rather than functional. Use includes holding the device with at least one hand or supporting it with another part of the body, dialing or answering by pressing more than a single button, and reaching for the device in a way that requires the driver to move out of a seated, belted driving position. Driving is defined to include the moments when the vehicle is temporarily stationary because of traffic, a traffic control device, or a momentary delay, and to exclude a vehicle that has been moved off the highway and safely halted.

Penalties, the warning period, and the older texting section

A violation of section 3316.1 is a summary offense carrying a fifty-dollar fine, and the section included a transition: for the first twelve months after its effective date, a driver could be issued only a written warning. Section 3316, the earlier prohibition on text-based communications, remains in the Code as amended, also with a fifty-dollar fine, and both sections state that a driver may not be cited under both for the same conduct at the same time and place. Both sections preempt municipal ordinances on the subject, and neither authorizes the seizure of a device.

The sentencing consequence in serious cases

The act also reached the serious offense provisions. Sections 3732 and 3732.1, covering homicide by vehicle and aggravated assault by vehicle, were amended so that a person convicted under those sections who is also convicted under section 3316 or the new section 3316.1 may be sentenced to an additional term of confinement, and the act directed the Commission on Sentencing to provide a sentencing enhancement in those circumstances. That is the clearest signal in the statute about how the legislature views a phone in a fatal crash.

What the crash data shows

PennDOT's 2024 driver-error table lists 9,687 crashes involving a distracted driver, with 43 people fatally injured. For Dauphin County, the department's workbook lists 218 distracted driver crashes in 2025 and 229 in 2024. Those figures depend on what an investigating officer was able to determine at the scene, which is a well-known limitation in distraction data everywhere. Distraction is usually inferred rather than observed, so the recorded counts should be read as a floor rather than a measurement.

The evidence that establishes distraction

Because distraction leaves no skid mark, these cases are built from records held by others. Carrier billing and usage records show call and data activity by timestamp. Application-level data may show interaction. Vehicle event data can show whether any braking occurred before impact. Independent witnesses sometimes describe a driver looking down. Roadside cameras occasionally capture the interior. Every one of those sources is subject to retention limits or requires a formal request, which is why the useful step in the first days is preservation rather than argument.

How this connects to the civil claim

A citation under either section is not a finding of civil liability, and a conviction is not required for negligence to be established. What the statutory framework provides is a defined standard of conduct that a jury can understand, plus documentary evidence generated by the enforcement process. The damages available in the resulting claim still depend on the injured person's tort election under section 1705 and on the apportionment rules in the Judicial Code.

Reading this page

This page describes a Pennsylvania statute and published crash data in general terms for readers around Harrisburg and Dauphin County. Effective dates, enforcement practice, and penalty amounts are set by law and can change. Nothing here is advice about a particular crash or citation, and questions about one belong with the attorney whose office advertises on this site or another licensed Pennsylvania attorney.