Can You Touch Your Phone While Driving in California?

What the law says: Vehicle Code 23123.5 (and 23123)

Two sections work together. Section 23123 says you may not drive while using a wireless phone unless it is designed and configured for hands-free listening and talking and you use it that way. Section 23123.5 is broader: you may not drive "while holding and operating" a handheld phone or other electronic wireless communications device unless it is designed for voice-operated, hands-free operation and used that way.

Section 23123.5(c) then allows a hand on the device only when both conditions are met:

1. The device is mounted on the windshield in the same places a portable GPS may be mounted, or on the dashboard or center console in a way that does not hinder your view of the road.
2. Your hand is used to activate or deactivate a feature or function "with the motion of a single swipe or tap" of a finger.

"Electronic wireless communications device" is defined to include a broadband personal device, a handheld device or laptop with mobile data access, or a pager. Systems the manufacturer built into the vehicle are excluded.

Where the windshield mount may go

The windshield spots come from section 26708(b)(12): a seven-inch square in the lower corner farthest from the driver, or a five-inch square in the lower corner nearest the driver and outside an airbag deployment zone. A phone suction-cupped to the middle of the glass is not in either spot. A dash or console mount has no fixed square, but it must not block your view.

What it means in practice

Holding the phone is the violation, even at a red light with the phone on speaker. Typing a text, scrolling a map, or picking a playlist by hand all fail the single-tap test. Answering a call with one tap on a mounted phone, or starting navigation you set up before you left, can pass it.

• Fines. Both sections set a base fine of twenty dollars for a first offense and fifty dollars for each later one. Penalty assessments are added on top, so the amount actually paid is commonly several times the base figure.
• Points. Section 12810.3 gives a violation point only for a conviction under 23123(a) or 23123.5(a) for an offense on or after July 1, 2021 that comes within 36 months of a prior conviction for the same offense. The first one carries no point; the repeat does.
• Exceptions. Section 23123 does not apply to calls for emergency purposes, such as to police, fire or a health care provider, or to driving on private property. Emergency services professionals in an authorized emergency vehicle are covered by their own exception.
• Drivers under 18 face a stricter rule that bars phone use while driving even hands-free, except to call emergency services.

Insurance follows the record and the facts. A pointed phone conviction is a moving-violation entry like any other, and in a crash claim, phone use is a fact an adjuster or opposing party will ask about when deciding fault. How a given company rates a phone conviction varies by insurance company.

What to do

1. Mount the phone in a legal spot before you need it: dash, console, or one of the two windshield corners.
2. Start navigation and audio before you put the car in gear.
3. Use voice commands or the car's built-in system for anything more than a single tap.
4. If something needs typing, pull over and park first.
5. If you have one phone conviction, the next 36 months are the window in which a second one adds a point.

If a moving violation is affecting your premium, you can get a fresh quote here built on your actual record.