Three Years of Ohio's Phone Law. Proving It Is Still Hard

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Ohio has now spent three years writing tickets to drivers holding phones.

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Senate Bill 288 made holding a phone behind the wheel a primary offense on April 4, 2023, meaning an officer could pull a driver over for that alone. A six-month grace period followed, and the citations began on Oct. 5, 2023. The third year of enforcement has now closed.

The state says the law worked. Governor Mike DeWine's office reported roughly 1,112 fewer distracted driving crashes in the first year of enforcement than in the 12 months before it, with fatal crashes attributed to distraction down 19.4 percent and nearly 15,400 fewer crashes overall. In January, the state reported that traffic deaths had dropped 11 percent across the two years since enforcement began, a difference of 280 lives.

Central Ohio had plenty of room for that improvement. Ohio State Highway Patrol data shows Franklin County second in the state for distracted driving crashes between 2019 and 2023, with 4,450, behind only Cuyahoga County.

A quieter problem the numbers do not show

Geoff Jones, a Columbus personal injury attorney and founder of The Jones Firm, said the enforcement data and the injury claims he sees describe two different things.

"A citation means an officer watched somebody holding a phone and pulled them over for it," Jones said. "That is not what happens at a crash scene. Officers show up after the fact. The phone is in a cupholder or a pocket by then, and the driver is not volunteering anything."

Ohio's own law reinforces that gap. Under Ohio Revised Code 4511.204, an officer has to observe the violation to make the stop, and the statute does not let an officer take or search the device without a warrant. For a routine car accident with no fatality, that warrant is rarely sought.

The state has acknowledged the same thing in a different form. When DeWine's office announced the first-year results, it pointed to the broader drop in all crashes as evidence the law was working, reasoning that drivers do not reliably admit to being distracted before a collision.

"You end up with a crash report that lists failure to maintain assured clear distance and nothing about a phone," Jones said. "The adjuster reads that report and treats it as a simple rear-end case worth. "

Jones said physical proof in these cases usually comes from three places, and all three have a clock on them.

Carrier records are the first. Call and data logs may be able to establish whether a device was transmitting at the moment of impact, though carriers hold detailed records for limited periods and generally release them only under subpoena or a preservation request.

Vehicle data is the second. Most late-model vehicles store speed, braking, throttle position, and steering input in the seconds before a crash. That data lives in a module inside a car that is frequently repaired, sold, or scrapped within weeks.

The third is the phone itself, which usually belongs to the other driver.

"None of that comes to you unless you file a lawsuit and subpoena the records or seek the information from the driver through formal discovery," Jones said. "

Two practical consequences follow, he said. One is that a preservation letter sent early does more work in these cases than almost anything that happens later. The other is that accepting a quick offer closes the door on evidence nobody has looked for yet.

Distraction is not a separate cause of action in Ohio. It is evidence of negligence, and the civil case still turns on duty, breach, causation, and damages.

Often, when distracted driving is present, there is clear negligence without the distracted driving evidence. The distracted driver crosses the center line, or rear-ends someone. In most injury cases, we might not necessarily need to dig for phone records or electronic vehicle data. But where there is a severe, permanent injury or death in a truck crash or commercial vehicle crash, this evidence can lead to higher jury awards or even punitive damages.

In truck crashes, federal rules already require carriers to keep electronic logging and inspection records. In impaired driving cases, a criminal investigation might help develop legal strategy for the civil case. However, in ordinary two-car collisions on Broad Street or 315, it may be impractical to obtain the distracted driving evidence needed to determine liability or to support an award of punitive damages.

Ohio gives most injury claims two years from the crash date under Ohio Revised Code 2305.10, and families bringing a wrongful death claim generally have two years from the date of death under Ohio Revised Code 2125.02.

Jones said the filing deadline is almost never what sinks these cases.

"Two years is a long time. Thirty days is not, and thirty days is about how long you have before the car is gone and the records start rolling off," he said. "If you or your loved one was seriously injured or killed in a distracted driving collision, you should immediately seek legal counsel to help preserve the evidence."

About The Jones Firm

The Jones Firm is a Columbus personal injury law firm representing people hurt in car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, and pedestrian crashes, along with families pursuing wrongful death claims. Attorney Geoff Jones, a Columbus native and Ohio State law graduate, founded the firm after losing his mother in a 2008 crash caused by an impaired driver. The firm serves Franklin County and surrounding communities, including Dublin, Westerville, Gahanna, Hilliard, Bexley, Upper Arlington, Grove City, and Delaware. Consultations are free.

To learn more, visit jonesfirmohio.com.

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