Since July 1, 2018, Georgia's Hands-Free Act (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241) has made it illegal to hold or support a phone while driving. If the driver who hit you was violating it, that violation can serve as evidence of negligence per se in your injury claim. Fines are modest — $50, $100, then $150 with 1, 2, and 3 license points — but the civil consequences aren't. You have 2 years to file suit under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33.
Georgia's Hands-Free law is on your side
Sit through one light at Pleasant Hill Road near the I-85 diverging diamond and you'll spot them: drivers scrolling with a phone balanced on the wheel. Every one of them is breaking Georgia law. The Hands-Free Georgia Act, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241, in force since July 1, 2018, prohibits drivers from physically holding or supporting a phone with any part of the body, from writing, sending, or reading texts, emails, or internet data behind the wheel, and from watching or recording video while driving. Voice-to-text and navigation displays are allowed; propping the phone against the steering wheel is not.
Why does a traffic statute matter to your injury claim? Because in Georgia, violating a safety law designed to protect people like you can constitute negligence per se — meaning the violation itself can establish that the driver breached their duty of care, rather than leaving it as a judgment call for the jury. A distracted-driving citation doesn't decide your case by itself, but it hands your claim a running start that an ordinary 'failure to yield' dispute never gets.
Tickets and points are small — the civil claim is not
Criminal penalties under the Hands-Free Act are famously light, and insurers know it. What the citation costs the driver and what the crash costs you live in different universes: a $50 fine on their end can sit across the table from surgery, lost work, and a totaled car on yours. The table below shows the criminal side; your civil claim for full damages is a separate track entirely, and the modest fine has no bearing on what the at-fault driver's insurer owes you.
Proving the driver was on the phone
Distracted drivers almost never admit it, so Duluth cases are built from evidence that has to be captured early. The police report and any § 40-6-241 citation come first. Witness statements matter enormously — a driver in the next lane on Sugarloaf Parkway who saw the glow of a screen can transform a case. Then there's the phone itself: cell phone records showing calls, texts, or data use at the moment of impact can be obtained through a subpoena once a lawsuit is filed, which is one of the quietest but strongest reasons injured people hire attorneys early.
Speed matters because evidence evaporates. Phone carriers don't keep records forever, nearby businesses overwrite camera footage in days or weeks, and memories at a chaotic I-85 crash scene fade fast. A preservation letter — a formal demand that the driver and their carrier retain phone data — should go out as soon as possible. One more wrinkle worth knowing: the Hands-Free Act specifically exempts continuously running dash cams, so your own dash cam footage is both legal and often the single best exhibit in the file.
Deadlines and the fault fight to expect
The clock runs the same as in any Georgia injury case: 2 years to file suit for your injuries under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, and 4 years for vehicle damage under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-31. If the distracted driver is criminally prosecuted for what happened, O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99 can toll — pause — your deadline while the prosecution is pending, up to a maximum of 6 years. Treat that as a safety net, not a plan.
Expect the insurer to fight fault even with a citation in hand. Georgia's comparative negligence rule, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault and eliminates it entirely if you're 50% or more responsible — so adjusters hunt for anything to pin on you, from speed to a late lane change on Pleasant Hill Road. A Duluth case would typically be litigated at the State Court of Gwinnett County in Lawrenceville. Dream Team Law builds distracted-driving cases from its Atlanta office — free consultation, no fee unless we win, at 1-855-255-TEAM.
Frequently asked questions
The driver got the ticket dismissed by showing up with a hands-free device. Does that kill my case?+
No. The Hands-Free Act lets a first-time offender avoid conviction by producing a hands-free device or proof of purchase in court — but that's a criminal-court courtesy, not a finding that they weren't on the phone. Your civil claim runs on its own evidence: witness testimony, phone records, and crash reconstruction all remain fully available.
Can I actually get the other driver's phone records?+
Yes, through the subpoena power that comes with filing a lawsuit. Carriers won't hand records to a private individual, but once litigation begins, records showing texts, calls, or data use at the moment of the crash can be compelled. Because carriers keep this data for limited periods, sending a preservation demand early is critical.
Does a Hands-Free violation automatically make the other driver 100% at fault?+
Not automatically. The violation is powerful evidence of negligence, but Georgia's apportionment statute, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, still lets a jury assign percentages of fault to everyone involved. If you were speeding or partly at fault, your recovery drops by your percentage — and disappears at 50%. Strong evidence of distraction usually shifts that math heavily in your favor.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice; reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines depend on the specific facts of your case — consult a licensed attorney in your state about your situation. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.