Invalidation of Allentown cell phone ban won’t affect Philadelphia

Don’t get your hopes up, ticket holders. A move by a Lehigh County judge last week to invalidate Allentown’s cell phone ban is unlikely to occur in Philadelphia.

An attorney here says Philadelphia’s Home Rule authority pretty much means the ban on using cell phones while driving can stay.

The ruling in Lehigh County last week invalidated Allentown’s ban on the basis that only states can make such laws. But Martha Johnston, a senior attorney in the city’s Law Department, tells KYW anyone looking to challenge a cell phone violation in Philadelphia won’t have much luck.