New Cell Phone and Driving Law in Minnesota - hands free

[BoxsterCy]

Heads up to you peeps who come to Minnesota for Twins games, Mall of America or lakes vacation. New hands free law took effect yesterday and it's being enforced vigorously. You might get away with a warning with your out of state plates, maybe not.

You can Bluetooth and such but any GPS use needs to be voice activated/directed. This is much stricter than your Iowa law that mostly just prohibits texting. Basically if you have a phone in your hand you are getting stopped.

More detailed explanation is offered in this linked story:
https://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/2019/04/hands-free-cell-phone-is-now-law-so-how-does-it-work/


BTW, I am militantly supportive of this.

 

[cowgirl836]

I believe IL also has a similar law now in effect.

 

[VeloClone]

They issued their first ticket for this at 0200 on Thursday when the law went into effect at midnight.

I share Boxster's support for this. Despite it being a bother at times, I saw way too many people texting or surfing on their phones (which has been illegal for some time) and suddenly put the phone to their ear when they saw Johnny Law to avoid a ticket. Now there is no ambiguity. If you aren't using a hands free device, you are clearly breaking the law. Phone use on the roads has been way out of hand up here. I see multiple people watching the phone more than the road on every single commute.

 

[legi]

Just because phone is not in your hand will not prevent texting and being distracted. I bet people will still be texting while their phone is somehow mounted to their dashboard, or zooming in and out of the map apps and similar.

It will probably take couple years to collect data to see if there is significant improvement in safety. Wonder if there are any stats from other states that have had this law for at least couple years?

 

[isufbcurt]

Me eating or radio channel surfing while driving is a bigger distraction than me talking on the phone. jmo

 

[Walden4Prez]

They should teach people in MN what the ******* left lane is for instead of worrying about cellphones.

 

[VeloClone]

Just because phone is not in your hand will not prevent texting and being distracted. I bet people will still be texting while their phone is somehow mounted to their dashboard, or zooming in and out of the map apps and similar.

It will probably take couple years to collect data to see if there is significant improvement in safety. Wonder if there are any stats from other states that have had this law for at least couple years?

They have said that other states experienced an average of 15% reduction in traffic fatalities after implementing similar laws.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Just because phone is not in your hand will not prevent texting and being distracted. I bet people will still be texting while their phone is somehow mounted to their dashboard, or zooming in and out of the map apps and similar.

It will probably take couple years to collect data to see if there is significant improvement in safety. Wonder if there are any stats from other states that have had this law for at least couple years?

New York and Connecticut have both been hands free for years

 

[alarson]

They have said that other states experienced an average of 15% reduction in traffic fatalities after implementing similar laws.

Of course traffic fatalities per mile driven have been falling for decades so kind of hard to pin it on just one law.

 

[wxman1]

Just because phone is not in your hand will not prevent texting and being distracted. I bet people will still be texting while their phone is somehow mounted to their dashboard, or zooming in and out of the map apps and similar.

It will probably take couple years to collect data to see if there is significant improvement in safety. Wonder if there are any stats from other states that have had this law for at least couple years?

I think California has had this law for a decade or so.

 

[VeloClone]

They should teach people in MN what the ******* left lane is for instead of worrying about cellphones.

Funny you should say that since on the same date a new law making it illegal to impede traffic by camping out in the left lane also took effect.

 

[SCyclone]

@BoxsterCy or @VeloClone, do either of you know what the fine is? Hopefully it's something that will hurt, something that gets talked about around the water cooler so people might think twice about flirting with the law.

 

[3TrueFans]

@BoxsterCy or @VeloClone, do either of you know what the fine is? Hopefully it's something that will hurt, something that gets talked about around the water cooler so people might think twice about flirting with the law.

Death

 

[Walden4Prez]

Funny you should say that since on the same date a new law making it illegal to impede traffic by camping out in the left lane also took effect.

Then the whole state is going to be in jail.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Death

Tough but fair

 

[VeloClone]

Then the whole state is going to be in jail.

I regularly drive in both Iowa and Minnesota and things are just as bad in Iowa as they are here. At least Minnesota is trying to do something about it.

 

[cyclonespiker33]

Funny you should say that since on the same date a new law making it illegal to impede traffic by camping out in the left lane also took effect.

Doesn't it only apply to people driving under the speed limit though?

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I'm all for taking phones out of people's hands altogether while driving. I don't go 2 days in a row without someone veering into my lane while looking at their phone.

 

[VeloClone]

@BoxsterCy or @VeloClone, do either of you know what the fine is? Hopefully it's something that will hurt, something that gets talked about around the water cooler so people might think twice about flirting with the law.

First offense is $50, I believe but it goes up to $275 after that. More like $150 for first offense when fees and court costs are added in I would imagine.

 

[VeloClone]

Doesn't it only apply to people driving under the speed limit though?

No.

They went out of their way to say that they are not encouraging speeding but it is not up to motorists to attempt to patrol the speed of other motorists and they could be ticketed for impeding other motorists and causing a traffic hazard even if they are at or above the speed limit.