Governor Walz Continues Awareness Campaign of the Hands-Free Law

DULUTH, MN – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz made a pit stop in Duluth on Thursday as part of a week long effort to help spread awareness of the new “hands-free ” law that was implemented across the state today.

Minnesota is the 16th state to enforce the hands-free law.

In 2017, authorities saw a thirty percent increase in distracted driving citations in Minnesota under the old statute, which officials say was harder to detect because they also had to prove a message was being composed.

Now, under the new legislation, anyone on a phone can be ticketed.

Both law enforcement and the Minnesota legislature alike hope these laws result in safer roads for motorists.

“It’s not enforcement as much as it is about education. So starting today, you can be ticketed for having that phone up to your ear, for texting. I can tell you this about being with law enforcement; they find no pleasure in ticketing. They find pleasure in knowing people get home to their family’s at the end of the day,” Governor Tim Walz says.

Duluth police Chief Mike Tusken says, for most drivers, it may take a while to process.

“It’s important to educate. It’s important for us to do enforcement. It will take time for us to change human behavior that’s been conditioned to having cell phones with more and more data, more and more information being pumped out,” Tusken says.

For more information on the law click here:  https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/hands-free/Pages/default.aspx