How does Iowa hands-free driving law work? When will I get pulled over? | weareiowa.com

Apr 05, 2025

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PRAIRIE CITY, Iowa — Iowa has a new law starting this summer meant to keep peoples' phones from distracting them while driving and ultimately save lives.

Since Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the law on Wednesday, Local 5 News has received questions about how city police departments and Iowa State Patrol will enforce it.

Here's what we learned.

"We’re going to have some common sense with this," Prairie City Chief of Police Kevin Gott said. "There is going to need to be something that leads up to [being pulled over]. Like the swerving in and out, not paying attention, staying a long time at a stop sign. There’s gotta be some reason to make us think that they are being distracted."

Drivers will be limited to a single touch or have to use "verbal commands" to turn that device on or off or to call someone, under the state's new law. You will also only be able to fully use your phone while at a complete stop — off the roadway.

Iowa State Patrol Trooper Ryan DeVault added his team is still talking over what designates pulling over a distracted driver, but said: "Obviously if a phone is in somebody’s hand for more than five seconds, and law enforcement here in Iowa were to witness that, that’s a pretty good indication that that phone is being used for something other than talking on and answering at the moment that phone rings."

The law is not meant to give officials another reason to just pull you over. It has a bigger purpose to it: promoting safety for you and others behind the wheel.

And as officials continue to plan how they’ll enforce the law when it goes into effect on July 1, they continue to preach the necessity to follow it, as it will also help you curb $100 fines, which begin Jan. 1, 2026.

"You know it’s one of those things that it’s not really hard for us, especially at night," DeVault explained. "You can see that person’s face illuminated by something that’s inside that car that is brightening up their face. So it’s just a matter of keeping everyone safe at the end of the day."

Iowa State Patrol also said some things you can do to become smarter and adapt to this law in the meantime is to install CarPlay in your vehicle. And if that's not a possibility, you can buy a mount to clamp your phone inside your car to display it in a hands-free mode.

Gott told Local 5 that other cities using traffic cameras to catch drivers on their phones is "not practical" and not an ability the cameras have right now.