How Iowa’s Hands-Free Law Cut Phone Use in Its First Year

Iowa drivers picked up their phones less often once state troopers started writing tickets for it, according to new data released this month. But six months into full enforcement of the state’s hands-free driving law, the officers writing those tickets say the change in behavior still has a long way to go, and a recent vehicular homicide case shows exactly what’s at stake when it doesn’t.

What the Law Actually Requires

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s hands-free driving law on April 2, 2025. It took effect that July 1 with a six-month warning period, when officers who spotted a driver holding a phone issued only warnings rather than citations. Full enforcement, including citations, began Jan. 1 of this year. The law bans holding or manually using a phone or other electronic device while driving, with exceptions for hands-free calling, GPS mounted in the vehicle and emergency use.

Iowa joined roughly 30 states plus Washington, D.C. that now enforce hands-free laws as a primary offense, meaning an officer can pull a driver over for holding a phone alone, without needing another violation first.

What the Enforcement Numbers Show

According to the Iowa State Patrol, agencies across the state issued more than 7,000 citations and nearly 6,000 written warnings for hands-free violations between January and May of this year, the first five months of full enforcement. In Linn County alone, the sheriff’s office logged 91 traffic stops for hands-free violations over the same stretch.

Those numbers represent a steady climb from the law’s early enforcement period. State troopers issued 3,682 citations and 3,118 warnings in the first three months of 2026 alone, on top of 14,335 warnings handed out in the initial six-month grace period that ran from July through December of 2025.

The Insurance Data Behind the Headlines

Separate from citation counts, insurer Nationwide analyzed phone-handling data from Iowa customers enrolled in its usage-based discount programs, which track driving behavior through a smartphone app. The results, published this month, found that screen-tapping while driving fell 13.6 percent in the full-enforcement period, up from a 5.9 percent dip recorded in the earlier warning phase. Handheld calling dropped 9.1 percent under full enforcement, compared with 8.2 percent in the warning period.

Nationwide’s data also found that Iowa drivers logged 140,700 fewer phone-handling motions than would have been expected based on behavior recorded before the law passed. A second, independent data set from Cambridge Mobile Telematics, covering July 2025 through May 2026, found that 85 of Iowa’s 99 counties saw phone motion while driving decrease over that stretch, with Polk County, home to Des Moines, cutting measured distraction by 9.2 percent.

Taken together, Nationwide estimates the two data sets suggest the law has helped prevent roughly 470 crashes, 210 injuries and three fatalities across the state in its first year. Distracted drivers are 3.5 times more likely to crash than attentive ones, according to the insurer.

Why Officers Say the Culture Hasn’t Caught Up

Even with the measurable drop in phone use, the officers enforcing the law day to day describe a slower shift than the statistics might suggest. Lt. Devin Rinderknecht with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office said his deputies still see drivers on their phones every day, sometimes for far more than a quick glance at a text.

“It’s not even just texting or calling. It’s whole movies and football games being played from their dashboard,” Rinderknecht said, describing what deputies encounter at traffic stops.

Rinderknecht compared the pace of change to Iowa’s rollout of seatbelt enforcement decades ago, arguing that shifting driver habits takes years rather than months. His office would like to run dedicated hands-free enforcement patrols but doesn’t currently have the staffing to do so, he said.

A Case That Shows the Stakes

The limits of the law’s reach were on display in a Dubuque County courtroom in June. A judge sentenced 27-year-old Kaylynn Knight to 10 years in prison for vehicular homicide after she struck and killed Jayesth Paul, who had pulled over on Highway 61 to work on his truck. Knight was looking at her phone at the time of the crash, which happened in August 2025, roughly one month after Iowa’s hands-free law took effect.

Dubuque County Prosecutor Amanda Lassance used the sentencing to press the point that the law alone hasn’t solved the underlying problem. “The law has no effect. People are still on their phones while driving,” Lassance said in court, adding a direct appeal to drivers: “Get off your phones. People’s lives matter.”

Rinderknecht said distracted driving has become a standard element of serious crash investigations in Linn County, with deputies now routinely seeking search warrants for phone data when a crash appears linked to distraction.

Where Iowa Fits Among Hands-Free States

Iowa was a relative latecomer to hands-free enforcement. Roughly 30 states plus Washington, D.C. now treat handheld phone use behind the wheel as a primary offense, a list that grew to include Iowa, South Carolina, Louisiana and Pennsylvania within the past two years. Neighboring Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska had already adopted similar primary-offense laws before Iowa followed. Wisconsin remains one of the holdouts in the region, still treating handheld phone use as a secondary offense that requires another violation before an officer can cite a driver for it.

The pattern nationally mirrors what Iowa is now experiencing: states that adopt primary-offense hands-free laws tend to see a meaningful drop in phone use in the first year, followed by a slower, longer decline as drivers adjust their habits and word of citations spreads. Pennsylvania, which moved to primary enforcement in June, is still in its written-warning phase, giving Iowa’s six-month enforcement data an early look at what other states can expect once their own grace periods end.

What Drivers Should Know

Under Iowa’s law, a first offense carries a $100 fine as a primary offense, one that climbs to $500 if the violation causes an injury and $1,000 if it results in a death. Drivers can still use a phone mounted in the vehicle for hands-free calling or map directions, and can operate it with a single touch or swipe, but picking it up or holding it while driving is what triggers a citation.

The data so far points in a clearly positive direction for a state that debated the law for years before passing it, with fewer phone-handling motions, fewer estimated crashes and a growing number of counties showing measurable declines in distraction. But the citation totals climbing month over month, alongside cases like Knight’s, suggest Iowa’s culture shift toward putting phones down behind the wheel is still very much in progress rather than finished.

Drivers cited for a hands-free violation in Iowa can contest the ticket in court, though the more practical fix, according to law enforcement, is simply mounting a phone before starting the car rather than reaching for it once moving. Cradle mounts, dashboard clips and factory infotainment systems that support hands-free calling and voice-controlled map guidance all keep drivers within the law, and Rinderknecht said deputies are far more likely to notice a driver reaching down or looking away from the road than one glancing briefly at a mounted screen.

Parents of newly licensed teenagers should pay particular attention to the law’s fine structure. Iowa’s graduated licensing rules already restrict device use for younger drivers beyond what the hands-free law requires of adults, and a citation in a teen’s probationary licensing period can trigger additional consequences beyond the fine itself, including an extended restriction period before the driver qualifies for a full, unrestricted license.

Sources:

• Axios Des Moines, “Iowa data shows hands-free enforcement reduces distracted driving,” July 8, 2026
• KCRG, “‘Whole movies and football games’: Iowa’s hands-free law is 6 months in, and drivers are still on their phones,” July 1, 2026
• CBS2 Iowa / KGAN, “More than 3,600 tickets given for Iowa’s hands-free law so far in 2026,” April 6, 2026