A new Iowa law aimed at reducing distracted driving is already showing signs of impact just a few months into full enforcement.
The state’s hands-free driving law took full effect January 1st after a six-month warning period. Since then, law enforcement agencies across Iowa have issued more than 2,400 citations to drivers for violating the law. The Iowa State Patrol alone accounts for about 1,300 of those citations, along with more than 1,900 written warnings statewide.
Trooper Jared Arbegast with the Iowa State Patrol tells RadioOnTheGo News the goal of the law is to reduce distractions and ultimately save lives on Iowa roadways.
“Well (now that it’s) hands free, some of the misconceptions that people would like to hear about is, ‘well can I do it at a stop light or a stop sign?’ And you can’t do that, it’s an electronic communication device” Arbegast says. “So even people with smartphones, you can’t be down doing stuff on that either. Or with your tablets and things like that. So if it’s in your hand, it’s a violation because it can’t be there.”
State officials say the effort may already be contributing to improved safety. In 2025, Iowa recorded 259 traffic fatalities, the fewest in a century and well below the State Patrol’s long-standing goal of keeping roadway deaths under 300 each year.
“Like one of our people said, the proof is in the pudding. From January to June, the fatalities were pretty much around the average. But from July through the end of December, we were down 80 traffic deaths. And that’s exactly when this period went into effect. We had 259 traffic deaths (in 2025). Since 1925, that’s the lowest amount we’ve had. And we beat that by one.” Arbegast says, “we have what we call our SIDE initiatives. Excessive speed is one of those things. That’s the E. The D is the distracted driving, impaired driving, and seatbelts. Those things are something we’ve been focused on, but also that’s because one of the mottos for the DOT and Iowa State Patrol has been below 300.”
Arbegast says there have been 36 deaths on Iowa’s roads so far in 2026 as of March 1st and expects the new hands-free law to help continue reducing fatalities on the state’s roadways.
Full interview below
