MA Hands-Free Law One Year Later: Needham Data

NEEDHAM, MA — It's been nearly one year since Massachusetts implemented the distracted driving law and state and local police departments have handed out over 30,000 tickets or warnings since the start date on Feb. 23 2020.

Under the distracted driving law, drivers aren't allowed to use cell phones while behind the wheel, not even to hold while it's on speaker. The penalty for violating the law is a $100 on the first offense with increases for each offense after.

Drivers can use hands-free technology including Bluetooth, "single tap or swipe" to activate or deactivate hands-free mode, navigation technology mounted to the car's dash and phone use in emergency situations. Drivers may use their phones if they are stationary and not in an active traffic lane.

The law also outlines that police officers have to collect data on the race and sex of the people cited, as a way to ensure police are not using the law to target groups.

MassDOT provided Patch with data on traffic stops under the law between Feb. 23 and Dec. 31 showing how many people state and local police are pulling over.

In Needham, 629 drivers were stopped under the hands-free law. The majority of the stop, 567, resulted in a warning and no citation, according to the data. About 480 of the drivers were white and local police pulled over most of the drivers —528 — over the year compared to State Police who pulled over 90 drivers.