DES MOINES, Iowa — In 2024, there were ten deaths in Iowa related to distracted driving by a phone or electronic device. So far in 2025, there have been seven. 

State officials are hoping the new hands-free law will continue to improve those statistics. It technically went into effect on July 1st, where it’s now illegal to be holding or using your phone or electronic device behind the wheel. However, people won’t get tickets until January 1st, 2026.

In the first three and a half months of the law, there have been nearly 7,000 warnings given out by different Iowa law enforcement agencies across the state. 

“Since July 1st, the State Patrol and many other law enforcement agencies are out there proactively working this new law, educating the public,” Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said.

“Starting tomorrow, everyone with the State Patrol and everybody that’s on duty will get out there, get some work done. We’ll even be having the Colonel and the Majors, our command staff, getting out of their office to go show Iowans to put those phones down and focus on driving. It’s very important.”

This is a statewide program that the Iowa State Patrol is doing in the remaining three months of the hands-free warning period. They’ll be out in full force on October 27th, November 18th and December 12th. 

“We’re going to show the public out there because we see many people that are unaware of the new law. Pretty much now, if that phone is in your hand, it’s a violation,” Sgt. Dinkla said.

Part of getting a warning through December 31st will be receiving an educational paper to know exactly what the violation is, along with some general tips. 

“Put that phone in speaker mode. Put that phone up on the dash. Mount it. You are able to use it as a one touch activating that voice command, Siri,” Dinkla said. “Simply put, put that phone down. Don’t let it be a distraction.”

In a Cambridge Mobile Telematics study that analyzed more than 25 million trips in Iowa between June 1st and July 31st, 2025, it found that in the first month of the law, distraction fell nearly 4%t. CMT estimates the law has helped prevent over 20 crashes and 10 injuries in that month.