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Assessing the impact of Indiana’s Hands-Free Law

On Behalf of | Jan 21, 2025 | Auto Accidents

In 2020, Indiana finally joined other states that had already enacted “hands-free” laws. This kind of law makes it illegal to hold a cellphone or other electronic device in your hand while driving a vehicle.

Indiana’s law, like others like it around the country, is intended to minimize this particularly dangerous form of distracted driving.  Thousands of citations have been issued in the years since it took effect. The number of these citations has been steadily decreasing, which could indicate that more people are opting for hands-free options.

How has the number of crashes been affected?

It seems that this law may have significantly affected crash rates, but only after a few years had passed. In the first couple of years after the new law took effect, the number of crashes rose, as did the number involving a distracted driver. In 2023 and 2024, the number of both fatal and non-fatal crashes started dropping.

The head of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute has said that ending the practice of holding a cellphone while driving “is going to be a culture shift in society. Just like it used to be OK to drink and drive (and) it used to be OK to not wear your seatbelt. It took years and years and years, decades even, to kind of shift that mindset for the general public.”

Distracted driving and other dangerous behaviors still pose a risk

Of course, there are numerous types of distractions besides handheld cellphones – from eating and drinking to talking to human and animal passengers to reaching for items that dropped on the floor or between the seats. There are also other reasons for crashes besides distracted driving. Speeding is a leading cause of serious and deadly crashes. So is driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

With all of this said, it’s important to remember that anyone who suffer injuries or loses a loved one in a crash caused by a distracted, negligent or reckless driver can benefit from getting legal guidance. Making this effort can help establish the fault of the other driver – for example, by determining what electronic devices they may have been using at the time of the crash – and work to get a fair settlement.