Here’s How The New Minnesota Hands-Free Cellphone Law Works

After Governor Walz signed the new "hands free while driving" law on Friday, Minnesota has joined 17 other states that require people operating a vehicle to have their cellphones in hands-free mode. If you've ever talked on your phone while driving, used your GPR, or used your phone in the car for any other reason, this is a quick cheat sheet on what you can and can't do under this new law.

Things You **Can't** Do

- Send text messages and e-mail while driving

- Manually dial a phone number

- Type an address in your GPS app

- Scroll through your contact list or text messages

- Pick up your phone while stopped in traffic or at a stoplight

Things You CAN Do

- Send messages or place calls while driving ONLY if your device is in hands-free or voice-activated mode

- Make emergency calls

- View your GPS device (as long as the address was entered before you took your car out of park)

- Make calls through your vehicle (if it has that feature)

- Stream to a podcast or *cough* radio app *coughcoughcough* from your phone, as long as it was selected before your vehicle is moving

- Send and receive text messages with voice-to-texting

Other Important Things To Know

- After August 1st, police can pull you over if they see you holding your phone while driving

- Violating this new law is a petty misdemeanor, with a $50 fine for the first offense and a whopping $275 thereafter

If anyone knows about a good deal on a Bluetooth headset, let me know. Drive safe!

Source: MPR