Texting and distracted driving laws in Minnesota

If the driver who hit you was staring at a phone, Minnesota law was already against them before the crash. Since August 1, 2019, the state has enforced a full hands-free law: you cannot hold or manually operate a cell phone or any wireless device while you drive.¹ That closed the loophole in the old texting-only ban, where a driver caught with a phone could claim to be dialing a call rather than typing a text.

Here's what the statute actually prohibits, what it costs to break, and how a phone in the other driver's hand changes your injury claim in a no-fault state.

What the hands-free law bans

Minnesota Statute 169.475 makes it illegal to hold a wireless communications device in one or both hands while your vehicle is in motion or part of traffic, and that includes sitting at a red light.¹ The rule reaches well past texting. You can't initiate, compose, send, retrieve, or read an electronic message, and you can't make a video call, watch video, or open images, games, or apps while driving.¹

"Electronic message" is defined broadly enough to cover texts, emails, instant messages, and web content. The Office of Traffic Safety spells it out plainly: checking social media, streaming video, looking up a box score, or Googling something on your phone is illegal while driving, even in hands-free mode.² Enforcement is primary, so an officer can stop you for the phone alone.³

What is still allowed

You can still use a device in voice-activated or hands-free mode to make calls, hear directions, or play audio, as long as you are not holding it, and a single touch to start or end a function is fine.¹³ Set your GPS before you pull out, mount the phone on the dash, and you stay on the right side of the line.³

The exceptions are narrow. You may hold and use a phone to call 911 or summon help for a crash, a medical emergency, a road hazard, or a crime in progress, and on-duty emergency vehicles are exempt.¹

What a ticket costs

A first offense is a petty misdemeanor. The base fine is $50, but with the state surcharge and court costs the Office of Traffic Safety puts the real price at $100 or more.³ A second or later violation carries a $275 fine written directly into the statute, which runs to $300 or more once fees are added.¹³ As of 2026, those are the current amounts.

When a phone crash becomes a crime

The petty misdemeanor fine is only the floor. If you hurt or kill someone while breaking the hands-free law, Minnesota treats it as careless or reckless driving, and you can face a felony charge of criminal vehicular operation or homicide.² Careless driving under Minnesota Statute 169.13 is a misdemeanor, and it climbs to a gross misdemeanor when the driving causes great bodily harm or death.⁴ Criminal vehicular operation under Minnesota Statute 609.2113 is a felony that scales with how badly the victim was hurt, from bodily harm up to great bodily harm.⁵ For an injured victim, that charge is powerful proof of who was at fault.

Stricter rules for teen and permit drivers

Minnesota holds its newest drivers to a higher standard. A driver under 18 on an instruction permit may not use a cell phone at all while the vehicle is moving, handheld or hands-free.⁶ The same total ban applies to anyone on a provisional license, so even a hands-free call or a voice command is off-limits in motion.⁷ For these drivers, "but it was hands-free" won't work as a defense. The only carve-out is a genuine emergency.⁶⁷

How often distraction causes crashes here

Distraction is a steady presence on Minnesota roads. From 2019 through 2023, the Department of Public Safety linked about one in every 11 crashes in the state to distracted driving, an average of 29 deaths and 146 life-changing injuries every year.⁸ In 2024, distraction was tied to 27 traffic deaths.⁸

Those are only the crashes where an investigator identified and recorded distraction. Phone use is easy to deny after the fact, which is why the phone records and the officer's crash report carry real weight when you believe the driver who hit you was looking down.

What a distracted-driving crash means for your claim

Minnesota is a no-fault state, so your own insurance pays first no matter who caused the crash. Personal injury protection, which the statute calls basic economic loss benefits, is mandatory and covers at least $40,000 per person: $20,000 for medical care and $20,000 for wage loss and other economic costs.⁹ Your insurer generally has to pay a claim within 30 days of receiving reasonable proof of the loss.¹⁰

To step outside no-fault and sue the distracted driver for pain and suffering, your injuries have to clear Minnesota's tort threshold. That means more than $4,000 in medical expenses, not counting diagnostic imaging like X-rays or MRIs, or 60 days or more of disability, permanent injury, permanent disfigurement, or death.¹¹ A serious crash usually clears it; a minor one often does not.

Fault is where the hands-free law does the most for you. Breaking a specific safety statute like 169.475 is strong evidence the other driver was negligent, and the ticket, the phone records, and the crash report all point the same way.¹ Minnesota follows modified comparative fault: you can recover as long as you are not more to blame than the other driver, though your award shrinks by your share of the fault, and at 51% or more you recover nothing.¹² A driver caught on the phone has a hard time pinning much of that blame on you.

Watch the clock. You generally have six years from the crash date to file a personal injury lawsuit in Minnesota, and the same six years for vehicle damage.¹³ Sooner is safer, because phone data and the official crash report are easiest to lock down early. If the wreck also cut your car's resale value, that's a separate diminished value claim against the at-fault insurer.

If a distracted driver hurt you, a Minnesota injury attorney can subpoena the phone records and handle the no-fault paperwork. You can start your search in the legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

Minnesota Statutes § 169.475, Use of wireless communications device. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/169.475
Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety, Distracted driving laws. https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/safe-driving-information-and-laws/traffic-safety-laws/distracted-driving-laws
Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety, Hands-free cell phone law. https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/drive-smart/Pages/hands-free-law.aspx
Minnesota Statutes § 169.13, Reckless or careless driving. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/169.13
Minnesota Statutes § 609.2113, Criminal vehicular operation; bodily harm. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.2113
Minnesota Statutes § 171.05, Instruction permit. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/171.05
Minnesota Statutes § 171.055, Provisional license. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/171.055
Minnesota Department of Public Safety, "Don't do it: When distracted driving turns deadly." https://dps.mn.gov/news/msp/dont-do-it-when-distracted-driving-turns-deadly
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.44, Basic economic loss benefits. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.44
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.54, Payment of basic economic loss benefits. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.54
Minnesota Statutes § 65B.51, Deductions; tort thresholds. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/65B.51
Minnesota Statutes § 604.01, Comparative fault. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/604.01
Minnesota Statutes § 541.05, Various six-year limitations. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/541.05

Texting & Distracted Driving Laws in Minnesota