Texting and distracted driving laws in South Dakota

If a distracted driver hit you in South Dakota, one statute does most of the work: SDCL 32-26-47.1. It took effect on July 1, 2020, and it reaches well past texting.¹ Knowing exactly what it bans, what it still allows, and how thinly it gets enforced tells you a lot about proving the other driver was on a phone.

South Dakota also made a choice that sets it apart from most of the country. In 2024, state lawmakers looked at a full hands-free bill and voted it down.² The rules here sit in an unusual middle ground, and the details matter.

What the law bans

The operative sentence is short: "No person may operate a motor vehicle while using a mobile electronic device," and breaking it is a Class 2 misdemeanor.¹ The prohibition is written broadly on purpose.

This 2020 statute replaced a narrower 2014 law that banned only texting and carried a $25 fine. The old section, SDCL 32-26-47, was repealed when the new one took effect.¹ So the current rule is not a texting ban that happens to sweep in a few other things. It starts from 'no using a device at all,' then carves out exceptions.

What you can still do

The exceptions are where drivers get confused, so here is the plain version, taken straight from the statute.¹ The law does not apply to:

• Making or taking a phone call, including reading, selecting, or entering a name or number to place that call, even on a handheld phone.
• Using the GPS or navigation feature, although manually entering an address while you are driving stays prohibited.
• Any voice-operated or hands-free use where you do not use your hands except to turn a function on or off.
• Real emergencies, like calling 911, reporting a crash or a road hazard, or flagging a driver who looks drunk or reckless.
• On-duty police, firefighters, EMS, and utility workers doing their jobs.

Put together, those carve-outs mean the everyday violations are texting, emailing, scrolling social media, watching video, and browsing the web behind the wheel. Dialing a number and holding the phone to your ear is legal. That is the line South Dakota drew, and it is why the state is not a hands-free state the way Minnesota or Iowa are.

Primary enforcement, rarely written

South Dakota's ban is a primary offense. An officer can pull you over for the phone alone, without first catching you speeding or drifting.¹ On paper, that is a strong law.

In practice it barely moves. State troopers wrote just 1,218 distracted-driving citations or warnings from 2015 through 2022, and nearly half of those came in the last two years.³ Distraction is hard to prove after a crash, because an officer usually has to see the phone in use or get the driver to admit it. If someone rear-ended you while texting, do not assume a ticket was issued, or that a citation is the only proof that counts.

What a violation costs

A Class 2 misdemeanor carries a maximum of 30 days in county jail or a $500 fine, or both.⁴ Most drivers never see that ceiling. The South Dakota Office of Highway Safety puts the standard distracted-driving fine at $178.50, court costs included.⁵ Next to the handful of states now running four-figure penalties, that is light, which is part of why the 2024 reform push happened.

Stricter rules for drivers under 18

Teen drivers answer to a tougher standard than everyone else. A holder of an instruction permit may not "use any type of wireless communication device while operating a motor vehicle," and the same total ban applies to a restricted minor's permit.⁶⁷ "Any type" is the phrase that matters. For permit holders there is no call exception and no hands-free exception. The phone stays down, full stop. That restriction has been law since 2013, years before the general public ban existed.

If the driver who hit you was a teenager on a permit, any device use at all broke the rules, not just texting.

South Dakota said no to hands-free

Most states have moved to full hands-free laws that bar holding a phone for any reason. South Dakota looked at that step and declined. House Bill 1107 in the 2024 session would have prohibited handheld use of mobile devices while driving. The House Transportation Committee killed it on a 10-2 vote on January 23, 2024.² The handheld-call exception in 32-26-47.1 stayed intact. As of 2026, that is still the law.

The numbers behind it

South Dakota's own data shows what the law is aimed at. The Office of Highway Safety reported 325 people killed or injured in distracted-driving crashes in the state in 2022.⁵ The Department of Public Safety counted 250 killed or injured the year before, in 2021.³ Among teen drivers involved in crashes, the state found 58 percent were distracted at the time.³ Officials also concede the true totals run higher, because distraction so often goes unrecorded on a crash report.

The national picture has the same shape. NHTSA attributes 3,308 deaths in 2022, about 8 percent of all traffic fatalities, to crashes involving distracted drivers.⁸

What it means if a distracted driver hit you

South Dakota is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash and their liability insurer pay for the harm. Building that case often means getting the other driver's phone records, which usually takes a subpoena once a claim or lawsuit is underway, along with the crash report and any witnesses. A distracted-driving citation helps, but you do not need one to prove fault.

Watch the clock. You generally have three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit in South Dakota.⁹ The claim for damage to your vehicle runs longer, six years, because property damage falls under a separate limitations statute.¹⁰

One rule catches people off guard. South Dakota uses a slight/gross comparative negligence standard instead of the 50 percent line most states apply. You recover only if your own share of the fault was "slight" next to the other driver's, and your award is then reduced by that share.¹¹ It is a jury's judgment rather than a fixed percentage, so how fault gets framed can decide the outcome. When the other driver was on a phone and you were not, that contrast usually works in your favor.

For the paperwork, South Dakota crash reports come from the Department of Public Safety, and you can start there with our South Dakota crash report guide. If your car lost resale value even after a clean repair, that is a separate claim, covered on our South Dakota diminished value page. When you are ready to talk to a lawyer, you can find a South Dakota attorney who handles crash cases.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. South Dakota Codified Laws 32-26-47.1, Use of mobile electronic device (enacted SL 2020, ch 124, § 2). https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-26-47.1

2. South Dakota House Bill 1107 (2024 Session), use of certain mobile electronic devices while driving. https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/24591

3. South Dakota News Watch, distracted driving in South Dakota (Department of Public Safety data). https://www.sdnewswatch.org/dangerous-potentially-deadly-distracted-driving-remains-a-hard-habit-to-break-in-south-dakota/

4. South Dakota Codified Laws 22-6-2, Misdemeanor classes and penalties. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/22-6-2

5. South Dakota Office of Highway Safety, Distracted Driving. https://drivesafesd.com/distracted/

6. South Dakota Codified Laws 32-12-11, Instruction permit restrictions. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-12-11

7. South Dakota Codified Laws 32-12-12, Restricted minor's permit restrictions. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-12-12

8. NHTSA, Distracted Driving 2022, Traffic Safety Facts Research Note DOT HS 813 559. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813559

9. South Dakota Codified Laws 15-2-14(3), personal injury statute of limitations. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/15-2-14

10. South Dakota Codified Laws 15-2-13(4), property damage statute of limitations. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/15-2-13

11. South Dakota Codified Laws 20-9-2, contributory and comparative negligence. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/20-9-2