What You Can & Can’t Do with Your Phone While Driving in Missouri

There's a new law going into effect that makes it illegal to operate certain aspects of your phone while driving in Missouri. This is a summary of the do's and don'ts of this new legislation.

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As WSIL-TV and others have reported, the Missouri governor Mike Parson recently signed into law Senate Bill 398. It's a pretty big bill that covers a lot of different issues, but let's focus on just the smartphone restrictions part.

Note that this law goes into effect officially beginning August 28, 2023.

Here's what you CANNOT do on your smartphone while driving in Missouri:

• Hold your phone with any part of your body and this includes supporting it on your leg
• Writing, reading and/or sending text messages
• Video conferencing calls
• Watching a video while driving

Here's what you CAN do on your smartphone while driving in Missouri:

• Operate the phone hands-free
• If hands-free, you can do actions that only take one touch or swipe to complete an action
• Talk hands-free
• Listen to music or other programming hands-free
• Use phone hands-free for GPS purposes

The new law's intent is to get the phones out of the hands of drivers and removing distracting actions that lead to accidents.

Since I'm not a lawyer and/or politician, best to read the newly-passed Missouri law for yourself through the official Missouri Senate website.