The Minnesota Department of Public Safety is informing drivers that this week (Aug. 2-8), there will be increased enforcement of the Hands Free cell-phone driving law. Over the last year since Hand’s Free driving has been a requirement in Minnesota on Aug. 1, 2019, more than 19,000 tickets have been issued to violators.
The first violation of the Hands Free law carries a base fine of $50. But, as with many other moving violations, with local surcharges added, the total cost is closer to $135 for the first violation. The base fine for a second and subsequent violations is $275 that, along with surcharges, bumps up to about $360.
The Minnesota House of Representatives did a research report on distracted driving in October, 2019, that explains a lot of the questions surrounded the Hands Free law and can be seen here: https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/ss/ssdistdrvg.pdf