Should you be able to hold your phone while you drive? Some NC lawmakers say no
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Hands Free NC bill would ban handheld cellphone use while driving.
- Bill allows use of integrated vehicle systems, except by teens under 18.
- Polling in February 2024 found 91% of NC registered voters support handheld ban.
It has become a tradition at the N.C. General Assembly: Every year since 2009, someone has introduced legislation that would make it illegal to use a handheld cellphone while driving, and every year it fails to pass.
That hasn’t discouraged lawmakers from trying again. As they returned to Raleigh this week, the Hands Free NC bill was among the first filed in the Senate.
Senate Bill 797 is identical to one introduced last year, said Sen. Kevin Corbin, who represents eight rural counties in the western tip of North Carolina. It would ban the use of handheld cellphones and other wireless communications devices while driving, with first-time offenders facing a $100 fine.
The goal, Corbin says, is to eliminate one of the biggest sources of distracted driving. Lawmakers banned texting and emailing from a cellphone while driving in 2009, but law enforcement agencies say that’s difficult to enforce because drivers are still allowed to hold their phones.
The hands-free bill would not prohibit use of phones or other devices that are integrated into the car or truck. One exception is teens under 18, who would only be able to use navigation systems and only if the address was entered before they drive.
Despite years of disappointment, Corbin and other supporters of a handheld ban believe momentum is on their side. Thirty-three states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia have banned the use of handheld electronic devices while driving, including neighboring Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia and most recently South Carolina.
“When we go across the line into Georgia, everybody understands that you don’t need a phone in your hand because they passed that law about four years ago,” Corbin said of his constituents. “Folks are getting used to that in other states.”
Hands-free bill has broad public support
Most North Carolina voters support the hands-free bill, according to polling done by Meredith College. The most recent poll, of 760 registered voters in February 2024, found 91% would support making it illegal to hold a mobile device while driving.
“A hands-free law may have more bipartisan support than any other single piece of legislation in recent history,” David McLennan, the Meredith Poll director, said at the time. “We have polled on this for several years now, and the support has only grown for passage of such legislation. There is such strong awareness that phones and safe driving do not go together.”
Joe Stewart, who heads the N.C. Alliance for Safe Transportation, a nonprofit advocacy group, says the hands-free bill enjoys more public support than legislation to discourage drunk driving ever has. Stewart says that’s because everyone has seen people weaving in traffic, driving well below the speed limit or sitting at a green light because they’re looking down at their phones.
“You may not see drunk driving on a regular basis,” Stewart said. “But North Carolinians who drive on our roads today are undoubtedly witnessing a demonstration of distracted driving every single time they’re behind the wheel.”
Corbin and other supporters of a hands-free law say there’s no organized opposition to the bill. North Carolina’s libertarian streak that favors limited government may have hurt its chances, as some lawmakers consider it an example of government overreach, said Sen. Jay Chaudhuri of Wake County, who is co-sponsoring the bill for the first time.
“But at the end of the day it’s common sense,” Chaudhuri said. “We already have laws that require us to wear seatbelts. We have laws that require us to abide by speed limits. We have laws that prohibit drinking and driving, and in many ways a hands-free act is no different.”
Chaudhuri is a high-ranking Democrat, but the other two primary sponsors, Corbin and Sen. Jim Burgin of Harnett County, are Republicans. Stewart notes that North Carolina’s Republican-dominated neighbors have already passed hands-free laws. The S.C. Senate passed the bill unanimously last spring, while the House approved 77-37.
“As conservative and deep red a state as South Carolina is, they ultimately saw the wisdom of this,” he said. “Maybe that as much as anything else will help compel the legislature to see the wisdom of adopting this here.”
South Carolina began enforcing its new ban Feb. 28; violators face a $100 fine plus court costs, which can be more than the fine. In one month, state and local law enforcement agencies issued 3,495 hands-free citations, according to the S.C. Department of Public Safety.
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Should you be able to hold your phone while you drive? Some NC lawmakers say no."
