By Amanda Lubinski
ALubinski@cherryroad.com
The grace period for Missouri’s new distracted driving law is over. Law enforcement agencies in Missouri no longer have to give warnings to drivers caught using handheld devices or cellphones and citations can now be issued.
The Siddens Bening Hands Free Law, enacted by the Missouri General Assembly in August of 2023, makes it illegal to hold any electronic device to send or receive calls, texts, watch videos, record videos, broadcast, chat or make or receive other electronic communications while driving. The law does allow for hands-free functions like voice commands, use of two-way radios and GPS units.
Missouri is the 49th state to enact a distracted driving law. The law was named after two men who were killed by distracted drivers.
The new law is a secondary law, meaning law enforcement must have another reason for pulling you over.
Penalties for violations once citations are given include a fine of $150 for a first-time violation. Fine amounts increase up to $500 for repeated convictions within a two-year period. Additional penalties can occur, such as misdemeanor or felony charges, if a distracted driver causes a crash that results in significant property damage, serious injury or death.
Gov. Mike Parson signed the bill into law after Missouri had two straight years of more than 1,000 fatalities on its roadways. Over the past five years, at least 382 people were killed and 2,809 were seriously injured in Missouri due to crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. In Clay County, according to the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, there were three known distracted driving fatality wrecks between 2017 and 2021.
Changes to expungement laws
In addition to citations now being issued in relation to the hands-free law, those with a criminal record can now apply for more expungements from their criminal record. Previously, the statute said that a person could be granted up to two misdemeanor expungements and up to one felony expungement. In 2025, that increases to three misdemeanors and two felonies.
The provision makes several changes to state law, including a repeal of the law requiring a court to make a determination at an expungement hearing based solely on a victim’s testimony. The new law will also automatically make eligible for expungement those with qualifying records. Under the law, Missourians will only have to wait 18 months from the date of their arrest before being allowed to petition to have their misdemeanor record expunged, a reduction from three years. Felony convictions are open to expungement after three years, down from seven.
The new law also requires that once expunged, the person has to be fully restored to the status he or she was before the “arrests, pleas, trials, or convictions were expunged,” reports KFVS 12. “Notably, job applicants will be able to answer ‘no’ to an employer’s inquiry about any arrests, charges, or convictions of a crime.”
