The Iowa State Patrol is holding a traffic safety initiative tomorrow.

Trooper Shelby McCreedy says that in the last legislative session, a hands free bill was passed, and that since July 1st warnings have been given out to allow a grace period. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that that will change art the start of the new year.

“Starting January 1st of 2026, there are going to be citations issued. Essentially what November 18th is, is just reminding everyone of the new law. Anybody who’s in violation of the law will be stopped, will have the conversation about what’s legal, what’s not legal, what they can do to become legal, and really just use that as a time to remind the public that we are going to have to adapt and change in how we use our devices.”

McCreedy mentions that they are seeing a decrease in the amount of people holding their phone in some way since the new law went into effect. She adds that statewide, there were 2,662 warnings issued in July, 1,907 in August, 1,706 in September, and 1,643 in October, which shows that decreasing trend.