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NCOIL renews distracted driving model law to expand hands-free rules
The model act focuses on distracted driving as a primary offense, a structure cited by states that reported double-digit drops in crashes and fatalities after adopting similar hands-free laws.
The National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) readopted its Distracted Driving Model Act at its 2026 Summer National Meeting in Boston, extending a framework that states can use when writing hands-free driving rules, Insurance Business reports. The renewal was approved by NCOIL’s Property & Casualty Insurance Committee and its Executive Committee, and it keeps the model act from lapsing under the organization’s five-year reconsideration cycle.
NCOIL said the renewed push is grounded in state-level outcomes rather than letting the act expire. The model law is designed to treat distracted driving as a primary offense, allowing police to pull over drivers for phone use alone rather than requiring an additional separate violation to justify the stop.
NCOIL president Sen. Paul Utke of Minnesota pointed to evidence from early adopters, including Ohio and Iowa. Ohio lawmakers cited double-digit reductions in distracted-driving crashes and overall fatalities since enactment, plus less phone use behind the wheel, based on data from the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Ohio Department of Public Safety, alongside telematics.
Iowa reported an even larger shift, with traffic deaths down 27% versus 2024 levels, and the state reaching a century-low fatality rate in 2025, alongside telematics-measured declines in on-screen tapping, handheld calling, and phone-motion events. NCOIL also referenced broader research from the Governors Highway Safety Association and Cambridge Mobile Telematics, plus a 19% drop in inattentive-driving crashes in Colorado within five months of its law taking effect.