{"id":40608,"date":"2025-09-05T13:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/05\/south-carolinas-new-hands-free-driving-law-what-you-need-to-know-before-tickets-start\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T13:00:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:00:42","slug":"south-carolinas-new-hands-free-driving-law-what-you-need-to-know-before-tickets-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/05\/south-carolinas-new-hands-free-driving-law-what-you-need-to-know-before-tickets-start\/","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina\u2019s New Hands-Free Driving Law: What You Need to Know Before Tickets Start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  width=\"580\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R_gvTaE8TeA?cc_load_policy=1&#038;modestbranding=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<br \/>South Carolina\u2019s new hands-free driving law went into effect on September 1, aiming to reduce distracted driving crashes across the state. The law prohibits drivers from holding or supporting any electronic device\u2014including phones, tablets, or laptops\u2014while behind the wheel.<\/p>\n<p>Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway with the South Carolina Highway Patrol explains that during the first 180 days, officers will issue warnings only. After that, violators could face a $100 fine for the first offense and a $200 fine with a two-point license penalty for repeat offenses.<\/p>\n<p>Voice communication through earpieces or wrist devices is allowed, but holding your phone\u2014even on speaker\u2014is illegal.<\/p>\n<p>South Carolina joins 31 other states with hands-free laws already in place. Officials hope the change will lead to fewer crashes and save lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Carolina\u2019s new hands-free driving law went into effect on September 1, aiming to reduce distracted driving crashes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15206],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-upstate-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.koolfm.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}