Senate Transportation Committee denies bill that would repeal Tennessee ‘Hands-Free’ law.

Although the Hands-Free Tennessee campaign took effect in July of 2019, Senator Jon Lundberg raised concerns about the new law, arguing that it “had done the opposite of what it was intended to do.” Lundberg filed a bill to repeal the hands-free bill in January, hoping to focus more on site-specific driver safety legislation, like school and work zones. The Senate Transportation Committee disagreed in a 5-3 vote, deciding the bill will stay.

In his presentation of the bill, Lundberg stated that he knows people are still using their phones, “but it is much more dangerous to hide the phone below the steering wheel than to hold it in front of their face.”

Colonel Dereck Stewart , head of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, stated that Tennessee is seeing a “four percent decrease in distracted driving.” Stewart also testified that the number of distracted driving related deaths had gone up from 60 to 66 from 2018 to 2019, but expects the numbers to go down with more highway patrol enforcement.

Although the bill was denied any change, Lundberg says that he will continue to watch the numbers in order to decide if he will re-introduce the bill later.