New Hampshire rules politician holding phone and driving wasn’t breaking “handsfree” law
Imagine you’re a New Hampshire police officer patrolling a highway. You see a man blasting along, his phone in his hand. Well, your state has a law: handsfree devices only. So you pull him over to present him with a fine. But as you approach the driver he tells you he’s a politician who debate the original law, you’re out of order, and he won’t be paying any ticket.
You’d think “handsfree” means no cellphone in your hand. But apparently not in New Hampshire. At least not according to State Representative J.R. Hoell.
He got pulled over in Concord in 2021. Yes, his phone was connected to his car’s Bluetooth system and he was using the car’s speakerphone option to complete a phone call. But for some reason he was also holding his phone. When he got a fine, he decided to fight it.
“And apparently the police thought that holding a phone and holding a steering wheel, concurrently, was a violation of the law,” said Hoell. “And that is not the case.”
If you disagree with him, you aren’t alone. A New Hampshire court upheld the fine.
Hoell challenges New Hampshire court handsfree cellphone ruling
Hoell admits the fine wasn’t high. “It wasn’t over $124.” But he still appealed the fine. “It was really about the principle of: law enforcement should follow what’s written on the books.”
So he took his case all the way to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The justices there agreed with Hoell.
“The defendant was not holding his cellphone to accomplish the task of routing the call to his hands-free Bluetooth device. Instead, holding the cellphone was unrelated to the task that the defendant was using the cellphone to perform — it was as if the defendant were holding any other object.”
–New Hampshire Supreme Court decision
So there you have it. In New Hampshire handsfree doesn’t necessarily mean having your hands free. Ironically, Hoell voted against the handsfree law when it passed in 2015. He was quick to say all drivers should pay attention to the road, no matter what they’re doing while driving. “That’s the important part in all this.”
