SC’s new hands-free cell phone ban while driving, called the “South Carolina Hands Free and Distracted Driving Act,” was passed into law and signed by the governor earlier this month. It will become effective on September 1, 2025.

What is SC’s new distracted driving law? What is prohibited, and what are the penalties if you get a ticket?

What is the SC “Hands-Free and Distracted Driving Act?”

While SC’s previous cell phone law banned texting while driving, the new 2025 distracted driving law bans most cell phone use while driving unless the user has a hands-free device.

The new amendments to the law come after the federal government threatened to cut SC’s federal highway funding by four percent in the first year and eight percent each year after, unless the state passes a hands-free cell phone ban.

What Types of Devices Are Included in the Hands-Free Cellphone Ban?

SC’s 2025 hands-free law is not specific to cellphones – the law applies to any “mobile electronic device.”

That includes:

• Cellphones,
• PCs (personal computers),
• GPS receivers,
• Games, and
• “Any substantially similar stand-alone electronic device used to communicate, display, or record digital content.”

There are also electronic devices that are specifically excluded under the law, including citizens’ band, ham, amateur, and commercial two-way radios or the equivalent. Subscription-based emergency communication devices and prescription medical devices are also excluded.

What Does SC’s 2025 Distracted Driving Law Prohibit?

It’s a violation of the hands-free law to:

• Hold a mobile electronic device or support a mobile electronic device with any part of the body while driving on a public highway,
• Read, write, or send text on a mobile electronic device, including text messages, emails, apps, and websites, or
• Watch videos or other “motion,” including movies, games, or video calls, on a mobile electronic device.

There are Exceptions When You Can Use a Cell Phone While Driving

This doesn’t mean you can’t ever use a phone or even send a text while you are driving. You can, but you must use a hands-free device like AirPods or a voice-to-text app that doesn’t require you to hold the mobile electronic device (or support it with any part of your body).

Exceptions contained in the distracted driving law include:

(C) This section does not apply to a motor vehicle operator who is:

(1) lawfully parked or stopped;

(2) initiating a voice-based communication that is automatically converted by the device and sent as text, provided that the device is not held by the operator or supported with any part of the body by the operator;

(3) reporting an accident, emergency, or safety hazard to a public safety official;

(4) transmitting or receiving data as part of a digital dispatch system while performing occupational duties or while conducting network performance testing or testing required by the Federal Communications Commission;

(5) a first responder while performing official duties;

(6) using a mobile electronic device for the purpose of:

(a) navigation, listening to audio-based content, or obtaining traffic and road condition information in a manner that does not require the operator to type, provided that the device is not held by the operator or supported with any part of the body by the operator;

(b) using a mobile electronic device to initiate or end a cellular call in a manner that does not require the operator to type, provided that the device is not held by the operator or supported with any part of the body by the operator; or

(c) unlocking the device for a purpose listed in subitems (a) or (b), provided that the device is not held by the operator or supported with any part of the body by the operator; or

(7) using equipment or services installed by the original manufacturer of the vehicle.

What are the Potential Penalties if You are Convicted of Using a Cell Phone While Driving Under SC’s Hands-Free Law?

What if you get a ticket for “distracted driving” and are convicted in court?

The law says, “During the first one hundred eighty days after the effective date of this act,” which is September 1, 2025, “law enforcement officers shall only issue warnings for violations of Section 56-5-3890.”

After the initial six months, for a first offense, the driver “must be fined one hundred dollars, no part of which may be suspended.”

For a second or subsequent offense, the driver “must be fined two hundred dollars, no part of which may be suspended, and must have two points assessed against his motor vehicle operating record.”

What makes a distracted driving ticket a second offense? The law says, “Only those offenses which occurred within three years, including and immediately preceding the date of the last offense, shall constitute prior offenses within the meaning of this subsection.”

Can you go to jail for distracted driving in South Carolina?

Only if:

1. You are written a ticket for distracted driving, you fail to appear in court, and the court issues a bench warrant for failure to appear, or
2. You are convicted of distracted driving, ordered to pay a fine, fail to pay the fine, and the court issues a bench warrant for failure to pay the fine.

The hands-free law says that police cannot “make a custodial arrest solely because of a violation of this section, except upon a warrant issued for failure to appear in court when summoned or for failure to pay an imposed fine.”

Criminal Defense Attorney in Myrtle Beach, SC

Daniel A. Selwa is a criminal defense attorney in Myrtle Beach, SC, with offices located in Surfside Beach, Horry County, SC.

Call now at (843) 492-5449 or send an email to speak with a SC criminal defense lawyer in Conway, SC, today.