678 hands-free citations issued in the first week of enforcement

Minnesota law enforcement officers wasted no time enforcing the state’s new hands-free driving law, citing 678 drivers statewide in the first week.

The 678 citations were issued between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7 to drivers who were holding their phone in their hands while driving, including texting, streaming video, using apps and the internet.

For more information about what is and is not allowed, visit HandsFreeMN.org.

Hennepin County’s drivers were cited the most, with 286 citations written in those seven days.

Ramsey County drivers were cited 79 times, and 60 tickets were written in Dakota County.

The next highest-offending counties were Becker (21), St. Louis (20), Washington (24) and Wright (28).

No other counties eclipsed 20 citations.

Here is the full list of citations by county:

•             Aitkin-1

•             Anoka-15

•             Becker-21

•             Benton-2

•             Beltrami-3

•             Big Stone-2

•             Blue Earth-8

•             Carlton-1

•             Carver - 17

•             Cass-1

•             Chisago-2

•             Clay-11

•             Clearwater-1

•             Cottonwood-3

•             Crow Wing-9

•             Dakota-60

•             Faribault-2

•             Goodhue-1

•             Hennepin-286

•             Itasca-5

•             Jackson-4

•             Kandiyohi-3

•             Lyon-2

•             McLeod-5

•             Meeker-3

•             Morrison-4

•             Nicollet-2

•             Nobles-2

•             Olmsted-5

•             Pennington-2

•             Pipesone-1

•             Polk-3

•             Pope-3

•             Ramsey-79

•             Rice-7

•             Rock-4

•             Scott-10

•             Sherburne-6

•             Sibley-1

•             St. Louis-20

•             Stearns-7

•             Stevens-1

•             Washington-24

•             Winona-1

•             Wright-28