Dozens of families holding photographs of their loved ones killed by distracted drivers gathered at the State Capitol in St. Paul Thursday to mark the new hands-free driving law.
"I lost my husband," Jo Anne Ploetz, whose husband was killed by a distracted driver a year and a half ago, said. "She was texting and went through a stop sign at 60 miles per hour."
Through tears, Ploetz said the woman had a long record of citations.
"She had 22 previous citations, and she was still driving," she said. "Still Driving. And she killed him."
Danielle Wishard-Tudor's brother, John Claude, was killed in October of 2017, and while she is glad that Minnesota has passed this law, she says there's still work to be done.
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"There was over a dozen states trying to pass this law, and if you were to go look at their meetings, like ours, it's like all just pictures of dead people," she said.
Wishard-Tudor wants to see hands-free be a federal law.
Donna and Terry Brau lost their only child, Robert, to a distracted driver five years ago.
"When she looked up, she realized where she was, and instead of going into the ditch, she swerved and hit him head on killing him instantly," she said. "It's not just about putting down the phone, it's where your brain is," she said.
According to Minnesota Department of Public Safety, distracted driving contributed to one in five crashes from 2014 through 2018, leading to an average of 45 deaths and more than 200 "life-changing" injuries a year.
Find the rules here to avoid a ticket.
