July 1, 2023 marked five years since Georgia’s “Hands Free” law went into effect.  The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety admits that there are mixed reviews on how affective the law has been in regards to lethal crashes in the Peach State.

Speaking to the AJC and WSB Radio in Atlanta,  Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Communications Director Robert Hydrick said, “I think the biggest thing is that the number of distracted driving-related fatalities in Georgia has gone down”.  At the same time, the number of deadly crashes in Georgia has gone up sharply since 2020.  But Hydrick says that important statistic to observe is that while there have been more deadly crashes, the number of deadly crashes from distracted driving, have gone down.

While driving has overall become more lethal since 2020, distracted driving has become less of a factor in those wrecks in Georgia, according to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.  Hydrick points out that while the law has not stopped distracted driving, neither have drunk driving laws prevented all drunk driving fatalities – but the law certainly does have an impact on the overall number of deaths on Georgia’s roadways.