Minnesota Drivers Might Not Know This Headphone Law

I remember the days before I got my driver's license, how long the school bus ride home each day would be. It took me around 45 minutes or so to get home, and some of those rides seemed like they would never end. I mean 45 minutes when you’re 14 seems like forever, especially on an old rickety school bus.  

I finally got a Sony Cassette Walkman and could listen to music on the way home, which made the ride easier for sure.  

If you pay attention to the roads these days, you are likely to not have to look very hard to see people driving around Central Minnesota while wearing headphones.  

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Is It Legal To Wear Headphones While Driving?

I did a google search, and it turns out, no. Well, not really. The 2024 Minnesota Legislature Statute 169.471 reads that no one can wear headphones or earbuds on/in both ears at the same time; you need to have one ear open to be able to hear things that are happening around you. 

That makes sense, but I don’t think most Minnesotan’s are verse on the 2024 Legislature when it comes to what you can and can’t do while driving because I’ve seen more than one person have both ears covered cruising the roads of the area. 

Here’s something else interesting about this statute; it also says that you cannot install a television screen in a vehicle where the screen is turned to where the driver can see it. This doesn’t count the back-up camera or camera on the front of your car to aide in parking or backing up, and of course the inside of law enforcement and emergency services vehicles may have screens, that do not count against this as well.  

One would think this would be obvious, but this probably means someone thought it’d be ok and ended up in a crash.  

I'm surprised this statute didn't mention looking at phones while driving, I'm sure that's covered under another law somewhere in the statues. Again, that's one you would think would be obvious, but then again most of us have done it at one point or another.

Let’s be honest, getting where you’re going somedays seems to be very challenging, and maybe spreading the message about what we can and can’t do while behind the wheel will help clean up some of the near misses, we’ve all had.  

Ok, you’re right. That’s probably a pipe dream, but one can hope, right?