If you drive in the United States, several rules have shifted recently or are about to. REAL ID is now required to board a domestic flight, hands-free phone use is the standard in most states, move-over laws cover more than just police and ambulances, major cities are restricting right turns on red, and a federal rule will put automatic emergency braking in every new passenger vehicle before the decade is out. Here are the new driving laws worth knowing, and what each one actually requires of you.
REAL ID at the Airport
As of May 7, 2025, a standard driver’s license that isn’t REAL ID-compliant no longer gets you through a TSA checkpoint for a domestic flight or into certain federal buildings. Look at the upper corner of your license: if there’s a star or another REAL ID marking, you’re set. If there isn’t, you need a passport or another federally accepted ID to fly. Showing up without any acceptable ID triggers a $45 fee and a secondary screening that may or may not get you through.1Transportation Security Administration. REAL ID
More than 20 states now issue mobile driver’s licenses that live in a phone wallet, and TSA accepts them at over 250 checkpoints, but only when the underlying license is REAL ID-compliant.2Transportation Security Administration. Participating States and Eligible Digital IDs TSA still tells travelers to carry the physical card as a backup, and police acceptance of digital IDs during traffic stops is uneven, so keep the plastic one on you.
Hands-Free Phone Laws
Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia prohibit all drivers from using a handheld cellphone behind the wheel. Nearly all are primary enforcement, meaning an officer can pull you over for the phone alone. These are not just texting bans. Holding the phone to your ear, scrolling at a red light, or wedging it between your shoulder and your chin all count.
The practical requirement is simple: the phone goes in a dashboard mount or connects by Bluetooth, and you interact with it by voice or, at most, a brief tap while it sits in the mount. First-offense fines range from under $100 in some states to several hundred in others. Repeat tickets add points, which raise insurance premiums and can eventually suspend your license.
If You Have a CDL
Federal rules are harsher. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration bans commercial drivers from texting or using a handheld phone while operating a commercial vehicle.3Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Distracted Driving A second conviction within three years brings a 60-day disqualification from operating any commercial vehicle. A third within that window stretches to 120 days.4eCFR. 49 CFR Part 383 Subpart D – Driver Disqualifications and Penalties For a working driver, one ticket is already a career problem.
Move Over or Slow Down
All 50 states now have move-over laws.5NHTSA. Move Over: Its the Law The recent change is who they cover. Early versions protected only police and emergency vehicles. Updated versions in many states now include tow trucks, utility crews, road maintenance workers, and in some places civilian cars pulled over with their hazards on. If you see any of these on the shoulder, move over at least one lane when you safely can.
When traffic makes a lane change impossible, you have to slow down instead. A common standard is reducing your speed by at least 20 mph below the posted limit, with lower target speeds on roads posted under 45 mph. Fines vary enormously by state: as little as $50 in some, into the thousands in others, and penalties jump into criminal territory with fines up to $10,000 and potential jail time when a violation causes injury or death. The habit that costs nothing and avoids all of this is to change lanes every time you see someone on the shoulder.
Red-Light and Speed Cameras
Automated enforcement keeps expanding on a state-by-state patchwork. Roughly 22 states and D.C. authorize red-light cameras; about 19 states plus D.C. permit speed cameras. About 10 states have banned speed cameras outright and 9 have banned red-light cameras. Some cities run programs even where state law is silent.
The ticket goes to the registered owner of the car, not necessarily whoever was driving. It arrives in the mail with a photo or video of your plate. Because these are civil infractions in most places, they typically don’t add points to your record or raise your insurance. Fines usually run $75 to $200 for a first offense, and late fees can double that.
Contesting a Camera Ticket
The registered-owner rule is also your main opening to fight the citation. If you weren’t the driver, you can usually submit a sworn affidavit saying so, and most jurisdictions don’t require you to name the actual driver. Other grounds include a stolen vehicle, entering an intersection to yield to an emergency vehicle, or a duplicate citation when an officer already ticketed you for the same incident. Showing up to a hearing is often worth it on its own; courts frequently reduce fines for drivers who appear.
Right Turns on Red and Safe Passing for Cyclists
Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities have climbed over the past decade, and two kinds of laws are responding. Washington, D.C. put a broad ban on right turns on red into effect in 2025, and cities including Seattle and San Francisco have either adopted or are weighing similar restrictions. The reasoning: drivers looking left for oncoming cars at a red light often miss pedestrians and cyclists coming from the other direction. For now this is a city-level trend, but it’s spreading.
On passing, most states require at least three feet of space when you go around a cyclist. A few require four feet or more, and at least one scales the distance up on higher-speed roads. Several states let you briefly cross a double-yellow line when that’s what it takes to give safe clearance. The practical read is honest: if the pass feels tight from the driver’s seat, it is.
Lane Filtering for Motorcycles
A small but growing group of states now distinguish lane filtering from lane splitting. Filtering lets a motorcyclist move between rows of fully stopped traffic, usually at red lights or in gridlock, to reach the front. Splitting means riding between lanes of moving traffic and is still illegal in nearly every state.
California was the first to formally legalize splitting. Utah, Arizona, Montana, and Colorado have adopted filtering of some kind, each with its own conditions. Typical limits:
- Motorcycle speed capped at 15 to 20 mph, depending on the state.
- Surrounding traffic must be fully stopped in most filtering states.
- Some states only allow filtering on roads posted at 45 mph or lower.
Shoulder riding isn’t covered by these laws and remains illegal. Exceeding a filtering statute’s speed or traffic-condition limits can bring fines and, in some cases, reckless driving charges. If you ride, read your own state’s statute before you try it; the details vary enough that legal filtering in one state is a ticket in the next.
Cannabis-Impaired Driving
Recreational marijuana is legal in more states each year, but impaired-driving law hasn’t settled on a national standard the way alcohol has at 0.08. Only a handful of states have adopted per se THC limits, where a specific blood concentration creates a legal presumption of impairment. The most common threshold is five nanograms of active Delta-9 THC per milliliter of blood; some states use lower numbers, and others treat any detectable amount as a violation. Most states still rely on observed impairment rather than a specific number.
At the roadside, officers trained in Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement look for physical signs like lack of eye convergence and changes in pupil size, which help establish probable cause for a blood draw.6NHTSA. Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement Participant Manual ARIDE-trained officers aren’t certified Drug Recognition Experts and can’t formally identify a drug category from roadside signs alone; departments bring in a DRE after arrest when they can.
Penalties generally mirror alcohol DUI: possible jail time, substantial fines, license suspension, and a mandatory substance abuse evaluation. A first offense commonly runs $500 to $2,000 in fines before court costs, with potential jail time of up to six months to a year depending on the state. The statutes and courts generally focus on active THC rather than inactive metabolites, because metabolites can linger for weeks after any impairing effect is gone. The underlying science connecting a specific THC blood level to actual impairment is still less settled than it is for alcohol, which keeps both prosecution and defense complicated.
Automatic Emergency Braking in New Cars
If you’re shopping for a new vehicle, a federal rule is coming that will affect what you buy. FMVSS No. 127 requires automatic emergency braking on all new passenger cars and light trucks by September 1, 2029, with small-volume and final-stage manufacturers getting until September 1, 2030.7NHTSA. NHTSA Finalizes Key Safety Rule to Reduce Crashes and Save Lives It applies to every vehicle rated 10,000 pounds or less.
The system has to do two things. For lead-vehicle collisions, it must stop the car and avoid contact at speeds up to 62 mph, and apply the brakes automatically when a crash is imminent at speeds up to 90 mph. For pedestrians, it has to activate at speeds up to 45 mph and work in both daylight and darkness. The nighttime pedestrian detection piece pushes further than what most voluntary systems currently deliver, which matters because a disproportionate share of pedestrian fatalities happen after dark. A separate rule for heavy vehicles like tractor-trailers is in progress but hasn’t been finalized.7NHTSA. NHTSA Finalizes Key Safety Rule to Reduce Crashes and Save Lives If you’re buying before 2029, check whether the model you want already lists AEB as standard; plenty of manufacturers are running ahead of the deadline.