Only one state, Mississippi, allows open containers of alcohol in vehicles with no statewide restriction on either the driver or passengers. About ten other states permit passengers to hold and drink from an open container while still prohibiting the driver from doing so, including Connecticut, Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia. The remaining 39 states and the District of Columbia ban open containers for everyone in the passenger area.
States Where Open Containers Are Legal for Passengers
About 11 states fall outside the federal open container standard. The reasons differ. Some have no law at all, some restrict only the driver, and some lack primary enforcement. Here is how the notable ones work.
Mississippi
Mississippi has no statewide statute regulating the consumption or possession of alcohol in motor vehicles.1National Conference of State Legislatures. Open Container and Consumption Statutes Both drivers and passengers can legally have open containers as a matter of state law. A driver who is actually impaired can still be charged with DUI, but holding an open beer is not a separate offense. A 2018 bill to change this did not pass.
Connecticut
Connecticut prohibits the driver from possessing or consuming alcohol but does not extend that ban to passengers. A passenger can legally hold and drink from an open container while the vehicle is moving on a public road.2Connecticut General Assembly. Open Alcohol Containers in Motor Vehicles, Connecticut Law
Missouri
Missouri has no general open container law for vehicles. Passengers can drink freely. The driver cannot consume alcohol while operating the vehicle, but the absence of a comprehensive ban is one reason Missouri does not conform to federal standards.
Tennessee
Tennessee restricts the driver from consuming alcohol or possessing an open container while operating a vehicle, but it does not prohibit passengers from doing the same. The statute specifically allows municipalities and counties to pass local ordinances banning passenger possession, so the rules can change from one city to the next.3Justia Law. Tennessee Code 55-10-416 – Open Container Law
Virginia
Virginia’s law focuses on the driver. It is unlawful for any person to consume alcohol while driving a motor vehicle on a public highway. The statute defines “passenger area” to include the driver’s seat, any area within the driver’s reach (including an unlocked glove compartment), and the seating area for passengers. It carves out the trunk, the space behind the last upright seat in SUVs and hatchbacks, motor home living quarters, and vehicles used for paid transportation like taxis and buses.4Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 18.2-323.1 – Drinking While Operating a Motor Vehicle Because the law is structured around the act of operating the vehicle rather than imposing a blanket passenger ban, Virginia does not conform to the federal standard.
What About West Virginia
Despite the similar name, West Virginia prohibits both drivers and passengers from consuming alcohol or possessing open containers in the passenger area on public highways, whether the vehicle is moving or parked. Exceptions apply to passengers in commercial transport vehicles and in the living quarters of motor homes.5West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 17C-5D-3
Why Most States Ban Open Containers for Everyone
Congress created the federal open container program through 23 U.S.C. ยง 154, part of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. The law does not directly ban open containers anywhere. It pressures states financially: any state that fails to enact and enforce a conforming open container law has 3 percent of its federal highway construction apportionment redirected to impaired-driving countermeasures instead of road projects.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 23 USC 154 – Open Container Requirements
To comply, a state’s law must prohibit both possession and consumption of any open alcoholic beverage in the passenger area of any motor vehicle on a public highway, and the law must allow primary enforcement, meaning an officer can stop a vehicle solely for an observed open container violation.7United States Department of Transportation. TEA-21 Fact Sheet – Open Container Requirements States with only secondary enforcement, where an officer needs a separate reason for the stop, do not meet the standard. That is why the 39 compliant states look so similar to one another: the federal template rewards conformity.
What Counts as an Open Container
Federal law defines an open alcoholic beverage container as any bottle, can, or other receptacle that contains any amount of alcohol and is either open, has a broken seal, or has had its contents partially removed.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 23 USC 154 – Open Container Requirements Most states follow this definition. A wine bottle with the cork pushed back in still counts. A flask that has been sipped from counts. The original factory seal has to be intact for the container to be considered closed.
Louisiana adds a well-known twist. The state’s statute explicitly excludes frozen alcoholic beverages from the “open container” definition so long as the lid remains on, no straw sticks out, and the contents have not been partially removed.8Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 32-300 – Possession of Alcoholic Beverages in Motor Vehicles That is how drive-through daiquiri shops operate: the drink is handed over with a sealed lid and no straw, and only becomes an “open container” once the lid is punctured or a straw is inserted.
Where to Store an Open Container
In states that ban open containers, where you put the container matters as much as whether it is open. The trunk is the safest option anywhere. If your vehicle has no separate trunk, like an SUV, hatchback, or pickup truck, most states treat the area behind the last upright rear seat as the equivalent of a trunk.
Some states spell this out further. Florida’s statute specifies that an open container is not considered in the operator’s possession if it is stored in a locked glove compartment, a locked trunk, or another locked non-passenger area.9Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Statute 316.1936 – Possession of Open Containers of Alcoholic Beverages in Vehicles Prohibited Virginia excludes the trunk and the area behind the last upright seat from its definition of “passenger area.”4Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 18.2-323.1 – Drinking While Operating a Motor Vehicle Arkansas allows storage in a locked glove compartment or center console.10Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-71-218 – Possession of Open Container Containing Alcohol in a Motor Vehicle
The practical takeaway: if you are transporting a half-finished bottle of wine from a restaurant, put it in the trunk. If your vehicle has no trunk, place it behind the rear seats or in a locked compartment. Keeping it in a cup holder, on the floor between your feet, or in an unlocked center console will get you cited in most states.
Exemptions That Apply Even in Strict States
Even states with strict open container bans carve out a few recurring exemptions.
- Passengers in the living quarters of an RV, motor home, or house trailer are typically exempt. The living area is treated as a residence, not a passenger compartment. This exemption appears in the federal standard itself and carries through to most state laws.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 23 USC 154 – Open Container Requirements
- Passengers in taxis, limousines, and chartered buses can generally possess and consume alcohol. Federal law explicitly deems a state compliant even if its open container ban does not extend to passengers in vehicles used for paid transportation.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 23 USC 154 – Open Container Requirements
- Open container laws apply to vehicles on public highways and their rights-of-way. A vehicle parked in a private driveway or on private land typically falls outside these statutes.
Rideshare trips are the common point of confusion. The hired-transportation exemption might technically reach Uber and Lyft rides in some states, but both platforms enforce zero-tolerance policies against open containers, and drivers can lose access to the platform for allowing them. Where the law might permit it, the companies do not.
Entertainment Districts Do Not Cover Vehicles
Eleven states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Texas, have statutes creating designated entertainment districts where people can carry open containers on public streets and sidewalks within defined boundaries.1National Conference of State Legislatures. Open Container and Consumption Statutes Cities like Savannah and New Orleans allow to-go cups in their historic districts through local ordinances.
These exceptions apply to pedestrians on foot. None of them create any exception for open containers inside vehicles, even when the vehicle is driving through the district.