7 Things Missouri Drivers Can Get Ticketed for That Feel Completely Legal

It’s daytime, it’s drizzling and your wipers are on. In Missouri, your headlights need to be on, too.

It’s the kind of rule that feels optional until you get pulled over.

Here’s what Missouri drivers can get ticketed for that feels completely legal.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Traffic laws and fines are subject to change, so confirm the current rules with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

1. Holding the Phone to Your Ear

Holding a phone to your ear for a quick call can earn you a ticket.

The state’s hands-free law bans physically holding or supporting a phone with any part of your body while you drive.

Pinning it between your shoulder and your ear counts as supporting it.

Even a quick call counts.

The law bans reading or typing a text, along with manually entering a search.

Voice-operated and hands-free features stay legal for calls.

A single touch or swipe to start the feature is allowed.

Officers began writing citations on Jan. 1, 2025, after a warning-only period.

With no hands-free conviction in the past 24 months, the fine is up to $150.

One earlier conviction in that span raises the ceiling to $250.

The ceiling is $500 in a marked school zone or a work zone with workers present.

Using the phone in a lawfully parked vehicle is an exception.

Viewing a map for navigation is exempt too.

2. Passing a Stopped Tow Truck

Missouri’s move-over rule covers more than police cars.

MoDOT’s page tells drivers to change lanes, when it’s safe, for MoDOT vehicles, law enforcement vehicles and any other emergency vehicle with lights flashing.

The law lists wreckers and tow trucks among its emergency vehicles.

The rule’s wording reaches any stationary vehicle displaying lighted red, red-and-blue, amber or amber-and-white lights.

A tow truck you pass on the shoulder with its amber lights lit fits that description.

Violating the rule is a class A misdemeanor.

3. Staying in the Left Lane

Missouri law says vehicles in motion on a highway with two or more lanes going your way stay in the right-hand lane.

You can leave it to pass another vehicle, prepare for a proper left turn, or follow traffic markings, signs or signals.

Breaking the rule is a class C misdemeanor.

It becomes a class B misdemeanor if it creates an immediate threat of an accident, and a class A misdemeanor if an accident results.

On a road with three or more marked lanes, a separate rule applies to slower traffic.

Traffic moving below the normal speed generally belongs in the right lane, or as close to the right edge as practicable.

4. Wipers On, Headlights Off

A ticket can follow a drizzle if the weather calls for wipers and your headlights stay off.

Missouri law requires lighted lamps any time weather conditions require your windshield wipers to operate the vehicle in a careful and prudent manner.

Fog triggers the same rule, even if you don’t need the wipers.

Daytime doesn’t change that.

A weather or fog violation is an infraction with a $10 fine and no court costs.

Lamps are also required from a half-hour after sunset to a half-hour before sunrise.

They’re required whenever there isn’t enough light to see people and vehicles 500 feet ahead.

5. Hauling Kids in a Truck Bed

Missouri bars anyone under 18 from riding in the open bed of a truck with a licensed gross weight under 12,000 pounds.

The ban covers state and federal highways, plus any road inside city limits.

The driver takes the charge.

If you’re behind the wheel, it’s a class C misdemeanor.

The exceptions include farm work, authorized parades, and riders secured so they can’t be thrown from the truck.

Your family’s only titled, licensed and insured vehicle also qualifies when the cab can’t seat everyone.

6. Too-Dark Front Window Tint

Missouri law says your front side windows have to let through at least 35 percent of light, give or take 3 percent.

Reflectance has a cap too, at 35 percent or less, give or take 3 percent.

State law prohibits sun-screening devices on the windshield, with exceptions such as labels, stickers and the upper strip manufacturers normally tint.

Breaking the tint rules is a class C misdemeanor.

A permit can allow darker front side windows if you have a serious medical condition and your physician prescribes the tint.

Factory-installed tint is exempt.

Vehicles with historical license plates are exempt too.

7. Leaving Studded Tires On

Missouri bars metal or carbide studs on any road from April 1 to Nov. 1.

The ban covers any motor vehicle on any road or highway, so it reaches the car you drive.

That window runs seven months.

If your studded tires stay on into spring, they fall inside that window.

Violating the ban is an infraction.

Why Hands-Free Tickets Come Second

A hands-free ticket often comes attached to another traffic stop.

Missouri law says you can't be stopped, inspected or detained solely for a hands-free violation.

KCTV5 calls it a secondary violation, so a trooper needs a primary violation first, such as speeding, a lane violation or an expired tag.

A trooper who stops you for an expired tag can cite a hands-free violation alongside it.

Tickets still happen.

In 2025, the Highway Patrol's Troop A, which includes Jackson County, wrote 256 hands-free citations.