Cell phones and driving — Minnesota Permit Test

Cell phones and driving on the Minnesota permit test — 5 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

You may not use a wireless device to compose, read or send electronic messages while driving.

Reading a message takes your eyes off the road for seconds, and the car covers a football field in them.

You may not use a wireless communication device, like a cell phone, to compose, read or send electronic messages while driving.

Minnesota Driver’s Manual, p.40

Electronic messages include emails, text messages and instant messages, and you also may not access the internet.

It is the screen that is the problem, not which app is on it.

Electronic messages include emails, text messages and instant messages. You also may not access the internet.

Minnesota Driver’s Manual, p.40

You may use a device to get emergency assistance or to report a crash or crime.

The law is about distraction, and a call that brings help is not the thing it is aimed at.

Using the device to get emergency assistance

Minnesota Driver’s Manual, p.40

A device may be used in voice-activated or hands-free mode.

Hands-free keeps both hands on the wheel and the eyes on the road, which is the part the law protects.

Using the device in voice-activated or hands-free mode

Minnesota Driver’s Manual, p.40

You may use a device to report a crash or a crime.

The call is the fastest help anyone at the scene is going to get, so the law leaves room for it.

Reporting a crash or crime

Minnesota Driver’s Manual, p.40

On the test

What does Minnesota forbid a driver to do with a phone?

Compose, read or send electronic messages. Reading a message takes your eyes off the road for seconds, and the car covers a football field in them. Minnesota Driver’s Manual, p.40: “You may not use a wireless communication device, like a cell phone, to compose, read or send electronic messages while driving.”

How this works

Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.

You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.

Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.

What it costs

  • One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
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  • Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
  • Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
  • Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.

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Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against Minnesota Driver’s Manual, published by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-22.