(Radio Iowa) – Starting this Thursday — January 1st — Iowans caught handling a smart phone while driving a vehicle could get a 170 dollar ticket, including the fine, court fees and other charges. The law took effect July 1st, but officers have been issuing warnings rather than citations. By the end of November, Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Alex Dinkla says state troopers had issued about 10-thousand warnings.

“Then also giving little educational pamphlets out to help educate the do’s, the don’t s and just trying to make people aware of the new law,” Dinkla says. Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau Chief Brett Tjepkes says they learned from other states with so-called “hands free” laws that a warning period or soft roll out was important, so his agency printed 60-thousand cards to educate motorists.

“And so law enforcement are handing them out. They’re in every rest area. They’re in every drivers license station in the state of Iowa,” Tjepkes said. “We don’t want to have to come to the citation. We want to educate people and make them aware as much as possible.” Tjepkes says you don’t have to have a new vehicle with hands-free technology to comply with the new law.

“Almost every phone that’s out there will make a hands free call. You can ask Siri or ask Alexa or even just one touch that the law allows for,” Tjepkes said, “but you can’t have the phone in your hand.” That one touch is for answering a call with a tap on the screen. Law enforcement agencies say it was hard to enforce Iowa’s previous law, which banned texting while driving. Sergeant Dinkla says beyond sending a text, there was some confusion about what drivers were allowed to do with a cell phone while driving.

“This new law, it stripped all that gray out, so it’s pretty cut and dried right now,” Dinkla said. “You cannot have that cell phone in your hand, period.” Dinkla has issued warnings to drivers over the past few months who told him they had no idea they could not hold their phone while driving. Dinkla says some drivers can’t resist the temptation of responding to the chime from the phone, indicating they’ve gotten a new text.

“Have that willpower not to answer the phone or answer that message and that’s our hope, is that people one day will get there,” Dinkla said. “We used to be there at one point, where we didn’t have that temptation.” In 2011, about a third of all Americans owned a cell phone. Now, 98 percent have one.

Dinkla and Tjepkes made their comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.