Louisiana driving laws sit in Title 32 of the Revised Statutes and cover speed, impaired driving, phone use, seat belts, child seats, insurance, and what you owe after a crash. Several of these rules changed in 2025, most notably a comprehensive hands-free requirement that replaces the old texting ban. The state does not use a point system, so penalties attach to specific offenses rather than a running total.
Speed Limits
The maximum is 70 miles per hour on interstates and controlled-access highways, 65 on multi-lane divided highways with partial or no access control, and 55 on all other roads unless a lower limit is posted.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code 32:61 – Maximum Speed Limit No road in the state has a general limit above 70.
Louisiana’s general speed law under R.S. 32:64 layers a separate rule on top of those numbers: you must drive at a speed that is reasonable for current conditions. Fifty-five in a downpour on I-10 can be cited just as readily as 80 on a clear afternoon. The law looks at road surface, weather, visibility, and traffic volume.2Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:64 – General Speed Law
The 2025 Hands-Free Law
This is the change most likely to catch experienced Louisiana drivers off guard. Effective in 2025, R.S. 32:59 replaced the older texting ban and school-zone phone restrictions with a statewide hands-free requirement. You cannot operate a wireless device while driving unless the vehicle is lawfully stationary.
“Operating” a device means holding or physically supporting it in your hand, making manual entries of any kind, texting, emailing, browsing social media, taking photos or video, using any app, or manually dialing a phone number. The only hands-on exceptions are earpieces, headphone devices, and wrist-worn devices used for voice calls. Voice calls through a hands-free system remain legal.3Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 32:59 – Wireless Telecommunications Devices
Violations in school zones and active construction zones carry a $250 fine, which a judge may reduce to $100 with community service. If a crash occurs while you are violating the law in one of those zones, the fine doubles.3Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 32:59 – Wireless Telecommunications Devices The practical rule is simple: use a dashboard mount and voice commands, or put the phone down. Picking it up for any reason while the car is moving is now illegal statewide.
Impaired Driving
Louisiana treats impaired driving as a criminal offense under R.S. 14:98. The legal blood alcohol concentration limit is 0.08 percent for drivers 21 and older. The statute also covers driving under the influence of any drug or combination of drugs and alcohol, even at a BAC below 0.08.4Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14:98 – Operating a Vehicle While Impaired
Commercial drivers face a 0.04 percent limit while operating a commercial vehicle.5Justia. Louisiana Code RS 32:414.2 – Disqualification Drivers under 21 fall under R.S. 14:98.6, which makes operating any vehicle at a BAC of 0.02 percent or higher a separate criminal offense. That threshold is low enough that a single drink can trigger it.6Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14:98.6 – Underage Operating While Impaired
First-Offense Penalties
A first DUI conviction carries a fine between $300 and $1,000 and a jail sentence of 10 days to six months. Courts can suspend most of the jail time if the offender serves at least 48 hours (or completes 32 hours of community service instead), enrolls in substance abuse treatment, finishes a driver improvement course, and installs an ignition interlock device.7Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14:98.1 – Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, First Offense
Higher BAC readings raise the stakes. A first offense with a BAC between 0.15 and 0.20 percent brings a mandatory 48 hours of jail that cannot be suspended and a two-year license suspension. At 0.20 percent or above, the minimum fine rises to $750, the 48-hour mandatory jail term still applies, and the two-year suspension requires an ignition interlock for the full period.7Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14:98.1 – Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, First Offense
Implied Consent and Refusing the Test
Driving on Louisiana’s public roads means you have already consented to chemical testing of your blood, breath, or urine if arrested for an impaired-driving offense.8Justia. Louisiana Code RS 32:661 – Implied Consent to Chemical Tests Refusing costs you a one-year administrative suspension on a first refusal, and two years for a second or later refusal within ten years. If someone was seriously injured or killed and your intoxication contributed, the one-year suspension comes with no hardship license eligibility.9Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 32:667 – Suspension of License That administrative track runs independently of any criminal case, so both can proceed at once.
Open Containers
Possessing an open alcoholic beverage or drinking alcohol in the passenger area is prohibited while the vehicle is being operated on a public highway or right-of-way. The ban covers drivers and passengers alike, and an “open container” means any bottle, can, or receptacle with a broken seal or partially removed contents.10Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 32:300 – Possession of Alcoholic Beverages in Motor Vehicles The rule does not apply to a lawfully parked vehicle off the roadway.
Seat Belts
Every occupant of a passenger car, van, SUV, or truck weighing 26,000 pounds or less must wear a seat belt whenever the vehicle is moving forward.11Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code 32:295.1 – Safety Belt Use Front and rear passengers are both covered. Children under 13 fall under the separate child restraint law.
This is a primary offense, so an officer can pull you over just for an unbuckled occupant they can see. A first violation is $50; second and later offenses are $75 each.12FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:295.1 – Safety Belt Use
Child Passenger Restraints
R.S. 32:295 stages child restraint requirements by age and size, and every transition depends on both hitting an age minimum and outgrowing the previous seat’s manufacturer limits:
- Under age 2: rear-facing child safety seat, used until the child reaches the seat’s weight or height limit.
- Age 2 and older: forward-facing seat with an internal harness, used until the child outgrows the manufacturer’s limits.
- Age 4 and older: belt-positioning booster secured with the vehicle’s lap-and-shoulder belt, again until the manufacturer’s limits.
- Age 9 and older: the vehicle’s standard adult seat belt, properly adjusted.
The statute does not set a fixed height threshold; it defers to each seat manufacturer’s rating.13Justia. Louisiana Code RS 32:295 – Child Passenger Restraint System The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends keeping children in the back seat until age 13, which matters especially in vehicles with front passenger airbags.
Move Over Law
When approaching a vehicle stopped on or near the highway with flashing warning lights, you must change lanes away from it on a multi-lane road if you can do so safely. If you cannot change lanes, or you are on a two-lane road, you must slow to a reasonably safe speed for conditions.14Justia. Louisiana Code RS 32:125 – Procedure on Approach of an Authorized Emergency Vehicle The rule reaches beyond police and fire vehicles: any vehicle displaying authorized visual signals qualifies, including tow trucks, highway maintenance crews, and utility repair vehicles.
Stopping for School Buses
When a school bus activates its flashing signals and stop arm, every vehicle approaching from any direction must stop at least 30 feet from the bus and stay stopped until the bus moves or the signals are turned off.15FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:80 – Overtaking and Passing School Buses
There is one exception. On a physically divided highway with separate roadways, drivers on the opposite side of the divider do not have to stop. A painted center line or painted median does not count as a divided highway, and a two-way left-turn lane in the middle does not either. In those cases, both directions must stop.
Penalties climb sharply with harm. A no-injury violation runs $100 to $500 with up to six months in jail and a license suspension. If someone is injured, the fine range shifts to $200 to $500 with a possible 90-day suspension. Serious bodily injury brings $500 to $1,000 and up to a 180-day suspension. A death carries $1,000 to $5,000 and a suspension of up to 360 days, with additional imprisonment beyond the base maximum available at the injury and death tiers.15FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:80 – Overtaking and Passing School Buses
Mandatory Insurance and “No Pay, No Play”
Every registered motor vehicle must carry liability insurance of at least $15,000 for bodily injury to one person, $30,000 for all persons in a single crash, and $25,000 for property damage — the 15/30/25 minimum.16Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code 32:861 – Security Required Keep proof of coverage in the vehicle. The OMV monitors coverage electronically, and a lapse can suspend your registration.
Under R.S. 32:866, if you were uninsured at the time of a crash caused by someone else, you lose the right to recover the first $15,000 in bodily injury damages and the first $25,000 in property damage from the at-fault driver. Those cutoffs are large enough to erase most minor-accident claims entirely.
What You Must Do After a Crash
If a crash causes any injury, any death, or property damage above $500, you must immediately notify local police (within city limits) or the nearest sheriff’s office or state police station. You must also give your name, address, and vehicle registration to anyone injured or to the driver or owner of damaged property, and show your license on request.17Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 32:398 – Duty to Give Information and Render Aid
The $500 damage threshold is low, so treat anything beyond a minor scrape as reportable. During a declared state of emergency or evacuation order, you have 72 hours to comply instead of reporting immediately. Leaving the scene of a crash involving injury or death is a separate and far more serious criminal offense.
How License Suspensions Work Here
Louisiana does not use a point system. Suspensions attach to specific offenses written into the statutes, not to a running tally of minor violations. A DUI, vehicular homicide, or negligent homicide conviction triggers a mandatory suspension period spelled out in the underlying law. A string of ordinary speeding tickets will not automatically suspend your license, though any one of them can if it involves aggravating circumstances like excessive speed or a school zone.
The absence of points does not make tickets harmless. Convictions stay on your driving record and can raise insurance premiums for years, and the offense-by-offense structure means a single serious charge can cost you your license outright.