fuzzy dice

Is It Illegal to Hang Things From Your Rearview Mirror?

Among the perks of getting your own car is the chance to personalize it — with ducks, graduation tassels, fuzzy dice or even just a scented pine tree dangling from the rearview mirror.

Well, you may have to curb that decorative urge, depending on what state you live in. At least nine of the 50 states prohibit hanging items from a car’s rearview mirror, although both awareness and enforcement of the laws vary.

The states where it is illegal to hang things from your rearview mirror:

  • Arizona
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Illinois
  • Minnesota
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • Pennsylvania
  • Texas
  • Virginia prohibits hanging any objects that obstruct the driver’s view. Florida also bans objects that block vision, but has certain exceptions, such as parking passes.

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The main reason behind the prohibitions is to ensure drivers can look through the windshield unimpeded and are not distracted by the decorations. Another concern is preventing damage to the rearview mirror. Over time, hanging objects could weaken the glue holding the mirror in place.

The issue drew renewed attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people started hanging masks from rearview mirrors when they were not in use, prompting warnings about their potential to block a driver’s view.

Safety First

Any measures that improve driver safety are pluses, said Alec Slatky, managing director of public and government affairs for AAA Northeast.

“In general, the more visibility you have, the better,” Slatky noted. “Whether to spot a pedestrian, a deer or a pothole. If there’s something that’s obstructing your line of sight to the road, it’s probably better not to have it hanging.”

Consequences for drivers violating states’ laws include traffic citations and liability in the event of a crash in which it is determined that the driver’s vision was obstructed by a hanging object.

So, if you’re thinking of things you can hang from your car mirror — don’t. It may not be worth it.

Do you have anything hanging from your rearview mirror? Tell us in the comments.

26 Thoughts on “Is It Illegal to Hang Things From Your Rearview Mirror?

  1. AMAZING. You now have vehicles with basically a big screen TV in the dash or the clowns with their phones directly in their line of sight with the screen at full intensity yet these states have an issue with a ceramic heart that I have hanging from my mirror.

  2. Where’s Taxachusetts? Been illegal forever to hand things from your mirror. Where has AAA been? Asleep?

    1. My driver school children say it’s illegal, but they have to hang their public school permit there and two of my friends hang handicapped permits there! The latter are rather large…

  3. I got my drivers license when I was 21. I am now almost 70. From the moment I received my license to the present, I have had a decorative object hanging from my rear view mirror. This decorative process was in place long before I entered the drivers domain. With all of the objects I have used and all of the cars I have driven, my decorative hanging objects have never NEVER once been a problem/issue. There has been no blocking of view or distraction for myself together to other drivers. I feel there are too many power hungry, control over us persons out there utilizing their position to oppress/create a submissive/dormant/stagnant world. These individuals lack the capacity or mindset to be resourceful.
    Perhaps there should be wording on the ornament to not attach the item to the car’s rear view mirror. Or wording to be cautious about view obstruction if hung from a car’s rear view mirror. The reaction to take 1 or 2 person’s ornament misjudgement and create incarceration for all without the perspective of discernment and a fair assessment is misplaced. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

    1. Drusilla,
      I didn’t see what state you live in in your comment. That being said you and countless other apparently don’t see any harm in dangling things from your rearview mirror. To say that your ornament doesn’t block your field of view tells me you must fix your gaze straight ahead and never have to look to the right while driving. Laws such as this one under discussion are only passed after research is done on the subject. Traffic ordnances are not frivolous and are there for the publics safety. They are to be obeyed.

  4. I have the same question as someone else – if it’s legal in my state but I am driving through a state where it isn’t legal, can I be fined?

  5. What will it take to change state laws forbidding required, reasonably sized parking tags from being hung on rear view mirror supports. These tags are required to be hung on these supports to identify cars registered to park and legally parked in handicapped parking spaces, apartment and condominium assigned spaces, and customer and workplace assigned spaces.

  6. Question: So if you live in a state where it is NOT a restriction to have something hanging from your rear view mirror, and you drive through a state where it IS a restriction, can you be stopped and ticketed?

  7. Can someone tell me why it’s – apparently – okay to fly huge flags off the bumpers of trucks and cars. Not being political here but the obvious offenders are Trump supporters. But, I’ve also seen my share of American flags, sports flags, etc. This week down here in So. Jersey there have been a tone of Eagles flags. It’s wildly distracting and if that flag comes off and drapes over my windshield I’ll have far bigger problems than a pair of fuzzy dice!!!

    1. It’s not okay, and as for American flags flying on cars, they apparently don’t know the flag code either. Which says the American flag is to be flown on the FRONT of the vehicle, such as the car the President and VP ride in. NOT off the back.
      ITA with you about what if it comes off and drapes my windshield.

  8. Well I guess I can’t use my Massachusetts handicapped parking tag, when I parked in a handicap space in any of these states, because it’s made to hang from my rear view mirror.

    1. I’m sure it’s fine to hang your handicap placard when your vehicle is sitting still in a parking spot, since your vehicle isn’t usually needing to navigate traffic during that time.

  9. I always thought it was against the law in Massachusetts. In 1968 when getting my first driver’s license, the Registry of Motor Vehicles officer told us to remove an object hanging from the mirror in my father’s 1966 Chevy.

  10. What about Inspection Stickers and Registration Stickers? Depending on their size and location and design of the windshield can severely block peripheral to the sides and front of the vehicle. Also stickers etc on the back window seem to pose and equal safety issue.

  11. What about the handicap placard? Years ago I would take it down all the time but this weakened the hook on the placard and eventually broke where I had to tape it together which never really worked out for long.

    1. I am in MA and have always just put my placard flat on the dash of my vehicle when parked in a designated parking spot. Noone has ever given me a warning or citation for this. I started doing this because, as you mention, the hook is difficult to put on and take off repeatedly and I was concerned it would break off. Another option I guess would be to strap a rubberband to the hook and attach that to the mirror.

  12. I’m not sure why exemptions would be made for parking passes since they are meant to be used when you’re parked. But I feel the same way about people that drive around with their handicapped parking placards hanging on their rear views, i.e., they are meant for parking.

    1. Number 1 in the instructions for displaying your handicap placard is…wait for it…DO NOT DRIVE with the placard hanging from your mirror

  13. Parking Lot hang tags that are issued by public community colleges represent a probable “legislative conflict” in the 8 states that ban anything on the rearview mirror.

    Florida seems to be the smarter state (legislatively) to allow for that realistic (and common) exception.

    Seemingly another excuse to be pulled over, if police are being overly ambitious with law-abiding drivers.

    From a Defensive Driving Course Instructor (5 years), NY State.

  14. I have a dream catcher hanging from my rearview mirror. It was there when I inherited the car from my mother, and since it hangs low I haven’t removed it. I can’t even use it to locate the car in a parking lot – it hangs that low!

  15. Please note you left New Jersey out, although you commented on Florida:

    New Jersey Stat. § 39:3-74 states [N]o person shall drive any vehicle so constructed, equipped or loaded as to unduly interfere with the driver’s vision to the front and to the sides.” In other words, you can get pulled over for hanging those beads from last Mardi Gras on your mirror.

    It would be helpful to mention New Jersey. Thank you.

    Sincerely,

    Clair Palumbo
    New Jersey Resident & Driver

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