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Commuter Cycling

Using a Phone While Cycling: What Queensland, Ireland and Germany Allow

By Cycle99 Editorial Team ⏱ 6 min read 📂 Commuter Cycling

Holding a phone while the bike is moving is off limits in Queensland (Australia) and Germany, and a phone in a handlebar mount is treated differently in each. Queensland says outright that a cradle on the bike is fine for hands-free use. Germany permits device use on the move only when the phone is neither picked up nor held, and then only by voice or a short glance. Ireland is the least clear: the Department of Transport tells e-bike riders not to use a mobile phone, while the statutory offense is written for drivers of mechanically propelled vehicles. This compares official wording as of October 2026 and is not legal advice.

The three rules side by side

Place Phone in your hand Phone in a mount Stopped or standing
Queensland (page updated 1 July 2026) Illegal, even if you are stopped in traffic Allowed as hands-free use; a cradle on the bike is the page’s example When safely stopped, holding is allowed only for a short list of purposes, such as paying
Ireland (e-bike page updated 4 June 2024; Road Traffic Act 2006, section 3) E-bike page: do not use a mobile phone. Statute: holding is an offense when driving certain vehicles E-bike page does not mention mounts; the statute’s offense excludes hands-free devices Not addressed on the e-bike page
Germany (StVO § 23, wording in force since 11 October 2024) Not allowed: the device may not be picked up or held Voice control and read-aloud, or a short glance suited to conditions The device rule exempts a standing vehicle; on its plain wording that includes a stopped bicycle

Holding covers a phone in your hand and, in Queensland and under Irish law, one supported against another part of your body. Hands-free describes how the phone is set up, not riding with your hands off the bars, which paragraph 3 of § 23 StVO bans separately (“freihändig”).

Queensland, Australia

The Queensland Government’s bicycle rules page is the most explicit of the three. According to the page, riding while holding a phone, or while resting it against any part of your body, is an offense. Waiting in traffic does not change that, and neither does having the phone switched off.

The page does allow you to hold a phone for a few purposes, but only when you are safely stopped:

  • paying for goods or services, a drive-through being the page’s example;
  • entering or leaving a road-related area such as a car park;
  • showing police a digital driver license or another document when they ask;
  • taking a card or cash out of a phone wallet for one of those purposes.

Changing a route is not on the list.

Hands-free use is allowed. The page’s example is a cradle attached to the bike, and it says hands-free use can cover answering a call, running a navigation app or skipping a song. A phone in a clothing pocket or a worn pouch also counts, but then you may neither touch nor look at the phone and can control it only by voice. That no-touching condition is stated for pockets and pouches, not cradles, so tapping a mounted screen mid-ride is not clearly covered.

Riders face the same fines as motorists but collect no demerit points, and illegal phone use is among the offenses both groups share. E-bike riders follow both the general and the bicycle-specific road rules.

Ireland

Three official texts shape the Irish position, and they do not line up neatly.

  1. The e-bike page. The Department of Transport’s e-bike page (last updated 4 June 2024) tells users to treat an e-bike as they would a bicycle on public roads, and the last of its usage requirements is “Not use a mobile phone.” It defines an e-bike as pedal-assisted, with a ceiling of 250 watts of maximum continuous rated power and 25 km/h of maximum speed; a bike that misses those requirements is categorized as an e-moped. For other regions, see our guide to e-bike laws in the US, UK and EU.
  2. The statute. Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 2006 bars holding a mobile phone in a public place while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle; powered personal transporters were added from 20 May 2024. Holding includes propping or cradling the phone against another part of the body, and a hands-free device, which never has to be held in the hand, falls outside the offense. The maximum fine on summary conviction is €2,000.
  3. Garda advice. An Garda Síochána’s cycling safety page (January 2024) lists, among its tips, not wearing headphones or using a phone while cycling.

The guidance points one way: do not use a phone while riding. What stays open is the legal footing of a mounted phone on an ordinary pedal bicycle, since section 3 does not mention bicycles and the e-bike page does not define “use.” Leaving the phone alone while moving, mounted or not, is the cautious course.

Germany

German law handles this in § 23 of the Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung (StVO). Paragraph 1a addresses anyone driving a vehicle (“Wer ein Fahrzeug führt”), and paragraph 3 of the same section speaks directly to people riding a bicycle. An electronic device for communication, information or organization may be used only if both of these hold:

  1. the device is neither picked up nor held (“weder aufgenommen noch gehalten”);
  2. either only voice control and a read-aloud function are used, or operating it takes only a short glance that suits the road, traffic, visibility and weather.

The text names mobile phones, touch screens, tablets and navigation devices, so a dedicated GPS unit faces the same test as a phone. A phone in a mount is not being held, so it clears the first condition. The second still applies: a brief map glance fits the wording, sustained attention does not.

Paragraph 1b exempts a standing vehicle (“ein stehendes Fahrzeug”) from the device rule. The engine-off requirement is attached to the motor-vehicle case alone (“im Falle eines Kraftfahrzeuges”), while the exception otherwise speaks of a vehicle in general, the word paragraph 1a uses too. Read plainly, it covers an ordinary bicycle that has stopped, including one waiting at a signal. That is a reading of the wording, not an authority’s statement about cyclists, and the text does not discuss e-bikes separately.

A 2015 editorial reply on bussgeldkatalog.org is more restrictive than the text: it tells a cyclist at a traffic light to dismount before checking the phone. That is an editor’s answer to a reader, not the regulation, and it predates the current wording, but it is the cautious route.

On fines, the private guide bussgeldkatalog.org (its bicycle road-use page, updated 28 July 2026) lists €55 for “Benutzen von Mobiltelefon ohne Freisprecheinrichtung” (mobile phone use without hands-free equipment). That label is simpler than the regulation, which asks whether the device is held and how you operate it.

Navigating without breaking the rules

  • Enter the destination before you move. Our guide to mapping a safe cycling route covers planning at home.
  • Prefer voice and audio prompts. Both Queensland (for a pocketed phone) and Germany accept voice control.
  • Change the route by voice, or before you set off. Queensland’s stopped-phone list has no entry for route changes, and Germany’s standing-vehicle exception, the only stopped allowance of the three not tied to a list of purposes, rests on a plain reading of the wording. Ireland’s e-bike page is silent on stopping.
  • Consider a dedicated device, though Germany’s wording covers navigation devices too. See cycle computers and GPS devices and the basic rules of cycling on roads.

Rules change, so check the official pages below before a trip.

Sources

Last reviewed: October 2026.

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