Has Washington banned ‘aimless’ driving? What to know about ‘Senate Bill 626’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Social posts claimed Washington banned “aimless driving,” but no such bill exists.
- Gov. Bob Ferguson and community notes called the letters fake and urged reporting.
- Fact checkers found the viral images were AI-generated and had incorrect seals and text.
Late last week, social media lit up with users sounding the alarm about a supposed new Washington state law barring “aimless driving.”
That legislation, Senate Bill 626, doesn’t exist.
Multiple posts on X went viral that shared a fake image of a purported letter from Gov. Bob Ferguson notifying residents of the alleged new law. The letter claims the measure makes aimless driving illegal as of May 15, prohibiting drivers from going anywhere “without a clear and lawful destination,” with rule breakers facing a $1,000 fine.
Examples of allegedly now-illegal activities cited in the letter: “joyriding,” “cruising around” and “driving with no place to go.”
One post that had attracted some 5,200 likes as of Monday afternoon and that had been shared about 2,700 times was hit with a community note explaining that no such bill exists, and that the writing seemed to be satire.
“The only thing aimless now is common sense,” said the May 14 X post from an account with the display name “Rip Wheeler,” a nod to a character from the hit western TV series “Yellowstone.”
The account added: “Hopefully you got a chuckle. Now days I wouldn’t put anything past them.”
Some X users apparently shared the post without realizing it was fake.
Sean Feucht, a Christian singer-songwriter and political activist with roughly 213,100 followers on X, published the letter that same morning.
“Next up: A ban on ‘aimless walking, hiking or breathing,’” the post said.
That post was also slapped with a community note that explained Senate bills in the Washington state Legislature are numbered 5000 through 7999. The bill with the closest-matching number this year, Senate Bill 6260, was related to public education, not aimless driving, the note added.
In posts on X and Facebook, Ferguson addressed the viral posts directly on May 15.
“Fake letters about a fake new law regarding ‘aimless driving’ are impersonating me and other governors,” he wrote. “If you see one, please report it to Facebook to help stop the spread of this fake information.”
The fact-checking website Snopes wrote that all of the alleged proclamations were fake — and that the images appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence software, at least partly, and featured erroneous state seals.
Washington’s fake document included a seal with improperly rendered text and an incorrect color scheme, Snopes wrote.
The site added that it isn’t known who first posted the fake letters and whether they were meant to be satirical.
This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Has Washington banned ‘aimless’ driving? What to know about ‘Senate Bill 626’."
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