As April marks National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) is taking a stand with local police forces to enforce the state's hands-free law and raise awareness about the perils of distracted driving. WNEM reports that enforcement efforts will see officers on high-visibility patrols throughout the month with an intention to reduce crashes attributable to such negligence.
In the previous year, Michigan reported 15,136 crashes involving distracted drivers, resulting in 5,905 injuries and 57 deaths. This was a stark narrative against the backdrop of routine lives where, according to Cambridge Mobile Telematics data cited by WNEM, the hands-free law's introduction in 2023 saw a 10.5% reduction in mobile device distraction.
The hands-free law, which prohibits holding a phone or any other electronic device while driving, came into effect in 2023, and it seems the campaign to enforce this law is picking up momentum. In the front line, the Kent County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) is assigning additional deputies to patrols. "We want people to make it home safely. We are going to be out proactively enforcing this law to help keep our roads safe, which includes writing citations to those driving distracted," Sgt. Scott Dietrich told WOODTV.
Violations of the hands-free law carry penalties that scale with repeated offenses, starting with a $100 ticket and/or 16 hours of community service for the first offense. As the stakes raise, WZZM13 relays that, a third offense within three years necessitates that the driver complete a driving improvement course, as incidents such as lane departures constituted 1 in 5 of these crashes, with over a third occurring at intersections.
With the steep rise in the usage of digital devices, Michigan's statewide campaign this April seems to promise a tighter grip over distracted driving. Highlighting the human cost behind the statistics, KCSO pointed out that there were 44 bicyclists and 112 pedestrians struck by distracted drivers in 2023, with 12 fatalities arising from these tragic events.
