(WXYZ) — Across southeast Michigan, drivers like Rita Williams are doubling down on the importance of a law passed nearly 2 years ago to make it illegal to hold a cell phone or drive distracted in any way.
"People are still driving distracted on the streets. I drive the freeway a lot to work, Lodge to 94. I see people on their phones all the time. It’s deadly serious in some cases," said Rita.
I first talked to Steve Kiefer back in 2023 after his 18-year-old son Mitchel, an MSU student, was killed by a distracted driver who rear-ended him on I-96 back in 2016.
Earlier report: Governor Whitmer signs legislation to prevent distracted driving
“They might as well be holding a gun. It’s that visceral for me," said Kiefer about distracted driving.
His family successfully pushed state leaders to pass the law in June 2023.
Since then, stats from the state regarding the “hands-free law” show an average decrease of nearly 19 percent in distracted-driving related cases, and it's estimated nearly 14,000 crashes, more than 7,800 injuries, and 63 deaths have been avoided.
“Thirty-one states now have these same laws in place. Just two days ago, Iowa passed the bill to become the 32nd state in the nation," said Kiefer.
Police in Troy, are among those cracking down the hardest; in fact, they passed a similar ordinance roughly a decade ago, also seeing reduction in crashes.
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“It only takes a second that someone's not paying attention, you know runs into a family, and could cause a fatality," said Troy Police Lt. Ben Hancock.
Statewide, before the law passed, rear-end crashes were the most common and made up almost half of distracted driving wrecks.
In 2022, nearly 2,400 crashes in our state involved a driver on a phone. Experts say the law has made a big impact, but the road ahead remains.
“I believe there’s going to be a point here where we have enough states, where the others will be embarrassed to not have this law in place, we’ll keep pushing till we get all 50 states," said Kiefer.
For Rita, the issue goes beyond drivers paying a $100 fine for the first offense and $250 for the second.
She says even with drivers forced to take a safety course if they commit three violations in 3 years, we still need to drive just home how dangerous this is.
"They almost run into the back of other people because they aren’t paying attention. The people who cause the accidents survive, but the innocent driver doesn’t," said Rita.
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month when state police and many other agencies will be doing targeted enforcement on particular days — all designed to save lives.
