Michigan hands-free driving law year one: 19,000 tickets, fewer crashes

A law implemented in 2023 to crack down on distracted driving crashes, and possible fatalities, seems to be working according to preliminary state data released this month. Photo credit: Shutterstock.

by Jordyn Hermani  (Bridge Michigan)

LANSING — Michigan officials who last year banned cell phone use behind the wheel contend new state data shows the law is beginning to work: Distracted driving crashes are down.

There were 305 fewer distracted-driving related crashes in Michigan in 2023 compared to the prior year, a roughly 2% reduction, according to new numbers released this month by the Michigan State Police.

There were still 15,136 distracted-driving crashes in Michigan, including 56 that led to fatalities, but police are attributing the dip to the state’s hands-free driving law. The law, which took effect last year on June 30, bans holding or using a cellphone to text, record video, check social media or operate.

The law includes some exceptions, such as in case of an emergency, but first time offenders could be fined $100 and found guilty of a civil infraction. Penalties can increase depending on the vehicle driven, such as with school bus or commercial vehicle drivers, as well as for repeat offenses.

Through July 15, police across the state had issued a combined 19,463 citations for violations of the new law. Of those, 14,364 — or just under 74% of all citations — had so far resulted in a conviction, according to data provided by the Michigan State Court Administrative Office.

That’s just a fraction of the nearly 100,000 traffic citations Michigan police officers typically issue in a year. But it’s relatively high compared to Indiana, a neighboring state that has had a similar law since 2020.

Indiana officers issued a total of 8,292 citations in the first two years of that state’s law, according to data from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. That included 2,131 citations in 2020 and 6,161 in 2021.

The Michigan data encapsulates all tickets from policing agencies in the state, save for a few like the 61st District Court in Grand Rapids, Supreme Court Communications Director John Nevin told Bridge Michigan.

Some Michigan police departments were initially slow to write tickets. And as of October, four months into the law, some departments told Bridge that many drivers did not seem to know the ban had taken effect.

But for state police, who typically patrol highways and other state roads, enforcement “has not been a challenge,” said spokesperson Shanon Banner. Since the law took effect, she estimates MSP troopers and motor carrier officers have issued nearly 5,00 citations and verbal warnings.

Whitmer signed the hands-free cell phone law in June 2023 following legislative debate and bipartisan approval. Some Republicans opposed the ban, however, calling it an overreach that would encourage drivers to simply read phones in their laps and “discriminates against those with vehicles that don’t offer hands-free technology.”

The law will require state police to publish a progress report on implementation of the law by 2026.

“Distracted driving is a major problem, and this is another tool in the toolkit for (police) to crack down on it,” state Rep. Matt Koleszar, a Plymouth Democrat who played a key role in crafting the new law, told Bridge.

“It’s important to have these laws on the books,” he added, “because they’ve been proven across the country to save lives.”

Koleszar referenced a recent study from Cambridge Mobile Telematics — a Massachusetts-based software company and world’s largest telematics service provider — suggesting the hands-free driving law has potentially prevented around 5,500 crashes and $218 million in economic damages.

The study measured the amount of minutes Michiganders used their phones while driving, finding usage dropped from one minute and 48 seconds the month before the law took effect to 1 minute 25 seconds per hour of driving in the year since the law’s implementation.

That same organization also studied hands-free driving laws in Ohio, Alabama and Missouri, finding that in each instance the number of distracted driving-related accidents trended downward implementation.

That data “shows that these laws work,” Steve Kiefer, founder and chairman of The Kiefer Foundation, said in a statement. “They’re reducing distracted driving and saving lives.”

The Michigan-based organization is dedicated to ending distracted driving-related deaths after the death of Kiefer’s own son, Mitchel, in 2016 at the hands of a distracted driver.

Kiefer, who advocated for the passage of Michigan’s hands-free driving law in 2023, said it was his hope “other states look at Michigan’s success and enact their own hands-free laws to save even more lives on the road.”

While “happy to see the positive impact the Hands-Free Law has had… there is still much work to do as we intensify efforts to educate all age groups about the dangers of distracted driving,” Katie Bower, director of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, said in a July statement.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.