Michigan House OKs distracted driving bills

The Michigan House approved a trio of bills that aim to require hands-free cellphone use.

The goal is to reduce distracted driving and fatalities.

Last week, the package passage had stalled, partly because lawmakers felt the penalties were too harsh. This time, the bills passed on a vote of 68-39 after reducing the penalties.

House Bills 4250, 4251 and 4252 aim to prohibit holding or using a cellphone while driving a vehicle, including using it for texts, calls, videos, and on social network sites.

The bills would provide exceptions such as hands-free use, emergency use, using a device’s navigation feature as long as the information isn’t entered by hand, or using a single button press, tap, or swipe to activate or deactivate a device or to select a name or phone number.

Violations could result in a civil fine, community service or points assessed on the driver’s driving record, a mandatory drivers course, or even a license suspension.

House Bill 4251 would require the secretary of state to suspend an individual’s driver’s license for a range of time upon violation conviction if that person has a commercial learner’s permit.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer welcomed the passage.

“Distracted driving kills,” Whitmer tweeted. “In 2021, there were 16,543 crashes in MI involving a distracted driver. Young Michiganders alone account for 18.1% of distracted driving crashes. This issue is a top priority for me, and I’m grateful the legislature is acting.”

Current law prohibits a driver from texting and driving in a moving vehicle.

The proposed sanctions for a person who violates the law while operating a vehicle other than a school bus or commercial vehicle would be the following:

For a first violation, pay a $100 civil fine or perform 16 hours of community service, or both. For a subsequent violation, pay a $250 civil fine or perform 24 hours of community service, or both.If an individual is responsible for three or more civil infractions for violations within three years, a court will order the person to complete a basic driver improvement course within a reasonable time as determined by the court.

A civil fine would be doubled if while violating the above rules, the individual was involved in an accident where they were at fault.

Three and a half years after the bill’s effective date, the Michigan State Police would have to submit a report to the Senate majority leader, the House speaker, and the governor that includes the number of citations given for violations, the race and ethnicity of the individuals given those citations, and the number of vehicle crashes, serious injuries, and deaths caused by those violations.