Ingham County to crack down on distracted driving

MASON, Mich. (WILX) - Distracted drivers kill nine people every day across the country.

Unfortunately that fact alone isn’t enough to convince people to keep their eyes and attention on the road.

That’s why the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office is having a special crackdown on distracted driving.

“The number of accidents from distracted driving tend to go up,” said Lt. Ted Harrison.

There are a lot of things that can distract drivers such as eating, messing with radio and even shaving or putting on makeup.

But the sheriff’s office found one distraction more common than others.

“We started to find a number of the distractions were people’s personal own devices. They were using those while on the roadway and causing more crashes,” said Lt. Harrison.

That’s why Emily Bahr started Go Green. Go HandsFree, a distracted driving campaign at Michigan State University.

“I think it comes with a lack of education on actually how dangerous using your phone behind the wheel is. Many people have a prospective they need to be reachable,” said Bahr.

AAA said using your phone while stopped at a stop light is just as risky.

That’s because your mind is still on your device for about 30 seconds after the light turns green.

This is an issue Michigan lawmakers are trying to fix too with a series of bills that would ban holding your phone behind the wheel.

“At the end of the day it’s only to keep themselves safe and their families. And they would make the roads a safer place,” said Bahr.

Distracted drivers killed 71 people in Michigan in 2019. We don’t have statistics for last year yet.

Ingham County’s “U-text. U-drive. U-pay.” enforcement runs from Thursday through Monday.

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