A new report that tracks distracted driving crashes statewide shows Washtenaw County near the top of the list.
According to state data compiled by MLive, Washtenaw County had 597 crashes that were at least partly due to distracted driving last year. About 40% of those resulted in injuries, and there were two fatalities.
About 6.5% of all the crashes in the county last year were due to distracted driving, which is the fifth highest percentage of all the counties in the state.
Derrick Jackson is a spokesperson for the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. He said statistics like that are the reason why it is now a primary offense to use a mobile device while driving.
“Which means an officer can stop you and ticket you just for that particular violation. It doesn’t need to be anything else around it. If I see you with a phone in your hand or an electronic device in your hand, you can be pulled over for that in and of itself.”
Michigan became the 26th state to have a distracted driving law that bans the holding of devices. Drivers are only allowed to use phones in hands-free mode, with exceptions for emergency calls.
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