Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
The Michigan State Police Calumet Post wants motorists to be aware that April is National U Drive. U Text. U Pay. month.
Law enforcement officers across the state will be stepping up patrols for motorists who text while driving.
Michigan’s texting law prohibits drivers from reading, manually typing or sending a text message while driving.
Violating the texting law may be costly. Drivers convicted of a first offense may be fined $100 with subsequent offenses of $200.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says an estimated 3,450 people were killed nationwide in 2016 with distracted driving accounting for 9.2 percent of all fatal crashes that year.
43 people died in Michigan with more than 5,000 injured in over 12,000 crashes in Michigan resulting from distracted driving, according to the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center.
