with poll: Michigan's texting ban takes effect today: Will it reduce crashes?

To encourage awareness and compliance with the new law that bans texting while driving, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning launched a "Thumbs on the Wheel" campaign that features billboards, public service announcements and posters like this one.

Photo courtesy of the Michigan Office of Highway and Safety Planning

Marijane Sweeney, 56, on the other hand, is thrilled with the statewide measure. The Ann Arbor resident has four grown children - and their texting habits drive her crazy.

Sweeney, who doesn’t text and drive, said she think younger people don’t realize the danger they put themselves and others in on the road when they text.

“I think it’s fabulous,” she said of the law.

As police agencies across the state prepare to enforce the new measure, many questions have arisen - such as whether drivers can text at red lights and how officers can prove a driver was texting.

Whether the law will be easy to enforce - and whether it translates into fewer crashes - remains to be seen.

The law says reading, typing or sending a text or e-mail on any wireless two-way communication device behind the wheel is illegal, with a few exceptions for law enforcement and other first responders.

Texting and driving is a civil infraction that carries a first-time $100 fine and $200 in fines for subsequent violations.

To get the word out on the texting ban, officials at the Michigan Office of Highway and Safety Planning have launched a “Thumbs on the Wheel” advertising campaign.

Billboards are already up, posters have been distributed and public service announcements will run on cable and local stations from July through August, said Anne Readett, communications manager for the agency, which has received federal funds to run the campaign.

At the Michigan State Police post in Ypsilanti, a poster on the door reads: OMG TXT DRV TCKT $100.

That poster prompted one man who walked into the station to lament his teenager daughter sent 8,300 texts last month - and spent only 12 minutes actually talking to her friends, Michigan State Police Trooper Todd Etue said.

Etue he frequently sees both teens and adults texting on the highways, often with “both hands on their cell just going bananas,” while they drive with their knees. He said it isn’t unusual for these drivers to illegally cruise along in the left lane or perhaps pass on the right, so distracted they don’t notice his squad car trailing behind.

That kind of behavior on the roads causes accidents, Etue said.

Sarah Kennedy, 19, of Ann Arbor, doesn't approve of the new ban on texting while driving.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

State crash data shows 947 people were using cell phones at the time of a crash in 2009, although that data doesn’t differentiate in those instances whether a driver was texting or talking at the time of the accident. A total of 290,978 crashes were reported statewide last year.

The new state law doesn’t outlaw some cell phone behavior - including talking or reading publications on a wireless device. Drivers also can still look at directions on a GPS device if it’s affixed to the vehicle.

And texting is only illegal while the vehicle is moving, the law states.

Like the seat belt law, enforcement will be visual, Etue said.

Ann Arbor resident Marijane Sweeney, 56, favors the statewide measure but wonders whether it will reduce crashes.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

He and other officials anticipated police likely will issue the new citations primarily following accidents. But they also say crackdowns on texting and driving may get the point across.

“I will almost guarantee that just like ‘Click it or Ticket,’ they’ll put someone standing on the corner, with officers waiting down the road, and they’ll call it over the radio, ‘Hey, blue Chevy, four-door, female driver texting,” Etue said. Law enforcement agencies can’t subpoena cell phone records if the ticket is challenged in court, unless a separate criminal element like drunken driving was involved in the stop, Etue said.

Officers can ask drivers to show their phone when they’re pulled over, but the driver must consent.

State bans on texting and driving have been gaining steam in recent years.

Michigan is the 28th state to ban texting while driving in the last three years, said Jonathan Askins, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Governors Highway Safety Association. The nonprofit represents the interests of state highway safety agencies and counts the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning among its members. The District of Columbia also has a ban in place.

In anticipation of the statewide ban, the Ann Arbor City Council put a more comprehensive local ordinance banning cell phone use in vehicles in the city on hold.

Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje said he’d like to see the local measure tabled permanently.

“I don’t think we need to bring it up again now that the state has taken some action,” Hieftje said. “I’ve always felt it should be a state action, rather than a local action.”

The purpose of the statewide ban, lawmakers and police say, is to reduce accidents resulting from distracted driving. But whether bans are effective has been debated at the state and national level.

A January study by the Arlington, Va.-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety called into question the effectiveness of bans on handheld cell phone use while driving, though it did not specifically study texting while driving.

The study showed no impact on vehicle accident levels in four U.S. jurisdictions that carry bans on handheld cell phone use while driving, said organization spokesman Russ Rader.

While cell phones clearly distract drivers, the data showing whether the laws address the problem is less conclusive, he said.

Other studies have linked texting and cell phone use while driving with car crashes.

The National Safety Council released a study in January that blamed 28 percent - or 1.6 million - crashes a year on drivers using cell phones and texting.

Juliana Keeping is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter