The Berrien County Sheriff’s Department is conducting extra patrols this month to look for distracted drivers.
Chief Deputy Sean Soulard tells us it’s all part of a national campaign as police continue to see too many crashes caused by people not paying attention.
“What we see a lot of is people texting while driving, a lot of people talking on their phones while they’re driving, and it causes them to not focus on what’s going on, and that’s where we have a lot of our traffic crashes,” Soulard said. “Most of the time, it’s the person that’s distracted rear-ending the car in front of them because they weren’t paying attention.”
Soulard reminds everyone it’s now illegal to hold a phone while driving in the state. He tells us in 2023, Michigan recorded 15,441 crashes involving a distracted driver, resulting in 5,889 injuries and 59 fatalities.
“More concerning for us, 2,558 of these crashes were young drivers age 20 or younger. So the technology is obviously at everybody’s fingertips. Everybody thinks that they’re a great driver until the crash happens.”
Soulard says it’s not just the phones that lead to distracted driving, though. He’s seen people applying makeup, reading newspapers, and eating while behind the wheel, all things that will take a driver’s eyes off the road.
Soulard adds a lot of distracted driving crashes happen at intersections because people take their eyes off the road and look at their phones when the vehicle stops moving. However, looking at your phone while stopped at an intersection is also illegal under Michigan’s hands-free law.
