Michigan attorney offering scholarships to students against distracted driving

MICHIGAN — One Michigan auto law has started a scholarship fund to prevent distracted driving.

The Kelsey’s law scholarship created by Michigan Auto Law is motivating teens to put down the distractions while driving.This scholarship is asking any Junior or Senior high school student to send in a video, tweet, or graphic that will persuade other teens to focus on the road while driving. According to the Michigan Auto Law, drivers are 23 times more likely to crash when texting behind the wheel.

This law firm has seen more than their fair share of distracted driving related accidents and wanted to help.

“We’re a law firm and we dedicated our practice to helping people who have been injured in care accidents. We see first hand the devastation that can be brought by an accident and we want to do what we can to try to prevent and stop those accidents, and stopping people from distracted driving especially young drivers,” said Michigan Auto Law Attorney, Todd Berg.

The main idea behind the scholarship is to get teenagers to convince other people their age to put down distractions while behind the wheel.

“There are three ways to submit your message, the idea behind the message is to come up with something persuasive and compelling that’s going to convince other teen drivers to not drive distracted. Put the phones down, don’t eat, don’t do your hair, don’t do your make-up, don’t reach in the back seat,” said Berg.

Accidents caused from distracted driving have been on the increase in the past couple years. More than 7,000 crashes involving distracted driving were reported in Michigan in 2015, resulting in 27 fatalities and thousands of injuries. If someone is found to be using their cell phones while driving, they can face serious consequences especially if under the age of 18.

“If you are under the age of 18, it is prohibited. You will receive the first time, a ticket of $100, the fees of course increase the punishment if there is an injury or fatality involved in that,” said Michigan State Police Trooper, Stacey Rasanen.

Trooper Rasanen also mentioned that the key to preventing distracted driving is to stay focused at all times. If you are a high school student interested in this scholarship, it is not too late to apply, the deadline is August 31st at midnight.
Announcements will be made regarding the winners in early October.

For a link to the scholarship application, you can click here.

Additionally, for more information regarding Michigan Auto Law, you can visit their website here.