Michigan Distracted Driving Lawyer | GPS & Cell Phone Accidents
GPS and Gadgets: Proving Distracted Driving Among Summer Travelers in Michigan
Late July marks the absolute peak of summer travel in Michigan. The highways passing through Downriver—especially I-75 and Telegraph Road—are packed with out-of-state plates and families hauling boats toward the Great Lakes.
When drivers are in unfamiliar territory, they rely heavily on their GPS and smartphones to navigate. However, looking down at a glowing map to find the right exit creates a massive hazard. A driver going 70 MPH on the interstate covers the length of a football field in just three seconds. If their eyes are glued to a screen, a catastrophic rear-end collision is nearly inevitable.
When these crashes happen, the at-fault driver almost never admits they were looking at their phone. They tell the police that traffic "stopped out of nowhere." As a Downriver injury attorney with three decades of experience, I know how to uncover the truth behind the digital paper trail. Here is how Michigan law treats gadget-related distractions and how we prove fault.
The Myth of the "Safe" GPS under Michigan Law
Many drivers mistakenly believe that because they were looking at Google Maps or Waze instead of texting, they weren't driving illegally. Michigan law completely rejects this excuse.
Under the comprehensive hands-free law (MCL 257.602b) that took effect in the summer of 2023, it is entirely illegal to hold or support a mobile electronic device with any part of your body while operating a motor vehicle. This applies to cell phones, tablets, and standalone GPS units.
While the law allows you to use a GPS feature, there are strict rules:
The device must be mounted: You cannot hold the phone in your hand or rest it on your lap to view directions.
No manual data entry: You are legally prohibited from manually typing an address or searching for a location by hand while driving. You must enter your destination before you put the car in gear or use a strictly voice-operated system.
If a summer vacationer was holding their phone to check the map or typing in a destination when they hit you, they broke the law.
From Traffic Ticket to Civil Lawsuit (Negligence Per Se)
Why does this specific traffic law matter for your injury claim? Because in Michigan civil courts, we can use a legal concept called negligence per se.
If we can prove that the driver who hit you was violating a safety statute—like the hands-free law—at the moment of the crash, the court can accept that violation as direct evidence of negligence. It essentially strips away their ability to argue that the crash was just an unavoidable accident. If their illegal distraction caused the collision, their insurance company is on the hook for your medical bills, pain, and suffering.
How We Prove the Distraction
Vacationers aren't going to hand over a confession, and the police rarely confiscate a phone at the scene of a standard rear-end collision. To beat the insurance company's inevitable denial, we secure the evidence before it vanishes.
Cell Phone Subpoenas: We aggressively subpoena the driver's cellular data and app usage logs. We don't just look for text messages; we look for heavy data transfers indicating active app engagement, such as typing into a navigation app or swiping through music playlists exactly when the crash occurred.
Event Data Recorders (Black Boxes): We pull the data from the at-fault vehicle’s computer system. If the black box reveals that the driver failed to apply the brakes or make any evasive steering maneuvers prior to impact, it is a massive indicator of severe visual and cognitive distraction.
In-Vehicle Infotainment Systems: Modern vehicles sync heavily with smartphones via Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, or Android Auto. Our forensic experts can often extract data from the car's built-in touchscreen system itself to see exactly what the driver was doing on the screen at the moment of impact.
Hold Distracted Travelers Accountable
An out-of-town driver's confusion is not an excuse for destroying your vehicle and putting you in the hospital. If your summer was derailed by a distracted driver on a Downriver road, you need an advocate who knows how to track down the digital evidence and maximize your settlement.
Do not let an insurance adjuster brush off the crash as a simple mistake. Contact Downriver Injury & Auto Law today for a free consultation. We handle the out-of-state insurance companies and the complex litigation so you can focus on your recovery.
