On Tuesday, January 8, 2013, Governor Rick Synder signed a new legislative
act that has been named "Kelsey's Law." The law prohibits all new drivers on their
probationary licenses from talking on their phone while driving. Violation of the law by teenagers will be a
civil infraction that could cause a young driver an extension of their
probationary license period. The law applies
to all Level 1 license holders that can only drive with a parent, guardian, or
person over 21 years old. The law also
applies to Level 2 drivers that are allowed to drive with limits such as
restricted hours of driving and transporting other young passengers. Kelsey's
law, Senate Bill 756, will take effect in late March 2013.
The law was named in the memory of Kelsey Raffaele, a Sault Ste. Marie
teenager, who died in January 2010 when she caused a serious auto accident while talking on her cellphone and trying to pass another vehicle on a two-lane highway. Kelsey's surviving mother, father, and twin
sister, Courtney, were present at the Governor's signing ceremony in Lansing. Kelsey's sister Courtney had lobbied members
of the State House and Senate to get Kelsey's law passed into law. Kelsey's mother, Bonnie Raffaele, stated
after the law's signing ceremony "I know that Kelsey is up in heaven just clapping and
screaming for joy over this because of the lives that can be saved through (her)
tragic death."
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