Traffic Laws: Distracted Driving and the Cell Phone Law, Seat Belts and Child Restraints, Air Bags, Speed Limits, Construction Zones, Maintenance Vehicles, Emergency Vehicles and School Buses
Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Michigan driver's license written knowledge test. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.
Source: What Every Driver Must Know (SOS-133, revised October 2025), Michigan Department of State, chapter 4 "Traffic Laws": distracted driving, seat belts, protecting children, air bags, speed limits, construction zones, emergency vehicles and school buses (pp. 23–29).
Distracted driving
Using a hand-held phone while driving is illegal in Michigan, including reading, texting, and making or answering calls; exceptions cover reporting crashes, crimes and emergencies. Fines are $100 for a first offense and $250 after that. Careless or negligent distracted drivers can be prosecuted. Your brain cannot fully attend to two things at once: in the quarter second it takes to switch tasks, a car at 65 mph travels 24 feet. Before driving, plan the route, name a front-seat co-pilot, learn the controls, preset the radio and playlist, buckle the children and finish grooming; while driving, keep hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, avoid phones, texting and navigation systems, take no notes, avoid stressful conversations, eat only easy items, call only when parked, and stop when tired or lost in thought.
Michigan's general cell phone law forbids holding or using a mobile electronic device such as a phone or tablet while driving on a public road: no calls, texts, video viewing or recording, or social networking. Emergency exceptions for all drivers including teens: texting 911 or calling police, a health-care provider, a fire department or another emergency service to report a medical emergency, crash, road hazard, fire, hazardous materials, a reckless or impaired driver, or a crime. Kelsey's Law bars GDL Level 1 and Level 2 teens from any non-emergency call; Level 3 teens and adults may use GPS if nothing is typed by hand, a device in voice-operated or hands-free mode after a single press, tap or swipe, the vehicle's built-in interfaces, a dash cam recording continuously, or a mounted device used in an exempt way.
Seat belts
Click It or Ticket: an officer may stop a vehicle just because occupants are unbuckled. The law requires all front-seat occupants including the driver to buckle up, all passengers under 16 in every seat, and all children under 8 or under 4 feet 9 inches in an approved child seat or booster in every seat. Belts save more than 13,000 lives a year and are the single most effective protection; air bags are no substitute. Wear the shoulder belt across the middle of the chest away from the neck and the lap belt low across the hips. A driver medically exempt must carry a doctor's statement.
Protecting children
Children ride in a car seat or booster until 8 years old or 4 feet 9 inches, whichever comes first, secured per the seat and vehicle instructions; the height rule is the better guide. Taking a child out to nurse while moving is prohibited. Children under 4 must ride in a rear seat when the vehicle has one, unless all rear seats hold children under 4. A rear-facing seat may go in front only with the passenger air bag deactivated. Anyone under 18 may not ride in the open bed of a pickup going over 15 mph, except farm, construction, military, parade and emergency uses. Never hold a child on your lap or belt two people together. Avoid secondhand seats, replace any seat that has been in a crash, and get help from a child passenger safety technician. It is illegal to leave a child under 6 unattended in a vehicle when the time or circumstances pose an unreasonable risk, unless someone 13 or older supervises.
Air bags
Air bags in the wheel, dash, roof columns and doors deploy by sensors according to the crash; belts remain the best protection in rollovers, side and rear impacts. Deactivate the front passenger bag for a rear-facing seat, seat children 12 and younger in the rear, sit at least 10 inches between breastbone and steering wheel, and if pregnant wear the lap belt over the hips and the shoulder belt across the chest, seated as far back as possible.
Speed limits
Michigan's Basic Speed Law requires a "careful and prudent" speed that lets you stop within the clear distance ahead, never above the posted limit and sometimes below it. Standard limits: 15 mph in mobile home parks and some municipal parks; 25 mph in platted subdivisions and condominium complexes (watch for posted limits in business districts, parks, school and hospital zones); 55 mph on all non-freeway streets and highways unless posted; 70 mph maximum and 55 mph minimum on freeways unless posted, with school buses and trucks limited to 65 mph (55 on freeways posted below 70); and 45 mph in a work zone when posted.
Construction zones
Work zone warning signs are diamonds with black lettering on orange or yellow; barricades, lights, markings and flaggers guide you. Construction workers may direct traffic and their directions override devices. Most construction, maintenance and surveying zones are 45 mph unless posted, and some drop to 45 only when workers are present. Fines double for all moving violations in work zones, and speeding there costs 3 points for 10 mph or less over, 4 points for more than 10 up to 15 over, and 5 points for more than 15 over; injuring or killing someone in a work zone can mean $7,500 and 15 years. Where lanes merge, follow the white-and-orange barrels and signs, since projects use different merging strategies and patterns change. State and local maintenance vehicles may show flashing green lights (private contractors may not); green is the most visible color to the human eye, and it means slow down and drive with caution.
Emergency vehicles
Yield to emergency vehicles approaching from any direction with red and blue lights flashing, and to stopped emergency vehicles with red, blue or amber lights. Authorized emergency vehicles include ambulances, fire and police vehicles, authorized private vehicles of firefighters and life-support members, vehicles of nonprofit emergency organizations, and marked road service vehicles such as tow trucks and safety service patrols with red or amber lights. For a stopped emergency vehicle, slow at least 10 mph below the limit and move over a lane if you can, otherwise slow and pass with as much space as possible; violations are a civil infraction, a felony if you injure or kill emergency personnel, and a misdemeanor for waste haulers, utility and road maintenance vehicles. When one approaches with siren and lights, pull to the edge of the road clear of intersections, stop, keep a foot on the brake so your brake lights show, and stay until it passes, remembering more may follow; stay at least 500 feet behind a moving emergency vehicle and never pass one unless directed.
School buses
Use extra care near buses and in school zones, where children dart out. Yellow hazard lights flashing: proceed with caution. Yellow overhead lights flashing: prepare to stop. Red overhead lights flashing: stop at least 20 feet from the bus and stay stopped until the lights go off or the bus moves. You need not stop for a bus on the other side of a highway divided by a barrier such as a concrete or grass median or island, but vehicles on the bus's side must. Fines for passing a stopped school bus are double a normal moving violation, with more fines and jail if injury or death results. Michigan's 1951 law made all new buses national school bus yellow.
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