She was among the first in the State of Michigan to get a $100 ticket for texting while driving. She was driving her white Chrysler 300, going to pick up her friend, Tiarra Brown. She was texting Brown for directions when an officer pulled her over on Lahser Road.

"I felt mad and angry because who wants a ticket?" said Kelley. "I should have just given my friend my phone so she could text for me. My daddy was mad and he said he wouldn’t pay for it."

Specifically, the law says, "A person cannot read or send a text message on a wireless mobile device while operating a motor vehicle that is moving in the State of Michigan. If violated, the first offense is a $100 fine and for the second offense, $200."

The law went into effect Jan. 1, 2009, to prevent people from getting injured in car crashes.

Kelley admits that texting while driving is a big distraction that could lead to accidents.

According to AAA Michigan statistics, texting takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds. If a driver were traveling at 55 miles per hour, this would be like moving 120 yards without looking at the road.

Distracted driving accounts for more than 4,000 crashes daily in the United States, according to AAA statistics.

Besides talking on the cell phone, other distractions to drivers are eating, talking to other passengers, tending to children and looking at things outside of the car.

Southfield High School’s police liaison, Ureal Vinson, said drivers may not realize that it is also illegal for a driver to text at a stop light. Vinson encourages drivers to put their phones down when driving. It will help drivers focus more on the road and on other cars on the road, he said, as well as on people crossing the street or walking.

Vinson also said he is not fond of having a passenger text or read texts for the driver because it still distracts the driver. But it is better, he said, than the driver trying to text and drive at the same time.