March 14, 2025 • 30 mins
STEVE DISCUSSES THE IMPORTANCE OF MICHIGAN AUTO LAW'S AWARDING OF $5,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS TO FOUR MICHIGAN HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS AND SENIORS THROUGH THEIR 2025 KELSEY’S LAW DISTRACTED DRIVING AWARENESS SCHOLARSHIP.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Light Up to D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen gret Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And welcome to another episode of Light Up the DA.
I'm your host, Colleen Grant. Thanks for joining me today.
I have a very special guest today. His name is
Steve Gerston. Steve is considered one of the most respected
autocrash attorneys in the nation. He has recovered the largest
ever reported auto crash settlement and the largest ever reported
truck crash settlement of any Michigan lawyer or law firm.
(00:36):
He was voted into the Hall of Fame for his
truck crash litigation, one of only three attorneys in the
entire country to receive this prestigious honor by the American
Association for Justice. To learn more about Michigan Auto Law,
the website is auto law dot com. Please join me
in welcoming Steve Gristen. Thanks for joining me today, Steve.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thanks so much for having me, Collein.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So why don't we just kind of start with with
Michigan on a lot And I want to start there
because I think that kind of sets the foundation for
how you ended up developing the scholarship that we're actually
talking about today.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Sure, well, we are a pretty unique law firm. I
think we're the largest firm in the state that specializes
in car and truck accidents. But we really do almost
no advertising, like you know, many of your listeners might
be used to with TV commercials and the bombarding them
every time they do it on the TV or billboards
every time they're driving, you know, anywhere these days on
(01:35):
the roads. We're kind of a special law firm because
for years and years and years we've really been the
go to law firm that other lawyers and judges in
Michigan refer people too. And then really in the last
year we started doing some radio as well. But we
have twenty five lawyers between Metro Detroit and Grand Rapids.
(01:56):
Are really serving the entire state of Michigan. And I
would say, unlike pretty much every other personal injury law
firm you see out there, what makes us unique is
we really only do one area of law, which is
auto accidents, and we try to do it better every
year than anybody else. So we don't We're not like
(02:17):
the doctor that would you try to advertise for twelve
completely different areas of medicine. Our focus is really only
one area. And you know, when you work really hard,
you do it every day. You develop I think a
base and experience and knowledge, and I think our results
and our clients would tell you that it works. It's
(02:40):
a nice model for them.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah. So it's not just about the awards that you
win for your clients and then the awards that your
law firm actually wins as well for you. It seems
like it's a little bit more about other things too.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, you know, it's funny. I mean I always say
the awards themselves are very they're nice, I guess, you know,
But you don't do it for the awards, and you
don't do it for the honors. You do it for
helping people. And if you do it to help people,
then the awards and the honors and the recognitions will come.
I mean, if I could tell a quick story, if
you don't mind, I graduated from a pretty good law school,
(03:17):
and I graduated pretty high in my class. And at
the time I was thinking about coming home, and my
dad was an attorney here and he had told me
I couldn't come home. He wouldn't give me a job
unless I absolutely promised him one thing, which is I
had to promise that I really really liked people and
(03:39):
I really wanted to help people. And if you start
from that as a premise as a lawyer, that it
is not a business. It is a profession, an honored
profession where you could really change people's lives and really
make a huge difference, especially in my field, because I mean,
(04:02):
for so many of these people, this is the worst
thing that ever happened to them, and we are literally
the only things standing between them and often losing their
their their house, losing everything. They're in pain, they're you know,
they're so confused. There's so many medical bills. And to
be able to step in and really make a difference
(04:22):
in people's lives, it is a calling. And I know
that may sound I don't know, you know, we live
in a world where so many law firms these days,
you know, try and treat it like it's a big business,
and they try and load up their lawyers with as
many cases as they can, and they do as much
you know, advertising, what have you, as they can. And
I guess it's fine for them, but we try to
(04:45):
bring it back to its roots, which is really trying
to help people. And if again, if you if you
start with that as your premise, then what that means
is is that you're gonna work harder on people's cases.
You're going to call people, you're going to have more communication.
You're always thinking about the case. You're always being proactive,
(05:06):
not reactive. You're always looking at what we can do
to make the case stronger and better. And that's why
we've gotten, frankly, the results that we've had. It it's
because we do things so much differently from everybody else. Right,
we have case counts for lawyer that are significantly lower,
but that's deliberate because our end goal is not chasing
(05:29):
dollars art and being the biggest business that we can
as a law firm. Our business is helping people and
changing lives and making a difference, and that's why we
have lower case counts. But counterintuitively, that means we could
spend more time helping our clients and that's why we
get better results.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So that leads to you the fact that we're talking
about Distracted Driving Awareness Month and the scholarship that you
guys have instituted. You see through your position and all
of your lawyers do the wide spectrum of things that
happen to people as a result of car crashes, and
you know that a lot of them are happening because
(06:10):
of distracted driving. Why don't you share with us how
that's affected.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
What you guys do sure is what.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
We need to get across to your listeners is there
is an epidemic on our roads today of distracted driving
and people are not fully aware number one, how much
of it is out there, but number two, just how
dangerous it is. So the science is now pretty clear
(06:40):
that distracted driving is pretty much just as dangerous in
terms of impairing your judgment and your perception reaction time
as drunk driving. Again, talking texting on your cell phone
is about as dangerous as drunk driving. But the law
has now caught up to the science yet. And unfortunately,
(07:03):
what we have seen is, you know, statistically about twenty
two percent of all crashes out there, the police are
determining distracted driving has played a role. I will tell you,
as an attorney that does this every day, I think
the number is probably closer to fifty percent. And the
reason I say that is the police normally, unless someone
(07:27):
confesses to it and volunteers that they were on their
phone at the scene. Unless there's a fatality a death
at the scene, they almost never will do a cell
phone download. And as an attorney, I'm doing it all
the time with my experts, and it is coming out
about fifty percent of the cases I have, especially those
where you've got someone who's stopped at a red light
(07:48):
in traffic and they get rear ended, or they're stopped
on a freeway with construction and someone plows into them.
Those kinds of classic cases where there's clearly a driver
who wasn't paying attention. Only what you have is distracted driving.
And by the way, it's not just texting and driving.
I have truck drivers who are literally watching movies or
(08:09):
streaming porn. I have kids that are playing video games
and posting to Instagram and TikTok. There's all sorts of
things that are going on there. It's you know, it
is so much more prevalent and so much more dangerous
than anybody can suspect. In fact, the latest study from
(08:30):
the Traffic Institute of I believe is West Virginia University,
which is a very excellent traffic institute determine that if
you are involved in distracted driving of any type, that
you are twenty three times more likely to be involved
in a car crash. Wow. Twenty three times Wow. Yeah,
it's it's very scary. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So it's we're moving into Distracted Driving Awareness Month obviously
in April. Yes, but one of the things that I
know has happened in the past couple of years is
the distracted driving law that there's a law against using
your cell phone, right, Like, is that?
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Hell? The what are we seeing?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
So it certainly helps somewhat. So I'm gonna put on my.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
Lawyer at now and say that there is a the
legislature I think had good intentions, there is a literally
a grand Canyon sized loophole in our law in Michigan.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
So the distracted driving law that took effect in June
of twenty twenty three, which is what you're referring to,
has an exception for people that have handheld where they
have a mounted phone, which means that people can still
be like truckers and still be watching movies while they're
driving eighty miles an hour in these eighty thousand pounds
(09:47):
big rig trucks. You know, streaming whatever they want on
their phones. So it is it is better to the
extent that we now recognize how dangerous distracted driving is,
and there's at least a law in the books, but
there's some pretty big exceptions in the state that really
(10:07):
are not protecting people. And the law also is going
to expire in five years unless they renew it. But
you know, it's funny people intuitively think that well, handheld
or bluetooth or what have you, is much safer than
holding the phone in your hand, which is what the
twenty twenty three law prohibits handheld cell phone communication of
(10:29):
any type. And what the science shows is that believe
it or not, and it is counterintuitive, which is maybe
why the legislators drop the ball on this, but it
is actually almost just as dangerous in terms of cognitive impairments,
in terms of you know, what you have a lot
(10:50):
of times in auto accidents is people see what they
don't see. So, you know, you see that a lot
in people who are riding a bike or people who
are riding a motorcycle. They see it, but it doesn't
register in their brain that someone is there because they're
not expecting that bicyclist or that motorcycle rider to be
there in that lane, and that's why they swerve lanes
(11:12):
and hit them even though they saw them. What that
is called is cognitive load. That is distracting to the brain.
It's impairing your ability to drive safely. And that is
also what happens when you're on bluetooth or when you're
multitasking and your phone is reading you back text messages,
what have you. You are distracted. You were thinking about
(11:33):
how you're going to respond, not thinking about what's around
you and hazards on the road. So, again, this is
a good example. There's so many examples in our society
where I think the law is trying to catch up
to the pace of technology, but this is a big one.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So you developed the Kelsey's Law Distracted Driving Awareness Scholarship,
you know, to try to encourage people to encourage others
to not drive distracted. Start right with who is who?
It says Kelsey's Law. Who is Kelsey Raphael?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
So Kelsey Raphael is a beautiful, beautiful young lady who
at seventeen, died in a distracted driving car accident in
twenty ten, and all credit for Michigan's distracted driving. Kelsey's
law really goes to her mom, Bonnie Raphael. And Bonnie
(12:27):
is one of the most remarkable, wonderful human beings I've
ever met. She literally single handedly was a constant presence
in Lancing and really got this law passed just through
the power of just her not giving up her tenaciousness.
(12:48):
And I believe she has saved hundreds of lives in
this state from her efforts. So Kelsey, her daughter died
in twenty ten, the law was enacted, I believe in
twenty thirteen for memory. And then and I met her
because I also have talked in to the legislature and
(13:10):
Lancing about a lot of driver safety issues. She and
I had been up in Lancing together. I met her,
I was blown away by her, and I decided not
only to create a scholarship in her daughter's honor, but
actually to have Bonnie every year help me pick the winners.
So every submission we get, Bonnie Raphael goes through every submission,
(13:34):
and she and I pick the winners every year of
this scholarship amount. And we are going on our ninth year.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, you started in twenty sixteen. Yeah, And why don't
we talk a little bit about the scholarships.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Sure, So the scholarship is broken down into four areas.
We have an overall winner who gets twenty thousand or
excuse me, two thousand dollars. Yah, yeah, redo that please,
I don't want to. People say, how's that a full
year of tuition?
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So this scholarship is broken into four winners. It's a
total of five thousand dollars every year. The overall winner
gets two thousand dollars. The winner of the best video,
because what we want is something that's viral that can
be passed on and forwarded, gets fifteen hundred dollars. The
winner of the best TikTok submission because you go where
(14:25):
the people are. The teenagers are on TikTok, so they
get one thousand dollars. And then the best graphic winner
gets five hundred dollars. What I think makes our scholarship
so unique and different is, and I say this as
a loving parent, but as a parent, I recognize that
(14:49):
kids sometimes can tune out adults, and I recognize sometimes
that that peers other teens have a special place in
terms of the able to persuade and influence behaviors of
other teens that maybe we as adults, we as parents,
we as authority figures, as teachers, what have you don't
(15:10):
always have there's more of a connection among teens, and
sometimes there is with adults telling kids what they should
and shouldn't do. What I think makes our scholarship so
different and so interesting is it's based on submissions by
other teens. And the whole idea is that we should
try to create the same kind of ground swell movement
(15:35):
that actually mothers against drunk Driving created back in the
seventies and eighties, with drunk driving making it socially unacceptable
among their peer group to text and drive. And you know,
we just figured this would be a unique opportunity to
try and reach teens in a way that maybe you
(15:57):
know what it's like as a parent yourself, maybe uh,
you know, they can tune us out in a way
that they wouldn't if it's their classmates and friends. So
it is submissions from teen high school students all over
the state of Michigan. And the idea is that you know,
especially with the video with things like the TikTok submission,
(16:19):
is that these are going viral that everyone in their school,
everyone in their their social circles is also seeing this,
and we're able to touch these young adults in a
way that maybe they wouldn't otherwise be informed about just
how dangerous it is. And I have to tell you
one other thing, which is, every single year, I am
blown away by how good these submissions are.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Now, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I mean, so we have them on our website at
Michigan auto law dot com or auto law dot com,
and we put the winners every year, and I cannot
believe the creativity. I mean, listen, I'm the guy that
could barely program his DVR, you know, so it's like
small wins. But but oh my god, what these kids
can do is amazing. It's so remarkable and the creativity
(17:05):
and just I mean every year, I am blown away.
So it's a scholarship. I love. I love to be
able to support. I love that I can, maybe in
my own little way, help Bonnie Raphael to save lives.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
What let's talk a little bit about some of the
statistics on teens and distracted driving.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Sure, so what we have to understand is you're already
dealing with statistically the most dangerous drivers on.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Our roads, anyway.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Anyways, Yeah, so statistically it's not even close. The most
dangerous drivers on our roads are our teens. The second
most dangerous are the elderly. And what's interesting is they're
dangerous for completely different reasons. Right, So for teens, they
have really good, normally good vision, and they've really good
(18:01):
I hand coordination and dexterity and the ability to perceive
and react faster than maybe an elderly driver can who
is getting up there in years, and there are some
issues with whether they should be behind the wheel. Right.
What makes teen drivers so dangerous is their judgment. So teens,
(18:29):
and by the way, what's really interesting is there's a
biological basis to this. So this is not just me
as an autoax attorney saying this. There's a lot of
neuroscience on this. So what is happening is is teens
have a prefrontal cortex that is not fully developed until
the age of about twenty six. And what the prefrontal
(18:53):
cortex in our brains help us control is impulsivity, which
means if you are driving a six thousand pound car
at seventy miles an hour and your cell phone dings,
it is much harder for a teen driver with a
(19:14):
still developing prefrontal cortex and possibly judgment that is different
than someone who is older to resist that urge to
pick up that phone right away and see who ding them?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Right, it's actually physically physiologically more challenging for them to resist.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
It is, and there's a true neuroscientific reason why teen
drivers are much more dangerous. They are also far less
likely to wear seat belts, They're much more likely to
engage in a lot of other dangerous behaviors. But again
it comes down to impulsivity and judgment. Now, the elderly
are the complete opposite. They have very good judgment, they
(19:53):
have very good impulse control. But that's where you get,
you know, the elderly person who hits the garbage cam
and something, you know, because they're backing up. They yeah,
I mean it's like it's it's sad, but it's so true,
right like they you know, they're sometimes and ones that
get more easily confused and are going the wrong way
on a one way street. You get issues with with coordination, eyesight, vision, perception,
(20:17):
reaction time. So you know, for two totally different reasons,
those are always statistically the most dangerous drivers on our roads.
But with teens, what we have to understand is especially
when it comes they're dangerous to begin with, and cell
phones in the car with them is like lighter fluid
(20:39):
next to us a fire, and it is just a
really dangerous combination that I've seen over and over again.
And the reason why this is so important to me
on a personal level is I will tell you of
all the cases I handle, the ones where you have
parents that have lost a child we have the death
(21:01):
of a child are always for me personally the hardest
and that's where I have the most scar tissue from
helping people over the years. So if I can do
my little bit to help Bonnie Rafael and to spread
the word about how dangerous this is, and it's something
that we as a law firm are very proud to
(21:21):
get behind.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
So talk to us about the process that people go
through to apply for the scholarship.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Who's eligible, how do they apply?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Sure, so, you have to be a Michigan resident, you
have to go to high school in the state of Michigan,
you have to be under eighteen, and then all you
have to do is be creative and submit your creations,
whether it's a video, a graphic, a TikTok, a video
or what have you to my law firm. And then
(21:54):
what happens is over the course of several weeks, Bonnie
Rafael and I go through all the submissions every year
and we pick the winners.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
And is there a particular date by which people need to.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Submit It is I don't remember the exact date in March,
but it's I believe the third week in March. And
we do that on purpose because we want the winners
announced in April because April is Distracted Driving Awareness month.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Tell us more about that, Like, what does it mean
that it's distracted I mean, everybody knows it's an awareness month,
but like, what are the things that come out through
that month?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, you know, it's it's hard because we live in
an age where there's like donut Day and you know,
and like like eat a Pizza Day, and you know,
and there's it seems like there's an awareness month for everything, right,
So but the whole what I what I compare distracted
driving to today is very similar to what I would
(22:51):
say drinking and driving was in the late seventies. That's
a great comparison, and that bad it is. It is
well and just drive home tonight, and as you're driving home,
just look to your left and look to your right,
and you will see someone on their cell phone. Is
it is everywhere out there on my cases where I'm
(23:12):
doing cell phone downloads, it is everywhere, and it is.
It is incredibly prevalent, and very similar to I would
say the drunk driving in the late seventies, our society
didn't really come to grips yet with just how many
people were being killed and how dangerous it really was.
(23:35):
And if it wasn't for really amazing organizations like Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, which took years. This was a decades
long battle to change the laws in these states. It
was very slow people forget that, and we had to
really change the opinions in our culture. And very similar to today,
(23:57):
you know, where people kind of sort of get that
cell phones are dangerous, They kind of sort of get
that they shouldn't be doing it, but no one really
understands the science behind just how dangerous it is. That
that if you tell people that, scientifically, we can show
that the amount of impairment from using a cell phone
(24:19):
while you're driving is just like drinking and driving in
terms of how impaired, you will be behind the wheel.
People have no idea. So, like, just a quick, easy
example is you know someone who's just going fifty five
miles an hour. The average text that you get on
your phone, it takes a driver about five seconds they
(24:39):
found to just you know, glance down, look at the text,
and then look back up at the road. Well, if
you're driving fifty five miles an hour, over five seconds,
you have literally just driven the entire length of a
football field a football field. So imagine if you could
imagine if you're driving the length of a football field blindfolded,
(25:02):
because that's what you're doing. You're not looking at the road,
you're looking at your phone. Imagine driving the length of
a football field blindfolded, with cars and people all around you.
And that's how dangerous this is. So that's why this
is happening so much. And again what's really sad is
is the statistics really don't even reflect just how prevalent
(25:22):
it really is. Because you know, police have limited resources,
they have limited time, and unfortunately, the way our society
works today is unless there's a fatality where someone is killed,
the police themselves are not doing downloads. So you know,
I can just tell you as a lawyer who sees
this every single day in the truck accidents that I
(25:43):
handle and the car accidents that I handle, it is
way more than twenty percent.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Actually, when you said fifty, I thought it was more
than fifty.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, I mean it may well be, but in my
personal cases, I would say it's probably about fifty percent
of the time.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
It's really incredible.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
It's really terrified.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Okay, what do you think we can do as parents
to help our kids avoid distracted driving?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
That is such a great question. I will tell you
that we play a huge role. They may not listen
to us, but they model our behaviors. So the most
important thing I tell parents, and I speak at a
lot of schools. I speak to a lot of mothers
(26:22):
groups at schools and fathers groups and churches all over
the state. I've spoken entire high schools. The most important
lesson I tell parents is they will model your behaviors.
So if you are texting and driving, if you are
driving distracted, it doesn't matter what you say to the kids,
(26:43):
They're going to model your behavior. So the best thing
you can do if you want to try to stop
this is be a good role model. And model safe
driving behaviors for your children, because if they're in the
car with you, they are watching you, right, So let's.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Just give everybody kind of a one time review of
how they can get their kids involved in this. How
how are kids finding out about it? How about the
scholarship program.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
So I would say a couple of different ways. One,
thank you so much for the opportunity. Is wonderful people
like you that are that are letting me share it
with the public through mediums like like the radio. We
speak to I mean constantly, we're in schools all over
the state of Michigan speaking to high school students. We
(27:32):
speak to parents groups all over the state. I speak
to a lot of church organizations and parents groups all
over the state. And then we have online It's on
our website, and I'm proud to say that in the
last nine years, the number of submissions we've gotten has
also really exploded. So you know, it's it's it's gratifying
(27:55):
that you know, at least the messages getting out there.
And I think it's getting out there really through these
young adults who are sharing this message to your peers.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
And we just got to make it not cool to
drive distracted.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Exactly in the same way that society was able to
do that with Trump driving right where they became socially unacceptable.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Socially unacceptable. So how do people apply?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Before you wrap it up so everybody knows how they
can get their kid involved, or if somebody's listening and
wants to go ahead and apply, how do they do that?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Can can we out right here so I can read it?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Because yeah, memory, yes, yes, hold on, I have so many.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Papers, so's some of al here. Let's see what they said.
So the best way to apply is to get on
the website of my law firm, which is Michigan Auto
Law dot com and go to the distracted the Kelsey's
Law Distracted Driving Awareness Scholarship page which you will see
on the website and applications that are being accepted now
(28:54):
through March twenty first, twenty twenty five, and the winner
will be announced in April. With Bonnie Raphael.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Listen, it's so important that we really address this. It's
such an easy way to reduce fatalities and injuries just
by helping people be less distracted when they drive.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Just a crucial focus.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yeah, what makes these cases especially tragic is they are
almost always completely preventable, right, think about it. These are
not act to gods. These are not lightning strikes that
are random. These are completely preventable cases where you've got
people that are looking at their phones and not looking
at the cars in front of them that are stopped
(29:33):
in traffic, and a lot of people are being killed
and a lot of people's lives are being completely changed
because of people basically just being selfish and thinking that
a text is more important than you know, people's lives
and driving safely.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Right, or that it's harmless. Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Well, this is where we educate the public.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Yeah, well, thank you for joining us today, Steve. Our
guest today is Ben Steve Gerston. He is the owner
at mischig In Auto Lawn again speaking with us today
about the Kelsey's Law Distracted Driving Awareness Scholarship. It's Distracted
Driving Awareness Month in April and let's get on board, folks.
No more of this, all right, completely preventable. Thank you
(30:16):
for joining us again today, Steve.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
This has been light up the D a community affairs
program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like to
get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia dot com.
Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
Welcome to Light Up to D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen gret Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And welcome to another episode of Light Up the DA.
I'm your host, Colleen Grant. Thanks for joining me today.
I have a very special guest today. His name is
Steve Gerston. Steve is considered one of the most respected
autocrash attorneys in the nation. He has recovered the largest
ever reported auto crash settlement and the largest ever reported
truck crash settlement of any Michigan lawyer or law firm.
(00:36):
He was voted into the Hall of Fame for his
truck crash litigation, one of only three attorneys in the
entire country to receive this prestigious honor by the American
Association for Justice. To learn more about Michigan Auto Law,
the website is auto law dot com. Please join me
in welcoming Steve Gristen. Thanks for joining me today, Steve.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thanks so much for having me, Collein.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So why don't we just kind of start with with
Michigan on a lot And I want to start there
because I think that kind of sets the foundation for
how you ended up developing the scholarship that we're actually
talking about today.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Sure, well, we are a pretty unique law firm. I
think we're the largest firm in the state that specializes
in car and truck accidents. But we really do almost
no advertising, like you know, many of your listeners might
be used to with TV commercials and the bombarding them
every time they do it on the TV or billboards
every time they're driving, you know, anywhere these days on
(01:35):
the roads. We're kind of a special law firm because
for years and years and years we've really been the
go to law firm that other lawyers and judges in
Michigan refer people too. And then really in the last
year we started doing some radio as well. But we
have twenty five lawyers between Metro Detroit and Grand Rapids.
(01:56):
Are really serving the entire state of Michigan. And I
would say, unlike pretty much every other personal injury law
firm you see out there, what makes us unique is
we really only do one area of law, which is
auto accidents, and we try to do it better every
year than anybody else. So we don't We're not like
(02:17):
the doctor that would you try to advertise for twelve
completely different areas of medicine. Our focus is really only
one area. And you know, when you work really hard,
you do it every day. You develop I think a
base and experience and knowledge, and I think our results
and our clients would tell you that it works. It's
(02:40):
a nice model for them.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah. So it's not just about the awards that you
win for your clients and then the awards that your
law firm actually wins as well for you. It seems
like it's a little bit more about other things too.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, you know, it's funny. I mean I always say
the awards themselves are very they're nice, I guess, you know,
But you don't do it for the awards, and you
don't do it for the honors. You do it for
helping people. And if you do it to help people,
then the awards and the honors and the recognitions will come.
I mean, if I could tell a quick story, if
you don't mind, I graduated from a pretty good law school,
(03:17):
and I graduated pretty high in my class. And at
the time I was thinking about coming home, and my
dad was an attorney here and he had told me
I couldn't come home. He wouldn't give me a job
unless I absolutely promised him one thing, which is I
had to promise that I really really liked people and
(03:39):
I really wanted to help people. And if you start
from that as a premise as a lawyer, that it
is not a business. It is a profession, an honored
profession where you could really change people's lives and really
make a huge difference, especially in my field, because I mean,
(04:02):
for so many of these people, this is the worst
thing that ever happened to them, and we are literally
the only things standing between them and often losing their
their their house, losing everything. They're in pain, they're you know,
they're so confused. There's so many medical bills. And to
be able to step in and really make a difference
(04:22):
in people's lives, it is a calling. And I know
that may sound I don't know, you know, we live
in a world where so many law firms these days,
you know, try and treat it like it's a big business,
and they try and load up their lawyers with as
many cases as they can, and they do as much
you know, advertising, what have you, as they can. And
I guess it's fine for them, but we try to
(04:45):
bring it back to its roots, which is really trying
to help people. And if again, if you if you
start with that as your premise, then what that means
is is that you're gonna work harder on people's cases.
You're going to call people, you're going to have more communication.
You're always thinking about the case. You're always being proactive,
(05:06):
not reactive. You're always looking at what we can do
to make the case stronger and better. And that's why
we've gotten, frankly, the results that we've had. It it's
because we do things so much differently from everybody else. Right,
we have case counts for lawyer that are significantly lower,
but that's deliberate because our end goal is not chasing
(05:29):
dollars art and being the biggest business that we can
as a law firm. Our business is helping people and
changing lives and making a difference, and that's why we
have lower case counts. But counterintuitively, that means we could
spend more time helping our clients and that's why we
get better results.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So that leads to you the fact that we're talking
about Distracted Driving Awareness Month and the scholarship that you
guys have instituted. You see through your position and all
of your lawyers do the wide spectrum of things that
happen to people as a result of car crashes, and
you know that a lot of them are happening because
(06:10):
of distracted driving. Why don't you share with us how
that's affected.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
What you guys do sure is what.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
We need to get across to your listeners is there
is an epidemic on our roads today of distracted driving
and people are not fully aware number one, how much
of it is out there, but number two, just how
dangerous it is. So the science is now pretty clear
(06:40):
that distracted driving is pretty much just as dangerous in
terms of impairing your judgment and your perception reaction time
as drunk driving. Again, talking texting on your cell phone
is about as dangerous as drunk driving. But the law
has now caught up to the science yet. And unfortunately,
(07:03):
what we have seen is, you know, statistically about twenty
two percent of all crashes out there, the police are
determining distracted driving has played a role. I will tell you,
as an attorney that does this every day, I think
the number is probably closer to fifty percent. And the
reason I say that is the police normally, unless someone
(07:27):
confesses to it and volunteers that they were on their
phone at the scene. Unless there's a fatality a death
at the scene, they almost never will do a cell
phone download. And as an attorney, I'm doing it all
the time with my experts, and it is coming out
about fifty percent of the cases I have, especially those
where you've got someone who's stopped at a red light
(07:48):
in traffic and they get rear ended, or they're stopped
on a freeway with construction and someone plows into them.
Those kinds of classic cases where there's clearly a driver
who wasn't paying attention. Only what you have is distracted driving.
And by the way, it's not just texting and driving.
I have truck drivers who are literally watching movies or
(08:09):
streaming porn. I have kids that are playing video games
and posting to Instagram and TikTok. There's all sorts of
things that are going on there. It's you know, it
is so much more prevalent and so much more dangerous
than anybody can suspect. In fact, the latest study from
(08:30):
the Traffic Institute of I believe is West Virginia University,
which is a very excellent traffic institute determine that if
you are involved in distracted driving of any type, that
you are twenty three times more likely to be involved
in a car crash. Wow. Twenty three times Wow. Yeah,
it's it's very scary. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So it's we're moving into Distracted Driving Awareness Month obviously
in April. Yes, but one of the things that I
know has happened in the past couple of years is
the distracted driving law that there's a law against using
your cell phone, right, Like, is that?
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Hell? The what are we seeing?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
So it certainly helps somewhat. So I'm gonna put on my.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
Lawyer at now and say that there is a the
legislature I think had good intentions, there is a literally
a grand Canyon sized loophole in our law in Michigan.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
So the distracted driving law that took effect in June
of twenty twenty three, which is what you're referring to,
has an exception for people that have handheld where they
have a mounted phone, which means that people can still
be like truckers and still be watching movies while they're
driving eighty miles an hour in these eighty thousand pounds
(09:47):
big rig trucks. You know, streaming whatever they want on
their phones. So it is it is better to the
extent that we now recognize how dangerous distracted driving is,
and there's at least a law in the books, but
there's some pretty big exceptions in the state that really
(10:07):
are not protecting people. And the law also is going
to expire in five years unless they renew it. But
you know, it's funny people intuitively think that well, handheld
or bluetooth or what have you, is much safer than
holding the phone in your hand, which is what the
twenty twenty three law prohibits handheld cell phone communication of
(10:29):
any type. And what the science shows is that believe
it or not, and it is counterintuitive, which is maybe
why the legislators drop the ball on this, but it
is actually almost just as dangerous in terms of cognitive impairments,
in terms of you know, what you have a lot
(10:50):
of times in auto accidents is people see what they
don't see. So, you know, you see that a lot
in people who are riding a bike or people who
are riding a motorcycle. They see it, but it doesn't
register in their brain that someone is there because they're
not expecting that bicyclist or that motorcycle rider to be
there in that lane, and that's why they swerve lanes
(11:12):
and hit them even though they saw them. What that
is called is cognitive load. That is distracting to the brain.
It's impairing your ability to drive safely. And that is
also what happens when you're on bluetooth or when you're
multitasking and your phone is reading you back text messages,
what have you. You are distracted. You were thinking about
(11:33):
how you're going to respond, not thinking about what's around
you and hazards on the road. So, again, this is
a good example. There's so many examples in our society
where I think the law is trying to catch up
to the pace of technology, but this is a big one.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So you developed the Kelsey's Law Distracted Driving Awareness Scholarship,
you know, to try to encourage people to encourage others
to not drive distracted. Start right with who is who?
It says Kelsey's Law. Who is Kelsey Raphael?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
So Kelsey Raphael is a beautiful, beautiful young lady who
at seventeen, died in a distracted driving car accident in
twenty ten, and all credit for Michigan's distracted driving. Kelsey's
law really goes to her mom, Bonnie Raphael. And Bonnie
(12:27):
is one of the most remarkable, wonderful human beings I've
ever met. She literally single handedly was a constant presence
in Lancing and really got this law passed just through
the power of just her not giving up her tenaciousness.
(12:48):
And I believe she has saved hundreds of lives in
this state from her efforts. So Kelsey, her daughter died
in twenty ten, the law was enacted, I believe in
twenty thirteen for memory. And then and I met her
because I also have talked in to the legislature and
(13:10):
Lancing about a lot of driver safety issues. She and
I had been up in Lancing together. I met her,
I was blown away by her, and I decided not
only to create a scholarship in her daughter's honor, but
actually to have Bonnie every year help me pick the winners.
So every submission we get, Bonnie Raphael goes through every submission,
(13:34):
and she and I pick the winners every year of
this scholarship amount. And we are going on our ninth year.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, you started in twenty sixteen. Yeah, And why don't
we talk a little bit about the scholarships.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Sure, So the scholarship is broken down into four areas.
We have an overall winner who gets twenty thousand or
excuse me, two thousand dollars. Yah, yeah, redo that please,
I don't want to. People say, how's that a full
year of tuition?
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So this scholarship is broken into four winners. It's a
total of five thousand dollars every year. The overall winner
gets two thousand dollars. The winner of the best video,
because what we want is something that's viral that can
be passed on and forwarded, gets fifteen hundred dollars. The
winner of the best TikTok submission because you go where
(14:25):
the people are. The teenagers are on TikTok, so they
get one thousand dollars. And then the best graphic winner
gets five hundred dollars. What I think makes our scholarship
so unique and different is, and I say this as
a loving parent, but as a parent, I recognize that
(14:49):
kids sometimes can tune out adults, and I recognize sometimes
that that peers other teens have a special place in
terms of the able to persuade and influence behaviors of
other teens that maybe we as adults, we as parents,
we as authority figures, as teachers, what have you don't
(15:10):
always have there's more of a connection among teens, and
sometimes there is with adults telling kids what they should
and shouldn't do. What I think makes our scholarship so
different and so interesting is it's based on submissions by
other teens. And the whole idea is that we should
try to create the same kind of ground swell movement
(15:35):
that actually mothers against drunk Driving created back in the
seventies and eighties, with drunk driving making it socially unacceptable
among their peer group to text and drive. And you know,
we just figured this would be a unique opportunity to
try and reach teens in a way that maybe you
(15:57):
know what it's like as a parent yourself, maybe uh,
you know, they can tune us out in a way
that they wouldn't if it's their classmates and friends. So
it is submissions from teen high school students all over
the state of Michigan. And the idea is that you know,
especially with the video with things like the TikTok submission,
(16:19):
is that these are going viral that everyone in their school,
everyone in their their social circles is also seeing this,
and we're able to touch these young adults in a
way that maybe they wouldn't otherwise be informed about just
how dangerous it is. And I have to tell you
one other thing, which is, every single year, I am
blown away by how good these submissions are.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Now, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I mean, so we have them on our website at
Michigan auto law dot com or auto law dot com,
and we put the winners every year, and I cannot
believe the creativity. I mean, listen, I'm the guy that
could barely program his DVR, you know, so it's like
small wins. But but oh my god, what these kids
can do is amazing. It's so remarkable and the creativity
(17:05):
and just I mean every year, I am blown away.
So it's a scholarship. I love. I love to be
able to support. I love that I can, maybe in
my own little way, help Bonnie Raphael to save lives.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
What let's talk a little bit about some of the
statistics on teens and distracted driving.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Sure, so what we have to understand is you're already
dealing with statistically the most dangerous drivers on.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Our roads, anyway.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Anyways, Yeah, so statistically it's not even close. The most
dangerous drivers on our roads are our teens. The second
most dangerous are the elderly. And what's interesting is they're
dangerous for completely different reasons. Right, So for teens, they
have really good, normally good vision, and they've really good
(18:01):
I hand coordination and dexterity and the ability to perceive
and react faster than maybe an elderly driver can who
is getting up there in years, and there are some
issues with whether they should be behind the wheel. Right.
What makes teen drivers so dangerous is their judgment. So teens,
(18:29):
and by the way, what's really interesting is there's a
biological basis to this. So this is not just me
as an autoax attorney saying this. There's a lot of
neuroscience on this. So what is happening is is teens
have a prefrontal cortex that is not fully developed until
the age of about twenty six. And what the prefrontal
(18:53):
cortex in our brains help us control is impulsivity, which
means if you are driving a six thousand pound car
at seventy miles an hour and your cell phone dings,
it is much harder for a teen driver with a
(19:14):
still developing prefrontal cortex and possibly judgment that is different
than someone who is older to resist that urge to
pick up that phone right away and see who ding them?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Right, it's actually physically physiologically more challenging for them to resist.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
It is, and there's a true neuroscientific reason why teen
drivers are much more dangerous. They are also far less
likely to wear seat belts, They're much more likely to
engage in a lot of other dangerous behaviors. But again
it comes down to impulsivity and judgment. Now, the elderly
are the complete opposite. They have very good judgment, they
(19:53):
have very good impulse control. But that's where you get,
you know, the elderly person who hits the garbage cam
and something, you know, because they're backing up. They yeah,
I mean it's like it's it's sad, but it's so true,
right like they you know, they're sometimes and ones that
get more easily confused and are going the wrong way
on a one way street. You get issues with with coordination, eyesight, vision, perception,
(20:17):
reaction time. So you know, for two totally different reasons,
those are always statistically the most dangerous drivers on our roads.
But with teens, what we have to understand is especially
when it comes they're dangerous to begin with, and cell
phones in the car with them is like lighter fluid
(20:39):
next to us a fire, and it is just a
really dangerous combination that I've seen over and over again.
And the reason why this is so important to me
on a personal level is I will tell you of
all the cases I handle, the ones where you have
parents that have lost a child we have the death
(21:01):
of a child are always for me personally the hardest
and that's where I have the most scar tissue from
helping people over the years. So if I can do
my little bit to help Bonnie Rafael and to spread
the word about how dangerous this is, and it's something
that we as a law firm are very proud to
(21:21):
get behind.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
So talk to us about the process that people go
through to apply for the scholarship.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Who's eligible, how do they apply?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Sure, so, you have to be a Michigan resident, you
have to go to high school in the state of Michigan,
you have to be under eighteen, and then all you
have to do is be creative and submit your creations,
whether it's a video, a graphic, a TikTok, a video
or what have you to my law firm. And then
(21:54):
what happens is over the course of several weeks, Bonnie
Rafael and I go through all the submissions every year
and we pick the winners.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
And is there a particular date by which people need to.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Submit It is I don't remember the exact date in March,
but it's I believe the third week in March. And
we do that on purpose because we want the winners
announced in April because April is Distracted Driving Awareness month.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Tell us more about that, Like, what does it mean
that it's distracted I mean, everybody knows it's an awareness month,
but like, what are the things that come out through
that month?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, you know, it's it's hard because we live in
an age where there's like donut Day and you know,
and like like eat a Pizza Day, and you know,
and there's it seems like there's an awareness month for everything, right,
So but the whole what I what I compare distracted
driving to today is very similar to what I would
(22:51):
say drinking and driving was in the late seventies. That's
a great comparison, and that bad it is. It is
well and just drive home tonight, and as you're driving home,
just look to your left and look to your right,
and you will see someone on their cell phone. Is
it is everywhere out there on my cases where I'm
(23:12):
doing cell phone downloads, it is everywhere, and it is.
It is incredibly prevalent, and very similar to I would
say the drunk driving in the late seventies, our society
didn't really come to grips yet with just how many
people were being killed and how dangerous it really was.
(23:35):
And if it wasn't for really amazing organizations like Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, which took years. This was a decades
long battle to change the laws in these states. It
was very slow people forget that, and we had to
really change the opinions in our culture. And very similar to today,
(23:57):
you know, where people kind of sort of get that
cell phones are dangerous, They kind of sort of get
that they shouldn't be doing it, but no one really
understands the science behind just how dangerous it is. That
that if you tell people that, scientifically, we can show
that the amount of impairment from using a cell phone
(24:19):
while you're driving is just like drinking and driving in
terms of how impaired, you will be behind the wheel.
People have no idea. So, like, just a quick, easy
example is you know someone who's just going fifty five
miles an hour. The average text that you get on
your phone, it takes a driver about five seconds they
(24:39):
found to just you know, glance down, look at the text,
and then look back up at the road. Well, if
you're driving fifty five miles an hour, over five seconds,
you have literally just driven the entire length of a
football field a football field. So imagine if you could
imagine if you're driving the length of a football field blindfolded,
(25:02):
because that's what you're doing. You're not looking at the road,
you're looking at your phone. Imagine driving the length of
a football field blindfolded, with cars and people all around you.
And that's how dangerous this is. So that's why this
is happening so much. And again what's really sad is
is the statistics really don't even reflect just how prevalent
(25:22):
it really is. Because you know, police have limited resources,
they have limited time, and unfortunately, the way our society
works today is unless there's a fatality where someone is killed,
the police themselves are not doing downloads. So you know,
I can just tell you as a lawyer who sees
this every single day in the truck accidents that I
(25:43):
handle and the car accidents that I handle, it is
way more than twenty percent.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Actually, when you said fifty, I thought it was more
than fifty.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, I mean it may well be, but in my
personal cases, I would say it's probably about fifty percent
of the time.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
It's really incredible.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
It's really terrified.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Okay, what do you think we can do as parents
to help our kids avoid distracted driving?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
That is such a great question. I will tell you
that we play a huge role. They may not listen
to us, but they model our behaviors. So the most
important thing I tell parents, and I speak at a
lot of schools. I speak to a lot of mothers
(26:22):
groups at schools and fathers groups and churches all over
the state. I've spoken entire high schools. The most important
lesson I tell parents is they will model your behaviors.
So if you are texting and driving, if you are
driving distracted, it doesn't matter what you say to the kids,
(26:43):
They're going to model your behavior. So the best thing
you can do if you want to try to stop
this is be a good role model. And model safe
driving behaviors for your children, because if they're in the
car with you, they are watching you, right, So let's.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Just give everybody kind of a one time review of
how they can get their kids involved in this. How
how are kids finding out about it? How about the
scholarship program.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
So I would say a couple of different ways. One,
thank you so much for the opportunity. Is wonderful people
like you that are that are letting me share it
with the public through mediums like like the radio. We
speak to I mean constantly, we're in schools all over
the state of Michigan speaking to high school students. We
(27:32):
speak to parents groups all over the state. I speak
to a lot of church organizations and parents groups all
over the state. And then we have online It's on
our website, and I'm proud to say that in the
last nine years, the number of submissions we've gotten has
also really exploded. So you know, it's it's it's gratifying
(27:55):
that you know, at least the messages getting out there.
And I think it's getting out there really through these
young adults who are sharing this message to your peers.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
And we just got to make it not cool to
drive distracted.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Exactly in the same way that society was able to
do that with Trump driving right where they became socially unacceptable.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Socially unacceptable. So how do people apply?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Before you wrap it up so everybody knows how they
can get their kid involved, or if somebody's listening and
wants to go ahead and apply, how do they do that?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Can can we out right here so I can read it?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Because yeah, memory, yes, yes, hold on, I have so many.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Papers, so's some of al here. Let's see what they said.
So the best way to apply is to get on
the website of my law firm, which is Michigan Auto
Law dot com and go to the distracted the Kelsey's
Law Distracted Driving Awareness Scholarship page which you will see
on the website and applications that are being accepted now
(28:54):
through March twenty first, twenty twenty five, and the winner
will be announced in April. With Bonnie Raphael.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Listen, it's so important that we really address this. It's
such an easy way to reduce fatalities and injuries just
by helping people be less distracted when they drive.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Just a crucial focus.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yeah, what makes these cases especially tragic is they are
almost always completely preventable, right, think about it. These are
not act to gods. These are not lightning strikes that
are random. These are completely preventable cases where you've got
people that are looking at their phones and not looking
at the cars in front of them that are stopped
(29:33):
in traffic, and a lot of people are being killed
and a lot of people's lives are being completely changed
because of people basically just being selfish and thinking that
a text is more important than you know, people's lives
and driving safely.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Right, or that it's harmless. Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Well, this is where we educate the public.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Yeah, well, thank you for joining us today, Steve. Our
guest today is Ben Steve Gerston. He is the owner
at mischig In Auto Lawn again speaking with us today
about the Kelsey's Law Distracted Driving Awareness Scholarship. It's Distracted
Driving Awareness Month in April and let's get on board, folks.
No more of this, all right, completely preventable. Thank you
(30:16):
for joining us again today, Steve.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
This has been light up the D a community affairs
program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like to
get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia dot com.
Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.