First of five traffic safety stories on MLive.com

Today is the launch of the first of the traffic safety stories that will run for five days on MLive.com and its affiliated sites, and for four days in all seven Michigan newspapers' print publications beginning Sunday.

Here's a link announcing the effort:
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/distracted_drivers_taking_a_to.html

Distracted drivers: Taking their toll on the roads (Coming Thursday)

Published: Wednesday, February 01, 2012, 7:00 AM     Updated: Wednesday, February 01, 2012, 10:55 AM

By John Barnes | jbarnes1@mlive.com
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File photoCellphone use by drivers is involved in 800 to 1,000 crashes each year in Michigan.

In counties all across the state, distracted drivers are taking a toll as they text, talk and read messages on their cellphones.

Most times the damage is measured in dollars, from dinged bumpers to crumpled fenders. Sometimes the cost is much higher, in pain and suffering, and worse.
Just one day ago, a state trooper was jailed for six months in the death of a 16-year-old in Ionia County. The off-duty trooper reached for a dropped cellphone. He did not see the teen pushing a disabled moped.

Courtesy photoFind out what a 17-year-old driver's last words were, as she talked to a friend on her cellphone before this crash.

Beginning Thursday, the new MLive Media Group will begin a five-day series of stories examining a problem one federal safety official says is becoming the nation's "new DUI. It's becoming epidemic."

Using information from the Michigan State Police Traffic Crash Reporting Section, reporters analyzed a decade's worth of accident data ranging from distracted driving in general to those involving cellphones specifically.

They also reviewed hundreds of police crash reports, to identify and interview those who know firsthand the lasting impact such crashes can have.

The effort involved reporters from MLive news operations in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Muskegon, Jackson, Saginaw and Bay City.

In coming days see where the crashes are happening, find out who are the worst offenders, and learn what's being done about the problem.

In the process -- through their words, photos and multimedia -- meet some who lived, and some who died, in crashes experts say could be avoided.

Email statewide projects coordinator John Barnes at jbarnes1@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JB_Barnes.

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/distracted_drivers_taking_a_to.html