Father honoring son by working to get phone-free driving law passed

Reporter: Claire Galt
Published: Updated:

A father is on a mission to prevent other parents from experiencing the heartbreak he endured.

Steve Kiefer is working to gain the support of Florida lawmakers to get hands-free laws passed nationwide.

Kiefer held a lunch in Naples on Tuesday to share his story and encourage his neighbors to contact their representatives.

In 2016, Steve’s son, Mitchel, was killed in a crash caused by a distracted driver. Nearly a decade later, Steve is working in his son’s memory to bring about change.

Mitchel Kiefer had a bright future ahead with aspirations of becoming a neuroscientist at Michigan State University.

“He was going to Michigan State to be a neuroscientist,” said Steve Kiefer. “We know he’s changing the world. He’s just doing it from a different place now.”

A distracted driver hit and killed Mitchel while he was on his way to school during his freshman year.

“You can’t believe it. First of all, you think it can’t be true,” said Kiefer. “It was really hard in those first weeks to sort of come to grips with what do we do with this?”

Steve Kiefer started a foundation named after Mitchel called Just Drive.

His goal is to implement hands-free driving laws in all 50 states, with Florida being a top priority.

“Our highest priority is to get the Florida hands-free bill passed,” said Kiefer. “The bill, quite simply, makes it illegal to hold the phone, so the phone cannot touch any part of your body while driving a car.”

Kiefer told us he’s been to Tallahassee to talk to lawmakers many times since then, and he has faith that his efforts will pay off this year.

“It’s crazy to me that there could be some partisan behavior on this,” said Kiefer. “If you don’t like this as the tool, then what is your idea? Because just letting 3,300 people die in Florida again next year, I mean, that’s not acceptable.”

That’s how many people died on Florida roads last year. The Kiefer Foundation believes half were distracted.

Kiefer said it should be a no-brainer: look at the numbers and pass a law, but in politics, it’s never so simple.

Last year, the bill passed unanimously through the House but never made it to the Senate.

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