A school science fair project on how cellphones can distract drivers has the attention of P.E.I. Transportation Minister Ron MacKinley.

'What this would do is help me a lot in getting this piece of legislation through.'— Ron MacKinley, transportation minister

The project could earn Andree Roi-Garand, 12, an audience with the provincial cabinet.

For the project, Andree asked the four members of her family to sit behind the wheel of a video racing game. She distracted them while they raced the speeding cars: first by talking to them, next by having them listen to an iPod, and finally having them talk on a cellphone while trying to keep from crashing.

"I thought that listening to an iPod would be really bad but it wasn't," said Andree.

"I learned that you can be distracted talking on a cellphone, and that music doesn't distract you as much."

From research of published works on cellphones and driving she learned that a lot of motor vehicle accidents have been blamed on cellphone use.

Andree is at UPEI Thursday for the provincial science fair, and her next stop could be the provincial cabinet table.

Last fall, a legislative committee ignored MacKinley's attempts to ban cellphone use while driving. Now MacKinley thinks his cabinet colleagues might be swayed by getting behind the wheel of Andree's simple but effective project.

"What this would do is help me a lot in getting this piece of legislation through. There seems to be lots of public support there, and I'm glad she's done it," said MacKinley.

Andree would like to see the legislation passed.

"That would be good, and maybe there would be little bit less accidents and people would be less distracted," she said.