It's not often that science fair projects get presented to provincial cabinet members.

But when Prince Edward Island's Andrée Roi-Garand came up with a science fair project about drivers who are distracted by cellphones, she inadvertently created an opportunity for herself to tell one of her provincial representatives all about it.

The 12-year-old Grade Six student recently put together a project on how drivers get distracted on the road.

Roi-Garand got her family to play a driving-themed video game while she exposed them to various distractions including wearing an iPod, having a conversation and using a cellphone.

She used the progress her family members made in the game to estimate how effective they were at driving when they were distracted.

"My hypothesis was that the cellphone was going to be the worst distraction and it was that, actually," Roi-Garand told CTV's Canada AM from Charlottetown on Friday morning.

When she brought her project to her Summerside, P.E.I., school, Roi-Garand's teacher told her that she should write Transportation Minister Ron MacKinley to let him know about her findings.

And to her surprise, MacKinley was just as impressed as her teacher with her "excellent" project.

"I thought it was really good," he told CTV's Canada AM from Charlottetown on Friday morning.

Last fall, MacKinley tried to pass a law that would ban driving while talking on cellphones.

He was given a year to collect information on the matter that the legislature could use when considering such legislation.

"When Andrée came along and had this idea with some scientific facts behind it, I thought it was excellent," MacKinley said.

"I thought it was excellent and I even decided to send a letter."

For her part, Roi-Garand says she is pleased by the response to her project.

"I didn't know they were making a law for that. I just thought I was going to get a letter back saying: 'Okay. That's good you did a project on that. Good luck at the provincial science fair,'" she said.

"But I was really impressed and really surprised when I got the phonecall."

Roi-Garand said she is excited -- and a little bit nervous -- about her potential chance to present to provincial cabinet members, if MacKinley can arrange it.