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Driver's Death Reminds Us Of Dangers Of Texting While Driving

TxDOT says last year we had 81,000 traffic accidents in Texas where the driver was distracted by-- among other things-- cell phone use.  And just last weekend a Southeast Texas family had to bury a loved one who authorities say was texting while driving.  Chandler Renee Small, 19, from Montgomery was a student at Texas A&M.  She died last week after she crashed her pickup on her way home from a Christmas Party.  Investigators say it appeared on her phone that she was sending a text to someone at the time of the accident.  Small was pronounced dead at the scene near the Walker-Grimes county line.  According to DPSs investigators the distraction is probably what caused her to miss a slight curve in the road while traveling at a high rate of speed.  Her truck left the road and hit a culvert, then flipped over onto its roof.
 
At highway speed you can travel a 100 yards in the few seconds it takes to read a text message.  It's a needless tragedy, and it's crashes like this that KEYE TV hopes to reduce with our year-long campaign to turn our streets into a No Text Zone.  Follow the link below to learn more about the effort and the people backing it.  Plus you'll get to take the no text zone pledge.  As an added bonus we draw from those pledges and someone wins a Visa gift card on top of doing the right thing to make our streets safer.
 
Link:
KEYE TV No Text Zone   http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/ntz
 
 
By Fred Cantu