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Share Your Story
Share Your Story
92 Stories
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[...] Share Your Stories Take the Oath HomeAbout [...]
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[...] Share Your Stories Take the Oath HomeAbout [...]
Deanna Mauer 23 years old was not so lucky to be alive.
When they brought her to the hospital, she was admitted as Quentin Doe, they did not know her name. She was involved in an auto accident on the 405 freeway and was hit at 84 MPH, as she was stopped in traffic. Little did we know as her parents she died on impact due to brain injury. She had her C2 and C3 neck broken and both arteries to her brain were severed. This all happened on April 27th, 2011.
We were notified that day at about 11:30am at our work, both my wife and I worked at the same Aerospace Co. When my wife calls me that day, she was screaming so loud that I had no idea who she was on the phone. Finally I ask her to calm down and tell me what happen, she said she was called by the Head and Trauma center and was ask some questions about a girl that they just received in for major injuries from a car accident. Some tattoo’s my daughter had on he body, revealed it was her they had taken in. We left work immediately and I was trying to think positive.
We were met by the CHP officer, who handed us her purse and assured us she was not on her cell phone. He explained she was hit from the rear at a very high speed and had some major injuries. We went up to the 4th floor to see her and we were completely devastated. As family members started to arrive, we met with the two physicians in charge and they want to put her in surgery right away, because of internal bleeding. In about 30 minutes they came back from surgery to tell us the news, we were told our daughter was brain dead and they had perform tests to see if there was any response from the brain and nothing was showing up. My wife at this time as for them to check again and do the test again, she just wanted to make sure, she again asks for another test. The nightmare had emerged, we lost our wonderful daughter. One thing was told to us about this accident by the two physicians was they made the statement we were very lucky our daughter was not decapitated from the extent of her injuries, they said this occurs usually at 70MPH or faster. Time stood still for both of us, the pain was unbearably though.
We made the arraignments to bury our daughter in a cemetery close to our home. This was especially though through the whole process. We were told by the cemetery since she passed away immediately we would need cash to pay for these services. After 25K and a few weeks off work, we were done with this part. Now for the next part, this person’s insurance company, Geico never contacted us in a manner what-so-ever. To this date, we feel this company made no apologies or sympathy statement at all. I received my first bill from the hospital and for the one day, the bill was 157K, eventually the final bill was 201K. No offers from anyone on who was to pay this. The pre- trial is still pending on this person and she has been arrested on felony charges of gross negligence manslaughter. The DA will put on a quite convincing case with the information they have from the black box from her vehicle from this accident. We know for a fact she was not paying attention and was speeding which caused our daughter death. She denied it all and has shifted the blame to Deanna. I can continue with a lot more information, but I need to end here. I only sit down to write this story to inform the public on the consequences of texting while driving.
My story needs to get out to every person that thinks they can text and drive. I do not own a cell phone and never will, especially after this accident. If you ever see me on the freeways and streets of Southern California you will know me by what I have on my truck back window, “A PERSON TEXTING WHILE DRIVING KILLED MY DAUGHTER, NO TEXT IS WORTH A HUMAN LIFE. There is two picture of my daughter with in Memory of (OUR SUNSHINE) June 14th 1987 to April 27th, 2011, thank for listening, Deanna Parents
Karina Zarco
5th hour
7th grade
Texting While Driving
Texting while driving is a serious problem in America’s society today. Day by day there are thousands of car accidents that happen over a text message or even an incoming phone call. When the driver of a vehicle texts while driving, the effects to it is that you are not only risking your life but others as well, it may also raise your car insurance to a higher rate because of the car accident, and it also causes other drivers to feel insecure. To change this problem, there is a solution that can stop this once and for all.
When you are in your car, on the road you shouldn’t text or talk on the phone because it is against the law and you are only hurting yourselves. Texting while driving can be a risk to you the driver and passengers. You can also hurt others that are on the road. If you get into a car accident, it is certain to involve other people. If you do get into a car accident because of a text or call, it can raise your car insurance by a lot because of the damage done. If the car injury was bad and you were rushed to the hospital, you would then also pay the high hospital bill for yourself and may end up paying the bill for the victims.
Other people that are cautious about driving and texting don’t text because they know it can do them bad. Drivers that text and drive can make others feel insecure to get on the road. A person always has worries about getting hit by another car that had a passenger texting. A simple text message such as hey, lol, and ya can be the last text you ever see before a serious injury happens to you or any other driver.
A human study noted that texting while driving is a worse statement that drunk driving. Because when you are drunk, you are actually trying to focus on the road but when you are texting while driving, you are not focused in any direction and are paying attention only to your phone. Even when you are talking on the phone, it isn’t as bad as texting, but you are still taking a big risk on your life. When you are talking and driving, can make you lose focus on the right and left sides of the road which means, that you are only paying attention to the road ahead and a car can be coming from either side. People who text while drive are usually teens, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be adults. Any person from the ages of fifth teen though people in their late forties have seen or experienced a car crash.
There is one simple solution for this major problem that is texting while driving! When driving, you should just turn off your phone while you are consuming the vehicle. You can also just try to ignore all tension involving your phone. It is important that any person in today’s society knows the consequences of texting and driving because if they don’t know, it can get them in trouble with the law. Texting while driving can also cause you to lose or damage your car for a little mistake that was unnecessary. Don’t put your life in danger for something that can wait for later.
Those are the dangers of texting and/or talking on the phone while driving. Thank you for the time you took to hear my paper on Texting while driving.
My name is Betsy and I have a blessed story to tell of my son Joshua. Joshua had been part of a English team in high school in 2010 who had written an essay and had won a spot in a competition in Cleveland Ohio. They did not win that contest but he won with me! The title of their essay was “Driving while Intexticated”. Shortly there after, for the first time ever while I was driving, I answered very quickly a text message from my husband. I NEVER TEXT and drive!!! But I had that day and he very loud and clear yelled ” OH NO MOM, you will not text and drive! Put the phone down!!! Do you know how silly you would make me feel if something happened and you were texting after I just wrote this essay on “Driving while Intexticated?” Although I was totally embarrassed I was so very proud of my son. I am also very proud of his teacher, and school mates for taking this situation so very seriously! I also take it very very seriously!
My words to everyone from my sons own mouth…. DO NOT DRIVE WHILE INTEXTICATED!~ God bless you all during these holiday seasons and keep you safe!
Ive seen many instances of people, young and older texting while driving. I’ve actually seen people who are not also TEXTING, but also smoking a cigarette while they text. I’m terrified for my safety, my children’s and family’s safety and for all the other people out there that can quickly fall victim to the carelessness of ignorant people who should be paying attention to the roads they are on and the vehicles they are driving. I hope they pass a federal law and I’d fully support it.
I was driving home from making a donation at a local kids home and I was about a mile or so from home. A car with 3 young kids in it disregarded a red light and drove right in my path. The driver was distracted while using a handheld device. The car ahead of them at the stoplight made a legal right turn on the red light. The drive assumed the light was green and took off. I hit them traveling almost 50 miles per hour. Luckily I was able to react and swerve just enough to miss the passenger compartment. I thank God everyone survived. I could easily had my wife and 4 yound children with me. As a trained Paramedic, I provided support until the EMS service arrived. But it was a helpless feeling that has left me forever changed. It should never have happened. I do not Text and drive. Texting and Driving can be a fatal mistake. Don’t do it. Don’t Text and live to tell about it.
i really believe that when we tex and drive we dont think about whats going to happen next and thats what people need to realize but some people are not brought up right so thats when we need to step up and say what we think is right
Ive come to this site to voice and raise awareness for my best friend. The brother who was taken from his family and friends. His name was Joel Adam Rodriguez. My brother Joel was traveling Down north gate rd in Lakewood WA on his motor cycle. It was traffic hour may 19 Of 2011, Joel had come to a stop because of said traffic. Also traveling on the same road was the same driver that stuck him. The force of the impact threw Joel off his motorcycle and pinged him off the car in front of him. Joel suffered massive internal injuries and was pronounced doa. The DA has yet to charge her for any negligence which kills me alot. Nothing was even posted for Joel till nearly a couple minus after the fact. There is evidence of cell text going out of her phone right before the incident. I feel so bad I look st the three kids he left behind. People don’t realize that you could kill a lot more then 1 person when you text and drive. You kill. Apart of everyone that cherished him as well. I’ve seen enough killing in Afghanistan. Never thought I would lose you in such a senseless way. Peace be with you brother, please god I pray for this to reach the right eyes to give Joel the moment he deserves. I won’t let your death be swept under the rug. I will do with what life left in me to give your senseless death a meaning.
The Accident Happened Well Over A Year Ago I Was Sitting In The Back Of My Friend’s Older Sister’s Car. Her Sister Decided To Start Texting. She Looked At One Text For A Long Time And Started Drifting To The Other Side Of The Road. We Tried To Get Her To Realize What Was Happening But She Was To Busy Responding To The Message. By The Time She Looked Up She Had Slammed The Car Into The Guard Rail. She Over Corrected And Fish Tailed Toward The Middle Of The Freeway We Hit A Car Head On. Our Car Flipped 5 Times And Landed On The Roof. I Survived My Friend And Her Sister Died On Scene.
Awww, thats very sad. You are very lucky but next time warn someone as quick as possible ;/
In November 2010 my wife and I were rear-ended while we were a full stop at a stop sign by someone going 40 m.p.h. in an SUV. This collision occurred in a school zone while kids were leaving school at the end of the day. The person who hit us was texting and driving and didn’t even hit the brakes. Two discs in my neck were herniated and my wife was also injured. The person who hit us was a 40-something housewife.
That said, I see teens through middle-aged people texting and driving every single day. Here are some things I do whenever I see it:
1) Blast my horn non-stop until I get their attention and then tell them to stop texting.
2) If I see a cop nearby, such as in a parking lot or at a business, I give them the plate # and their location and the cop will usually pull right out, find them, observe them and ticket them.
What I’d like to do is yank them out of their cars, smash their phones and slam their fingers in their car doors.
People who text and drive are selfish, self-centered jerks whose overall personalities are typically selfish and self-centered as a result of the “Facebook”mentality that pervades our society (I can’t use the term ‘culture’ here instead of society because our society currently seems to lack any real and substantial culture worth noting, other than glorifying violence and materialism). If these folks want to go through life with their selfish, proverbial blinders on, they have every right to do so in this country, BUT NOT WHILE DRIVING ON A PUBLIC ROAD.
P.S. I see a lot of self-confessed text-and-drivers in some of these posts who do not have any command of the English language. I suggest that you stop texting and start focusing on learning how to spell without assistance, use words in their proper context and how to construct a proper sentence. That’s much more productive than potentially murdering someone while texting and driving. That’s right, murder (a.k.a, vehicular manslaughter).
I attend a high school in Kentucky that is fortunate enough to have a Newspaper class that I’m involved in and currently I am writing an article about the dangers of teens who are texting and driving. Too many lives have been lost and put in danger due to a simple text. I was wondering if I could get some advice to add in my article.
My name is Trevor and I’m an automotive journalist so I’ve seen my fair share of cars both intact and others that aren’t so lucky. Late Thursday night (Oct. 6th), my sister was riding shotgun in her friend’s 2007 Honda Civic when the driver decided to take out her phone and start texting. While texting, my sister’s friend was traveling well above the posted speed limit (75mph in an estimated 60 mph zone) and clipped a Jersey Barrier, fishtailed, and then rolled over three times. The Civic came to rest on its roof (with the sunroof open) and my sister found herself dangling upside-down in her seat because she was wearing her seatbelt. My sister was able to free herself from the Civic and wait next to the vehicle as EMS showed up at the scene. She was taken to the hospital for bruising and a possible cracked rib cage, the driver declined treatment at the scene entirely. I have a photo of the car being backed into a salvage yard and considering it rolled three times, the lack of damage sustained is simply mind-bending. I live in Los Angeles now for work and my sister and family are in Rhode Island so I haven’t been able to physically see my sister since the accident. While the accident happened less than four days ago I’m still in shock and couldn’t even think about the other scenario which was a real possibility. I stopped texting and driving way long before this accident but I can tell you for a fact you won’t catch me or anyone driving texting while I’m in the car.
FLATLINE
The strength of the irradiation
was extremely intense
-blinding me with its radiance
-toying with my ocular IQ
I wanted to shield my eyes from it
-shade my vision
from this spectacular effulgence
but my arms would not move
-Beep
Explicit expressions boiled in my mind
as I struggled to escape this comatose state
-wondering what would Houdini do
Arms stuck to my side
as if they’d been duct taped
-Beep
A cocktail of voices
poured slowly into my ears
Some cursing
-Beep
others unwittingly deciding my fate
-Beep
Familiar yet distinct sounds
of influences from my past
-Beep
I wish I could see them but the light-
“Would someone please dim that damn light?”
-Beep
The voices-
I hear them calling me
beckoning me to come to them
but the light was too bright
I could not find them-
I could not reach out to them
And then-
….nothing
Darkness greeted me unexpectedly
and for a brief moment I was delighted
The relief from the blaring blaze
soothed my soul
“Was this just a dream?”
-Beep
I felt a unique comfort
that I’ve never known before
A certain sense of solitude
-Beep
One moment I’m driving the BMW
Down I-30
texting my lady
to tell her that I’m running late
and the next-
I’m stuck here
in “No Man’s Land”
-Beep
The blurred image
of my woman’s face
hovering over me
Tears dropping from her eyes
onto my lips
The taste of them
replacing the vile taste
of the blood in my mouth’
-Beep
I try to muster up all the energy
that my weary body can summon
-thinking
“If I could only reach her…
Maybe she could pull me
out of this Twilight Zone…”
“Maybe she could stop the beeping”
And with one enthusiastic thrust-
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
-flat line
Copyright 2011 by Robert Paul Jackson
While texting and driving I swerved off the road. Looking up I got scared and over corrected. I drove off the other side of the freeway and hit a large sign it pushed my car to the side and it flipped over full rotation back onto the tires. Almost everything inside my care was laying all over the side of the road adrenaline from the shock of the accident mad it so I couldn’t felt anything. I’m lucky to be alive.
Georgetown Township, MI —
As they marked their seven-month anniversary with a special dinner on Monday, Kelsey Loszewski didn’t know it would be the last meal she would share with boyfriend Eric Helm.
On his way to pick up Loszewski for school Tuesday morning, Helm, 18, died in a head-on traffic crash in Georgetown Township.
“He came over and made me lasagne — it was just yesterday,” Loszewski said through tears, hours after learning of Helm’s death Tuesday. “He was the first person I really loved. He was kind and caring and had a big heart.”
Helm was driving west on Port Sheldon Road around 7:20 a.m. when he crossed the center line into eastbound traffic and was struck head-on, Sgt. Kevin Allman of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office said. The crash occurred near Brookfield Avenue not far from Hudsonville’s Alward Elementary.
Police said Helm crossed the center line as he continued straight in a curved portion of the roadway. He was struck in the far-right lane in eastbound Port Sheldon Road, a road that spans five lanes at the site of the crash.
Helm was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, Allman said.
The driver of the vehicle that struck Helm — 46-year-old William Brouwer of Hudsonville — was injured but listed in stable condition on Tuesday.
Helm and Loszewski were both seniors at Jenison High School, where they met in a choir class about a year ago, Loszewski said. Outside the choir room, he liked classic rock and heavy metal, she said.
Helm was a “lifer” in the Jenison Public School system, Superintendent Tom TenBrink said, having also attended Rosewood Elementary and the district’s junior high school.
Helm’s younger brother Nathan is a ninth-grader at the high school and another brother, Jacob, is a sixth-grader at Rosewood.
“He was the type of man who was very charismatic,” TenBrink said. “He would light up a room. When he was missing, the other students would know he wasn’t there.”
Helm tutored sixth graders at Rosewood Elementary, an activity he took much pride in doing, his girlfriend said.
“He liked kids a lot. He had such a good time helping them,” Loszewski said.
Helm was looking forward to attending college at Western Michigan University or Ferris State University. He was interested in studying computers, Loszewski said.
He was also serious about his faith, attending services at Jenison Christian Church every Sunday and participating in a church youth group, she said.
At Jenison High School Tuesday, TenBrink said, couselors were helping grieving students who were close to Helm.
“They’re shocked. They’re anguished. They’re struggling with the loss of a classmate,” TenBrink said of the students, adding, “I know that Jenison is a very tight-knit community and they’re going to rally around this family.”
I would like to tell my story about my daughter who was killed about 5 months ago in Orange County, Calif. She was hit at 70mph in the number 1 lane while coming to a complete stop in traffic. I receive the CHP report about a month ago and although this lady was the cause of the accident, I was informed by the officer, it hard to prove she was texting (Her Cell Phone was in Use). Unless there was an eye witness, nothing can be done. This lady was found neglient and the CHP has recommended the OC DA office file vech manslaughter charges on this lady. She stated in the report she was looking straight out the front windshield when she hit my daughter. To me that seems impossible, something distracted her and she won’t admit it. Look on the internet for Deanna Mauer. 23 year old and just graduated from San Jose State, top softball pitcher and a bright future ahead of her. We are completely devistated at our loss. No, insurance company or anyone has contacted us. Still waiting for Geico (her insurance Co) to talk. The cell phone texting and talking while driving needs to stop. It needs to be a felony if you kill people…it such a sensless death.
My partner and I are in a student lead chapter through our high school, Grants Pass High School, called Future Business Leaders of America. Yearly, we compete on a state level and the project assigned to us is called Business Presentation. This year the Business Presentation is explaining thoroughly the dangers of texting while driving. We would like to take our project a step further and raise awareness throughout our high school. We plan to have an assembly in front of all of the students and staff where they can sign a pledge to not text while drive. To further explain what can come from texting while driving we would like to provide real life events, this is where we think you can help us. We were thinking that it would be best if we could get a voice recording of what happened to your loved one and then some pictures to better reiterate the possibilities of fatality coming along with texting while driving. We really look forward to getting into contact with you.
Fortunately, my story does not end with someone being killed. My 20 year old daughter was blessed to survive her accident. She escaped with only a broken leg (she will have a rod in her leg forever).
We live in Texas but the accident occurred in Norman, Oklahoma where she is a student at OU. Oklahoma’s legislation definitely lacks. The texter was in a school zone at the time. It is troublesome to think what might have happened had a child been in a crosswalk.
Oddly enough it was the fact that my daughter was on her motorcycle that saved her from having more injuries. Had she been at the same intersection as a pedestrian, she would have only been wearing shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops. In her case, however, she was covered head to toe because she was on her motorcycle. I hate to think what could have happened and thank God daily. My heart goes out to all who have lost loved ones due to a texting driver.