MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - April is distracted driving awareness month, and a mother from Alabaster hopes her daughter's story will convince you to keep both eyes on the road at all times.
“I knew she was a good driver, but you don't have to be a bad driver to make a wrong choice,” Michelle Lunsford said about her daughter Camryn Callaway, who typically did all the right things behind the wheel.
On Feb. 22, 26 days before her 18th birthday, Camryn was on her way home from work, she was on I-65 south, when she stopped for good.
“She left a few minutes after nine and started heading home,” Lunsford said she used an app on her phone to keep up with Camryn’s progress. “Until about the tank farm exit and her car didn't move anymore,”
Police confirmed texting was involved.
“Very out of character for her,” said Lunsford. “I was the one that was texting, I was doing all the things I didn't need to be doing, and she would fuss at me, 'mom give me the phone and let me text',
“It was a distraction that she allowed,” said Lunsford. “She was going 40 miles an hour, so she was not speeding, and she went under a tractor-trailer.”
It’s a distraction millions of other drivers ADMIT they allow on a regular basis.
“We did a survey not too long ago and found that 97 % of the people we talked to thought that texting and driving was either a serious or very serious threat on the highway, yet 45 percent of those same people admitted to doing it in the last 30 days,” explained Clay Ingram with AAA Alabama.
AAA launched a new campaign "Don't Drive Intoxicated - Don't Drive Intexticated". The goal is to make texting and driving as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving.
“It's equally dangerous, it's right there on that same level as drinking and driving,” Ingram said.
Lunsford urged, “Adults first, be a role model to your kids.” Understand that multi-tasking is a myth, and the consequences are catastrophic.
“To go into a room full of caskets and pick out the color of the casket you're going to bury your child in, and go through hundreds of pictures and decide which ones you're going to put on display at her wake and her funeral,” Lunsford described what her family has experienced over the last two months. “You know, it's kind of hard to sing happy birthday to somebody that's not there. And I know there are a lot of firsts coming up, she was supposed to graduate.
“Your life is so much more important than that phone. Put it down. Get where you're going safely,” Lunsford pleaded.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - distracted driving kills an average of nine people and injures one thousand more every day.
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