Crash victim: distracted driving a 'prescription for tragedy'

Troopers are focusing attention on drivers that aren’t focused on the road.

The Highway Patrol is conducting a two-day distracted driving campaign beginning Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Troopers will be focusing their attention on I-95 from the Virginia State Line to Johnston County, I-85 in Durham County and I-40 in the counties of Johnston, Wake and Durham.

“The ultimate goal here is not necessarily enforcement, but it’s also to educate the public to take that minute to stop and say, ‘You know what, I shouldn’t be doing a particular item when I’m in the car. I should be focused on one thing and that one thing is to operate that motor vehicle,” said Sgt. Jeff Gordon, spokesman for the North Carolina Highway Patrol.

According to the agency, in 2009, 5,474 people were killed in the United States in crashes involving driver distraction, and an estimated 448,000 were injured.

Krista Slough is on a campaign of her own, fighting against distracted driving since a car hit her in Sept. 2010.

"I was unconscious,” she said.

While Slough has no memory of the car hitting her while she walked to class in Chapel Hill, she lives with the effects.

"I have chronic headaches and fatigue and trouble speaking. I'm in speech therapy right now,” she said.

Witnesses said the driver was using a phone, though that was never confirmed.

No matter the cause, it prompted Slough’s mission against distracted driving.

"Putting on makeup or changing the radio is not worth a life. It's a prescription for tragedy and a lot of people say, ‘just drive, don't die,’ she said.

She testified to state legislators last year about banning cell phone use. She’s also been active in efforts to outlaw cell phones while driving in Chapel Hill.

A public hearing in the town is scheduled for Feb. 20.

She’s also urging people to come test out a cell phone driving simulator at Fetzer Hall lobb on UNC’s campus on Wednesday, Feb. 15 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

"I'm very careful about changing the radio and I used to eat all the time in the car and do everything in the car and not pay attention. It seemed more like a time I could make phone calls and catch up on things and now I definitely understand the possible repercussions,” she said.

Teen drivers are more likely than any other age group to be involved in a fatal crash involving distraction, according to the Highway Patrol.

In 2009, 16 percent of teen drivers involved in a fatal crash were reported to have been distracted, the agency said.

Last year, the NC Department of Transportation sat down with a focus group of teenagers. They admitted they knew the dangers of things like texting and driving, but they did it anyway. They were more likely to stop if they heard emotional stories, but that was only temporary. They need re-enforcement, according to the DOT.

Tracy Stephenson of Garner came up with a type of re-enforcement.

Two years ago she put her phone number on the back of her teen daughter’s car, with the idea that someone would call if her daughter was driving poorly or had any problems.

“I thought, this worked for my daughter, let’s see what we can do for others. Let those parents feel at ease when they hand those car keys over,” she said.

Two months ago she launched howsmyteendrivingnc.com

“I think the teens knowing this decal is on the back of their car, they're going to know that someone's always watching them and they''ll pay more attention to everything that they're doing. Playing with the radio, texting, dialing that phone when they shouldn't,” she said.

While Stephenson charges about $15 per decal, she said after covering overhead and supplies, a percentage of sales goes into a fund in which she hopes to help pay for teens’ insurance and driving school costs.