Our Mission is to End Distracted Driving.
Below are articles of people who's lives were ended due to Distracted Driving
Mother of Shelby Co. teen killed in wreck on mission to stop texting and driving
by Alexander Derencz
Thursday, March 1st 2018
SHELBY COUNTY, Ala.- —
For Michelle Lunsford, what took place last Thursday has spawned her new mission. It was last Thursday that her daughter, Camryn Callaway, was driving home from her job at Mikey's Grill.
Lunsford said that these were the happiest times for her daughter, and that she was always there for anyone who needed it.
Lunsford said Camryn got off a little after 9, but instead of taking her normal route home, she took Interstate 65, which was a little out of the ordinary. Lunsford had an app on her phone that allowed her to track Camryn's car. While checking it, she started to get worried when the car icon on the screen was not moving. She eventually called her sister who said she would go check things out.
Lunsford thought her car broke down, but she would later learn far worse news. Her daughter crashed into the back of a tractor trailer while texting.
"That mistake is all it took, but I am the first person to sit here and say I was guilty of that every single day," Lunsford said. "Not anymore. This is a huge platform that God has given me now. It took away the one thing I cared about in this world and after that happened, I just looked up and said 'you've done this for a reason. I don't know what it is, but I'm open and you tell me, you show me, please, quickly because this hurts.'"
Earlier this week, Lunsford laid Camryn to rest. She said that at the service, hundreds of Camryn's Thompson High School classmates came to pay their respects. She told each student that came that Camryn was in a better place and made each student promise that they would never text and drive again.
"This is horrible," Lunsford said. "This is the worst thing I've ever been through. I'll never get her back. I'll see her again, but I'll never get her back again. I don't want anybody else to go through this."
Lunsford told ABC 33/40 that she is trying to have her daughter's car sent to Thompson High School so she could one day show the students and talk to them about the dangers of texting and driving.
by Alexander Derencz
Thursday, March 1st 2018
SHELBY COUNTY, Ala.- —
For Michelle Lunsford, what took place last Thursday has spawned her new mission. It was last Thursday that her daughter, Camryn Callaway, was driving home from her job at Mikey's Grill.
Lunsford said that these were the happiest times for her daughter, and that she was always there for anyone who needed it.
Lunsford said Camryn got off a little after 9, but instead of taking her normal route home, she took Interstate 65, which was a little out of the ordinary. Lunsford had an app on her phone that allowed her to track Camryn's car. While checking it, she started to get worried when the car icon on the screen was not moving. She eventually called her sister who said she would go check things out.
Lunsford thought her car broke down, but she would later learn far worse news. Her daughter crashed into the back of a tractor trailer while texting.
"That mistake is all it took, but I am the first person to sit here and say I was guilty of that every single day," Lunsford said. "Not anymore. This is a huge platform that God has given me now. It took away the one thing I cared about in this world and after that happened, I just looked up and said 'you've done this for a reason. I don't know what it is, but I'm open and you tell me, you show me, please, quickly because this hurts.'"
Earlier this week, Lunsford laid Camryn to rest. She said that at the service, hundreds of Camryn's Thompson High School classmates came to pay their respects. She told each student that came that Camryn was in a better place and made each student promise that they would never text and drive again.
"This is horrible," Lunsford said. "This is the worst thing I've ever been through. I'll never get her back. I'll see her again, but I'll never get her back again. I don't want anybody else to go through this."
Lunsford told ABC 33/40 that she is trying to have her daughter's car sent to Thompson High School so she could one day show the students and talk to them about the dangers of texting and driving.
Lawyer: Texting teen driver who killed man & daughter likely won't do time
Carlee Bollig is being sentenced as a juvenile; prison likely to be stayed.
By Paul Walsh Star Tribune
A teenage driver has a chance to avoid prison for killing a motorist and his 10-year-old daughter when she ran a red light while texting : after defying the pleas of a passenger to pay attention — and rammed her pickup truck into a van in Sherburne County.
Carlee R. Bollig, 17, of Little Falls, Minn., pleaded guilty last week to two counts of criminal-vehicular homicide in the July 21 crash that killed Charles P. Maurer, 54, of Becker, and his daughter Cassy.
Once authorities had exposed as a lie the initial explanation that her boyfriend had been driving, Bollig was charged by juvenile petition in October. She will be sentenced on March 4.
Chief Deputy County Attorney Samuel Wertheimer said this week that he’s waiting for county probation officials to prepare a presentencing report before revealing “any thoughts on what an appropriate sentence would be.”
Bollig’s attorney said Wednesday that he anticipates that his client will be given a prison sentence of four to five years, but the term will be stayed because she was charged as a juvenile and will remain stayed as long as she follows all the terms of her “closely supervised” probation.
“Prison will be hanging over her head” until she is 21, said defense attorney Tom Richards. “The critical part is the next [few] years for her. Obviously, she is distraught and very sorry for the family.”
Terms of her probation will include a host of requirements, Richards said, including continuing her work toward high school graduation, undergoing psychological and substance-abuse assessments and “maybe vocational training, things to help her become a viable member of society.”
Carlee Bollig is being sentenced as a juvenile; prison likely to be stayed.
By Paul Walsh Star Tribune
A teenage driver has a chance to avoid prison for killing a motorist and his 10-year-old daughter when she ran a red light while texting : after defying the pleas of a passenger to pay attention — and rammed her pickup truck into a van in Sherburne County.
Carlee R. Bollig, 17, of Little Falls, Minn., pleaded guilty last week to two counts of criminal-vehicular homicide in the July 21 crash that killed Charles P. Maurer, 54, of Becker, and his daughter Cassy.
Once authorities had exposed as a lie the initial explanation that her boyfriend had been driving, Bollig was charged by juvenile petition in October. She will be sentenced on March 4.
Chief Deputy County Attorney Samuel Wertheimer said this week that he’s waiting for county probation officials to prepare a presentencing report before revealing “any thoughts on what an appropriate sentence would be.”
Bollig’s attorney said Wednesday that he anticipates that his client will be given a prison sentence of four to five years, but the term will be stayed because she was charged as a juvenile and will remain stayed as long as she follows all the terms of her “closely supervised” probation.
“Prison will be hanging over her head” until she is 21, said defense attorney Tom Richards. “The critical part is the next [few] years for her. Obviously, she is distraught and very sorry for the family.”
Terms of her probation will include a host of requirements, Richards said, including continuing her work toward high school graduation, undergoing psychological and substance-abuse assessments and “maybe vocational training, things to help her become a viable member of society.”
Kansas teen’s death sheds light on danger of texting while driving
BY MARA ROSE WILLIAMS
OCTOBER 23, 2012 06:50 AM, UPDATED JUNE 12, 2013 10:11 AM
The last thing Ashley Umscheid did before her pickup flipped end over end, throwing her into a ditch, was tap a single letter on her phone: K.
Short for OK, it was a reply to a text from her older sister on that spring day in 2009.
Amanda Umscheid didn’t receive the message, and she never got to talk to Ashley again. The 19-year-old Kansas State University student died a few days later from injuries she suffered in the wreck near Manhattan.
Amanda Umscheid, 29, has spent much of the three years since telling her sister’s story. She wants teens to understand that texting is not worth their life, or the anguish that family and friends go through after losing a loved one.“It’s hard to explain what it’s like to lose a sister or your daughter,” she said. “The text can wait.”
Her message has been a part of television and radio commercials, billboards, flyers and pamphlets circulated across the country. She has been traveling from her home in Paxico as often as three times a month to high schools and colleges in Colorado, Wisconsin and New York to speak about the dangers of texting while driving.
“Having a Highway Patrol officer write in a police report that a text message sent at 12:04 p.m. is the reason she’s dead — knowing that you were the person she was talking to at the time she was killed --
Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/article1101374.html#storylink=cpy
BY MARA ROSE WILLIAMS
OCTOBER 23, 2012 06:50 AM, UPDATED JUNE 12, 2013 10:11 AM
The last thing Ashley Umscheid did before her pickup flipped end over end, throwing her into a ditch, was tap a single letter on her phone: K.
Short for OK, it was a reply to a text from her older sister on that spring day in 2009.
Amanda Umscheid didn’t receive the message, and she never got to talk to Ashley again. The 19-year-old Kansas State University student died a few days later from injuries she suffered in the wreck near Manhattan.
Amanda Umscheid, 29, has spent much of the three years since telling her sister’s story. She wants teens to understand that texting is not worth their life, or the anguish that family and friends go through after losing a loved one.“It’s hard to explain what it’s like to lose a sister or your daughter,” she said. “The text can wait.”
Her message has been a part of television and radio commercials, billboards, flyers and pamphlets circulated across the country. She has been traveling from her home in Paxico as often as three times a month to high schools and colleges in Colorado, Wisconsin and New York to speak about the dangers of texting while driving.
“Having a Highway Patrol officer write in a police report that a text message sent at 12:04 p.m. is the reason she’s dead — knowing that you were the person she was talking to at the time she was killed --
Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/article1101374.html#storylink=cpy