Another North Carolina teenager has tragically died as a result of texting while driving. WITN news just reported that yesterday afternoon at 3:42pm, Sarah Edwards appears to have glanced down at her cell phone to read a text message. That distraction caused her Honda Accord to drift across the yellow line into the on-coming lane where it struck the rear tandems of a tractor-trailer logging truck. She died instantly. The collision occurred on Chandler Road in Beaufort County. Her cell phone records show that she read a text message one minute before the first of several 911 calls were placed reporting the collision.
Ms. Edwards, 18 of Chocowinity, was a senior at Southside High School in Washington. Her funeral is this Saturday at 11 a.m. at Pamlico Memorial Gardens in Washington.
Troopers say that the truck driver said it looked like Ms. Edwards’ head was down as she came into his lane. He tried avoiding the crash, but there was not enough time. Another witness from the side of the road told Troopers it looked like she was using her phone. State Troopers found pieces of Ms. Edwards’ cell phone in her vehicle.
The dangers of texting while driving have been widely reported by the national media, and this author has written about both the dangers and some of the solutions for parents of teens who text and drive, but unfortunately, many teenagers still feel invincible and take the approach that “it can’t happen to me.” This cavalier attitude is why teenagers continue to die on a regular basis from texting while driving.
I have previously written about cell phone applications that will disable a phone if it is being used in a moving car. There are other solutions too. Click here to read about some of the more successful ways to stop texting while driving.
Davis Law Group represents those who suffer serious injury or wrongful death as the result of the carelessness or negligence of others.