On the first of December in 2010, two-year-old Calli Ann Murray was walking home with her mom, Ling, from a playdate at a local park. Ling dutifully held her little daughter’s hand as they crossed the intersection when, out of the blue, a car came barreling down the street, fatally hitting the two pedestrians.
Ling survived the accident, but her little angel’s little body was too fragile to sustain the injuries of the mishap. Later investigation found that the young driver was texting while on the wheels.
In an earlier incident on September 22, 2006, a storm was in full bloom. Reggie Shaw, then 19, decided he was going to have to drive carefully to avoid losing traction on the road—a pretty smart decision to make on a dangerous day, save for the fact that Reggie instead decided to text.
His distracted maneuvering caused another car to spin out of control, killing 38-year-old James Furfaro and 50-year-old Keith P. Odell, both scientists. Reggie’s case later cemented the passing of the toughest law against texting while driving in the whole of the US.
Little Calli’s and Reggie’s cases were tragic. But the gravity is exemplified by the fact that thousands of mothers and family members lose their loved ones every year due to this fatal driver error.
The following infographic digs out the facts to bring to the fore the real dangers of distracted driving and what you, as a driver, can do to break the habit and help keep the road a safer place.
