SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)—Grieving families made their way to the nation’s capital on Tuesday, hoping to end distracted driving. They met with Washington, D.C. lawmakers to raise awareness of the issue and humanize the statistics.
“So many times we look at numbers at how many people were affected by these distracted drivers. We want a face to be put aside this number,” expressed one mother from Louisiana, Suzanne Salter, who lost her daughter Nicole Salter the day after Christmas 2014 due to a driver who was texting.
Nicole Salter’s daughter, Lona Heine, also joined Suzanne Salter in D.C., where they met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Louisiana Senators Cassidy and Kennedy.
“It was truly an honor to go speak with Speaker Mike Johnson’s office and tell him about my Mom and how we can prevent future crashes,” said Lona Heine.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, approximately 42,000 lives are lost to road crashes in the U.S. annually.
When asked what her message to drivers is, Heine responded, “There’s so many distractions when you’re driving. There’s other people that you have to look out for, pedestrians, bikers. Adding your phone to that equation is just one more thing that’s getting in the way of you getting from point A to point B safely.”
She continued, “So if that’s you putting it in the cup holder, putting it in your glove box, throwing it in the back of your seat, do something with it that’s not going to distract you.”