Don’t text and drive.
Pull over to make that cell phone call.
You have one job when you’re behind the wheel: Driving!
I occasionally have folks in court charged with inattentive
driving. I don’t recall handling a
texting while driving case, but some of the inattentive driving cases bring
back sad and painful memories. I
occasionally share my story with people who appear before me. Especially if they are charged with failing
to stop at a stop sign. Especially if
they think it’s not a big deal.
I tell them the story of Denise and Nathan. And then I tell them the story of Sara.
It was a time before text messages, before i-phones, even
before cell phones. The year before I
was appointed to be a judge, Denise was my legal secretary. She not only was a first rate assistant, but
her family and mine became quite close friends.
My daughters did summer day care for her children.
One Sunday, Denise and her husband and their children,
Nathan, age 5 and Sara, age 8, were on their way to meet family for lunch when
a car blew through a stop sign and t-boned their car, killing Denise and
Nathan.
After the accident, Sara would often come from her house the
two blocks away to help my wife make cookies, or decorate for holidays or just hang
out.
Three years, three months and three weeks after Denies and
Nathan were killed in the car accident, Sara was riding with her cousin,
passing through the very same intersection when a car blew the very same stop
sign and t-boned the car, killing Sara.
There is a monument erected at that intersection now. Two, actually, one on either side of the
highway. Each is about eight feet high,
a tube about 18 inches in diameter, painted bright yellow. At the top of each is a flashing red light,
positioned right above the stop sign.
One last chance to catch the attention of a driver who may not have seen
the stop sign as he approaches the intersection at highway speed.
So, when a person appears before me on charges of failing to
stop at a stop sign, and they give me the impression that they don’t think it’s
a big deal, I tell them about Denise and Nathan and Sara and explain why, to
me, it is a big deal.
And then I assess the normal fine for driving through a stop
sign.
