TxDOT to host campaign at TAMUK for National Distracted Driving Awareness Month
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and TxDOT is reminding all Texans to put their phones down and give driving their full attention whenever they are behind the wheel with its Talk. Text. Crash. campaign.
The campaign will stop from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Texas A&M University-Kingsville's Memorial Student Union Building-Pavilion Wednesday, April 10.
The Talk. Text. Crash. campaign travels around the Lone Star State with an interactive exhibit featuring a distracted driving simulator that allows participants to experience the dangers of inattentive driving firsthand.
The campaign is a key component of #EndTheStreakTX, a social media and word-of-mouth effort encouraging drivers to make safer choices while behind the wheel to help end the streak of daily deaths. The last deathless day on Texas roadways was on Nov. 7, 2000.
Every year, TxDOT sends out messages during April to remind people to put their phones down.
In a release, TxDOT said there was an 18% drop in fatalities last year, but nearly 400 people died last year due to distracted driving in Texas and about 2,800 others suffered serious injuries.
Stacey Riddle, a mother from Bellaire, Texas, lost her 17- and 19-year-old daughters in 2016. The driver of the vehicle checked her cell phone and crashed head-on into an 18-wheeler on their way back home from South Padre Island.
“I keep waiting for Brianna and Jade to walk through the front door, but I know they never will again,” Riddle said in a relase. “People are constantly on their cellphones. They don’t consider that using their phones while driving can have tragic, life-changing consequences.”
Texting while driving is also a crime. If someone is caught reading, writing or sending a text while driving in Texas, they can face a fine of up to $200.
In 2023, the number of motor vehicle crashes in TxDOT's Corpus Christi District (Aransas, Bee, Goliad, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kleberg, Live Oak, Nueces, Refugio and San Patricio counties) totaled 1,239. The crashes resulted in 11 deaths and 47 serious injuries.
There were 230 traffic crashes that involved distracted driving (distraction, driver inattention or cell phone use), results in two fatalities and eight serious injuries in Corpus Christi in 2023.
TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams said any loss of life is tragic, but imagine killing or seriously injuring someone because one thought they could text and drive at the same time.
“When you’re behind the wheel, you need to be focused on only one thing: driving," Williams said in a release. "Looking at your phone, eating or adjusting your music can wait until you’re safely parked.”
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John Oliva covers entertainment and community news in South Texas. Contact him at [email protected] or X @johnpoliva.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Talk. Text. Crash. campaign to be held at TAMUK by TxDOT
