Comments on: BSU student was texting moments before fatal crash

By: Randall L. Woodruff

Randall L. Woodruff — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:05:42 +0000

I am the father of Sarah and I have absolute proof that she was not texting at any time she was traveling on I-69 the day she had her accident. She had received a text (from me) and she was at a convenience store at 12:43 p.m., 8 minutes prior to the report of the accident. She was only on the highway for 4.5 miles and at the posted speed limit of 70 mph she would have been on the highway considerably less than 4.5 minutes; therefore, there was no way she was testing when she was driving on the highway. This issue arose because the invistigating officer misread Sarah’s phone: the last text was at 12:43 and he read it as 12:48. It is certainly easy to misread a 3 for an 8, but I have her phone (which still operates and was not damaged at all in the accident) which was retrieved from her zippered purse and I have the phone record proving the phone use. SARAH WAS NOT ON THE PHONE, LET ALONE TEXTING, AT THE TIME OF HER ACCIDENT OR WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:25:52 +0000

Tina, first of all, I am so sorry for your unimaginable loss. I understand the feeling of outrage that she is being made an example of. And, you are right, there is no way of knowing if she was sending texts, or just receiving. Regardless of the cause, her death is a tragedy, and your family and her friends are suffering the heartbreak of the loss. Whether or not Sarah was texting while driving, we have all seen people texting while driving. I agree with Maxbeatty, receiving texts is just one of the many distractions that we deal with when we are behind the wheel. Whether those distractions are crying children, conversations with the people in the car, eating, etc. However, it can’t be denied that it takes focused concentration to send a text message, combined with looking at the phone screen instead of the road. If someone were surfing the web while driving, imagine the outrage. Imagine the number of people phoning 911 from their cars to report the unsafe driver. How is texting any different?

By: Tina Woodruff-Reed

Tina Woodruff-Reed — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:43:13 +0000

Sarah was a beloved member of my family!I cannot speak for my entire family I know but I am sick of all the blogs/comments made about this very tragic accident that took the life of such a wonderful caring girl! Just because it said she was receiving text messages does not mean she was looking at her phone and accepting them! No one knows what actually happened to any degree of certainty and putting all of this on the news and in the papers the day of her showing was in poor taste!! Putting it in the papers anytime is in poor taste except to report only the FACTS!!!The fact is a lovely girl was taken from us way too soon and our lives are forever changed and a void is left in our lives and our aching hearts without our sweet sarah!
Enough is enough!! Let her rest in peace!

By: @maxbeatty

@maxbeatty — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:01:57 +0000

I don’t think texting was the cause of her death. The fact she was not wearing a seat belt and was thus thrown from the car resulted in her death. Investigators said she was receiving texts, not sending texts. Should we ban cellular phones from being in cars so they can’t receive texts or calls? Shouldn’t we then force car manufacturers to stop including radios and navigation systems in new cars? Should passengers not be allowed to talk to the driver?

Distractions are a part of driving. They always have been and they always will be. Instead of banning what we can or can’t do in car, why not review the process for obtaining a license to operate a motor vehicle? Make the tests harder and training more realistic where distractions are included.

It’s a sad story, but not one that should be blamed on texting while driving.

By: Monique

Monique — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:51:08 +0000

What a terrible story. I get texts at all hours of the day, but honestly, it’s up to me to decide when to view the texts. I understand the desire to “blame” the person texting, but it was the driver’s decision to fiddle with her phone while she was behind the wheel.