Marion high school students advocate for hands-free driving bill

DES MOINES - Holly Baird stood before the TV cameras Wednesday morning at the State Capitol trying to hold back tears.

'We are here because our friends were killed in a tragic accident while their mother and two sisters were rushed to (University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics),” the Linn-Mar High School junior said. 'It was caused by reckless driving, specifically texting and driving.”

Baird was referring to a November accident that killed Selena Apodaca, 16, and Isabella Severson, 13. The girls were in the car with their mother, Jennifer Perez, and two sisters when a truck rear-ended them on County Home Road in rural Linn County, pushing their car into another vehicle in front of them.

The driver of the truck that struck their car, Keith Furne of Cedar Rapids, was charged a week ago with two counts of homicide by vehicle and one count of reckless driving resulting in serious injury.

Baird, along with 15 of her Linn-Mar classmates, took their grief and turned it into action. They advocated for a hands-free driving bill that has been introduced that would make it a primary offense to use a hand-held electronic communications device while operating a motor vehicle.

Similar legislation has been passed in 15 states, and the Iowa bill would impose a fine and moving violation.

The students along with other families who lost loved ones to distracted drivers on their phones spoke at a news conference Wednesday along with Gov. Terry Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Maj. John Godar of the Iowa Sheriffs and Deputies Association and AT&T's Dustin Blythe.

Since 2010, the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities caused by distracted-by-phone drivers has sharply risen, according to Iowa Department of Transportation data:

l Crashes from 659 to 1,100

l Injuries from 288 to 601

l Fatalities from 4 to 14.

'When I was governor before, we were just introducing child seats in cars,” said Branstad, who tasked legislators with coming up with a solution to these increases during his Condition of the State address in January. 'And now all of my grandchildren have their own seats to protect their safety. We've come a long way.”

But safety laws have not kept up with technology, Branstad said, adding it's important for legislators to look beyond texting, which is one of many distractions a cellphone can create. There's also email, Facebook and countless apps that can take a driver's eyes off the road and hands off the wheel.

AT&T reports that seven of every 10 people engage in smartphone use while driving, while another 62 percent keep their phones within easy reach while driving.

'The last thing I ever thought would happen in my life was to have to find her on the side of the road like I did,” said Darrel Harken, who lost his daughter Grace.

Grace was biking along Highway 218, east of Osage, in July 2015 when she was hit from behind by a distracted driver.

'She was already gone by the time I got there,” he said during the news conference. 'But if she could ask God himself for someone to go in order to save other people, she'd say, ‘I'll go.'

'Texting and driving is foolishness, it kills people and can be prevented. I ask today that we all work together as Iowans to correct this.”

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