Texas A & M Student to pay $22 million because of Texting While Driving Accident
Monday, March 22nd, 2010 | posted by: Admin
Texting while driving can have serious consequences. There have been studies conducted showing that texting while driving is as dangerous as driving drunk, and as a result, States are passing legislation banning drivers from texting on the road. Unfortunately, drivers continue to text and, as a student from Texas A & M University found out, the consequences can be deadly and long-lasting.
According to an article in Insurance Journal, a jury ordered Reed Vestal to pay $22 million in damages after proving that he was texting while driving and caused a deadly wreck.
The accident occured November 2007 while the victim, Megan Small of Houston, was on her way to Waco, Tx. Megan Small was a senior at Baylor University. According to what the investigation indicated, Vestal sent and received 15 text messages and made seven calls in the 45 minutes before the wreck. Vestal’s vehicle crossed the centerline and struck Small’s vehicle head-on near Calvert, Tx.
Small’s family will share the damages with her friend, Laura Gleffe, who was driving another car that rolled into the crash. Small family attorney says that Vestal declared bankruptcy prior to the civil trial in Franklin, Tx.
It is a very sad story, but we can and need to learn from it. In a culture where speed and constant communication is valued, waiting until you finished driving to text can be the difference between life and death
