PA Woman Campaigns Against Texting While Driving

Even though Pennsylvania just enacted its anti-texting law, Jacy Good won’t stop spreading the word that texting and driving is a deadly combination.  The Pennsylvania woman knows firsthand the devastation a distracted driver can cause.  She is using her personal tragedy to urge Americans to put down their phones when driving.

Jacy and her parents were driving home after Jacy’s graduation ceremony at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA in May 2008, when an 18-year-old driver who was talking on his cellphone ran a red light, according to an article in the Reading Eagle.  A tractor trailer had to swerve to avoid the teen, but then slammed head-on into Good’s car.  Jacy’s parents both died instantly.  Jacy ended up in the hospital with just a 10 percent chance of surviving. Jacy did survive, and she wants to make sure no one else suffers the way she has.

Since the accident, Jacy has devoted her life to raising awareness about the dangers of cell phone use behind the wheel, and she serves as one of the NHTSA’s “Faces of Distracted Driving” spokespersons.

“Distracted driving has caused so much physical and emotional pain in my life, and I never want anyone to go through what I’ve been through.  Deaths and injuries from cell phone use behind the wheel are senseless and one hundred percent preventable,” said Good.

The Herald-Mail reports that Jacy had a national stage when she appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2010.

“There’s just nothing that can possibly be that important that, everyone on the road around you, that you have to take their lives at risk,” she told Oprah.

Good also travels the country taking her story to high schools in an effort to encourage teenagers to change their behavior. In a recent stop at Dobbs Ferry High School in Dobbs Ferry, NY, one student said, “Definitely changes my mind now that it’s put into a real life situation.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reports there were 13,806 distracted driver-related crashes in 2010.  There were sixty-five fatalities in those crashes.

The NHTSA has declared April as National Distracted Driving Month and is focusing its efforts on getting drivers to put their cell phones down when driving.  The campaign encourages all drivers to “Take the Pledge” by signing their name to the following pledge.

Distracted driving kills and injures thousands of people each year. I pledge to:

• Protect lives by never texting or talking on the phone while driving.
• Be a good passenger and speak out if the driver in my car is distracted.
• Encourage my friends and family to drive phone-free.

Our Pennsylvania car accident attorneys continue to encourage teens and their parents to follow the law and to drive safely and defensively.  We also ask all drivers to “take the pledge,” and stop texting while driving.

About Munley, Munley & Cartwright, P.C.

Munley, Munley & Cartwright, P.C., is a Pennsylvania accident and injury law firm that represents car accident victims and their families throughout the state of Pennsylvania and the Northeast, including those injured in accidents that involve speeding, distracted driving, drunk driving, fatigued driving, aggressive driving and careless driving in hazardous weather conditions. The Pennsylvania personal injury law firm’s additional practice areas include trucking accidents, motorcycle accidents, medical malpractice, defective products, toxic chemicals, workplace injuries, nursing home litigation and other serious accidents.

Munley, Munley & Cartwright, P.C., has offices throughout Pennsylvania, including Scranton, Stroudsburg, Carbondale, Plains, Hazleton and Hamlin. To contact the law firm, call (800) 318-LAW1 or use the firm’s online contact form.