Texting and driving is a major problem that is plaguing the youth in this country.  Teen drivers often fail to recognize the dangers of texting and driving and will participate in this behavior.  Recently, a Texas jury ordered a student to pay nearly $22 million in damages in a wrongful death suit. Jason Reed Vestal had been involved in a car accident that claimed the life of another student.  His cell phone records indicated that in the 45 minutes he was driving prior to the fatal crash, he made seven phone calls and sent and received 15 text messages.

The Texas texting-related crash is not an isolated case.  In an effort to draw awareness to teens regarding the dangers of texting and driving, one of my mastermind members, Seattle car accident lawyer Jason Epstein, created Teens Against Distracted Driving (TADD).  According to TADD’s website, Jason started this organization “to encourage and promote safe driving practices by everyone, but especially our youngest drivers, who are also the ones most likely to text while driving.”  The website goes on to make a powerful statement, “we have to save our kids from the epidemic of texting while driving.”

Through TADD, teens have the opportunity to make a pledge to completely stop texting and using their cell phones while driving.  They can also obtain orange bracelets showing that they have made this commitment.

I firmly believe in Jason’s efforts and am sponsoring TADD.  You can check out the website here: http://www.teensagainstdistracteddriving.com/.