Sunday, August 29, 2010
kgill@vindy.com
Youngstown
Wendi Briggs didn’t know her husband’s second cousin, who died in a car accident two months ago. But hearing that the crash was the result of cell-phone use shocked her.
She remembered that feeling when she was given a class assignment at ETI Technical College. LaToya Littles, the instructor of Briggs’ Oral Communication class, told her students they were to give speeches. Briggs, 37 of Leavittsburg, knew which topic she would write about. It was in researching the dangers of texting while driving that she read about Oprah Winfrey’s No Text Pledge. Oprah.com features a form anyone can sign to pledge that they will stop using their phone in the car. Briggs took the pledge and asked her classmates to do the same after she gave her speech. She gained 30 to 40 signatures, but she wanted to do more. “I told my teacher I could do better than just the class,” Briggs said. So she canvassed other classes, her neighbors and local businesses. As of last week she had gathered 122 signatures.
Briggs hopes to bring awareness to the issue of texting while driving because she thinks it’s a senseless reason to injure yourself and others.
Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.