Heaven Can Wait … And So Can That Text

Sometimes, it takes hearing a mom’s pain before a teen can pay attention.
Recently, local mom Latonia Wine told students at West Ashley High School the pain she feels after her 29-year-old daughter died while using a cellphone and driving.
Her daughter had been trying to make a quick call at a North Charleston intersection and took her eyes off the road long enough for tractor-trailer to plow into her car.
And then she was gone, and Wine’s pain began. It didn’t help to find out her daughter died with the cellphone still stuck to her face.
Wine’s presentation was part of a combined effort to get kids off the phone while they are behind the wheel called “W8 2 TXT.”
WAHS got enough signatures and became involved enough in the program that it recently won a regional competition and will receive 1,000 sandwiches from local Subway restaurants for lunch in the coming weeks.
W8 2 TXT, which uses commonly used texting abbreviations in its name to help make its point, a joint initiative between Subway, the S.C. Department of Public Safety, created in honor of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
SCDPS reported that automobile crashes were the leading cause of deaths for teen drivers.
While teen driver deaths are down across the state, according to one insurance website, teen drivers are 124 percent more likely to die behind the wheel than an adult driver in South Carolina.