An estimated 2,600 people die in America each year as a result of drivers being distracted by using cell phones. This summer, 16-year-old Forrest Cepeda of Bend apparently became one of them.
Police say Cepeda and a friend were biking along Reed Market Road on July 25 when he was struck by a pickup truck driven by Erik Conn, 28, of LaPine. According to police, Conn was trying to slow the pickup – which was towing a trailer – to avoid hitting a vehicle in front of him when he lost control and slid across the narrow shoulder into the path of the two boys.
Cepeda’s friend managed to leap out of the way. Cepeda wasn’t quick enough, or lucky enough. He was dead at the scene.
Search warrants indicate two text messages were sent from Conn’s cell phone just before Cepeda was hit. One of them was to a 28-year-old woman who was sitting in the truck right next to Conn; the other was to another women. Conn evidently is a real hard-core texter – records show he sent 30 messages the day of the fatal accident, including seven in a period of just over an hour before it.
Police have seized Conn’s truck and cell phone, as well as the cell phones belonging to the two women he texted just before the accident. Although he hasn’t been charged with any crime yet, a police affidavit indicates Conn could face charges of reckless driving, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide – none of which will bring much comfort to the family of Forrest Cepeda.
Oregon has had a law against texting or talking on a cell phone while driving since 2009. However, that law included a get-out-of-jail-free card for violators: Drivers were allowed to use their cell phones for work-related calls. Police, knowing that offenders probably would have the charge thrown out simply by testifying they were using their cells for work, were reluctant to write tickets.
This year, fortunately, the legislature passed and Gov. John Kitzhaber signed a new, tougher anti-cell phone law. The “I was using my phone for work” excuse is gone; all cell phone use while driving is now illegal, except for certain public service workers.
But the fine for talking or texting while driving remains ridiculously small: only $142, plus court costs. Studies have shown that a driver using a cell phone is as seriously impaired as one who’s legally drunk – and that’s true even if he’s using a hands-free device. The penalties for driving while distracted by a cell phone should be commensurate with those for DUI, including suspension and eventually loss of license.
A bill providing for suspension of the licenses of drivers caught using cell phones was introduced in 2009 but died in the House. Here’s hoping a similar measure will make it into law in the next session of the legislature.
In the meantime, here’s THE BOOT for everybody out there who’s still stupid and/or irresponsible enough to gab or text while driving. Either get shut up or get off the road. There is no excuse.
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2011.
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Every day I see numerous people either talking or texting on their phone while driving.I have to ask this…what is so important that you can’t wait till you get home,or at least pull over to answer? Is it that big a deal that you must risk your own,and MORE importantly other peoples lives to be an idiot? Everyone thinks that nothing bad will happen to them,it only takes a second. Well tell that to Forrests family and friends. Nothing in your life is more important than Life..PULL OVER AND ANSWER!
Maybe we should take this one a bit further and ban all talking in cars. maybe cars should be limited to one person so the driver can focus 100% on the road instead of talking to the passengers. using a hands free device is no different than talking to the person next to you.
Talker and txter: YOUR OBVIOUSLY A DUM ASSS IDIOT IMATURE TXTR, OR ELSE A RETURD, PROBABLY A LIL OF BOTH. AND SO IS ANYONE WHO AGREES WITH YOU…
Talking to someone in the car is as likely to cause an accident as cell phones. It happens quite often, Im sure. A couple arguing in the car, kids misbehaving in the back seat,pets riding in the drivers lap, eating, drinking coffee, smoking, changing the dial on the stereo. Any distraction is dangerous. And the punishment should be extreme. Thats the only way people will start to get a clue. Everybody thinks that they are an exception. They think they can talk or text while driving no problem. Those people are the worst. Come on folks, statistics do not discriminate and they are not based on any type of person. The studies involve all types, colors, sex and intelligence. You are not special, get over yourselves!
How about banning eating or drinking or smoking while driving… doing anything besides just driving is a distraction… Pets are even WORSE!!
How about instead of fining people for driving stupid, we start cutting off finger isntead. People would really learn their lesson if we did that!
I’m not sure jail time is really what this guy needs… What GOOD is that going to do for anyone? He messed big time. About as bad as you can. He should be mandated to do some kind of service in the name of Cepeda for the rest of his life, or be sentenced to quick and painless death if he refuses. I’m serious. Think about it.
What a tragedy. My deepest sympathies to Cepeda’s family, and all families who are affected by similar causes. I hear so often that cell phone use while driving is just as dangerous as drinking and driving. Can we have a local ordinance or do we have to wait for a state law to punish those who put everyone else at risk?
How about people on Bikes start abiding by the rules of the road!!!!!!!! Not to make an excuse for the driver but he was on the wrong side of the road. Big Riders think they own the road!!!!!!!! I ride my bike as well but, I don’t ride down the middle of the road or 3 abreast. Bike riders break the law, someone hits you and it is their fault!!!!!!!!? Take some responsibility for your own actions!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jim Johnson, your pathetic, insensitive (to put it mildly)and ignorant post needs someone to respond. He was riding off the road, not on the shoulder, on what would have been the sidewalk had it been paved. He wasn’t breaking the law.
Thank you to the Source for writing this, and pointing out the dangers of talking on the phone while driving. It doesn’t matter if you’re hands free or not, you’re utilizing too much of your brains attention maintaining a conversation with someone not in the car. People like Jim Johnson perpetuate the car bias in our society and make excuses for inattentive/bad drivers. It’s also perpetuated in the media. Read the articles on the man killed crossing the parkway. A majority of it focuses on the layout and engineering of the road, when it was a result of poor driving and having the attitude that since I’m driving, I only stop for cars in front of me and traffic signals. What percent of drivers actually know the crosswalk laws? I would guess 20-25%. The road is shared.
how’s about another story – after a week!/?
Forrest Cepeda is my baby brother and to you jim johnson your ignorant. Even if he wasn’t abiding by bike laws a comment like your should have never been said. You don’t know the details and saying that the biker should take responsibilty for his action maybe he would if was alive. But he’s not because some driver wasn’t following the law, and it was more important to text. Again to you jim johnson your an idiot and an ass.
i am so sorry