April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Every day, at least nine Americans die and 100 are injured in distracted driving crashes.
Starting tomorrow at 8:00am, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office will suspend normal Facebook activity. Instead of our regular content, we will provide a voice to a victim of a fictionalized fatal distracted driving crash. Readers can follow along on our website (http://www.co.marion.or.us/SO/Pages/ItJustTakesOnce.aspx) or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MCSOInTheKnow/) as we share Brandon’s story. Facebook posts in Brandon’s “voice,” along with the “voice” of first responders and surviving family members will be published through the event. The event will last for 5 hours and 49 minutes, the average time MCSO spends on the scene of a fatal crash.
We hope to provide a unique and difficult preview into what a fatal accident looks like from the perspective of those who experience it. While Brandon’s story is fictionalized, tragically 10 real people have died on Marion County roadways so far in 2019 alone, and we’re barely ¼ of the way into the year. When it comes to Distracted Driving, please remember that #ItJustTakesOnce.
