On the day Russell and Kim Hurd were planning to meet their daughter at Walt Disney World in Florida to plan her wedding, a tractor-trailer plowed into her fiance's car, ending the young woman's life at 26.
Russell Hurd told Maryland legislators yesterday that the truck driver had been distracted by text-messaging when he crashed into 10 vehicles stopped at a traffic signal. Heather Hurd and another woman were killed in the pileup near Orlando in January last year.
The lawmakers are considering legislation that would add Maryland to the still-short list of states that ban the practice of sending and receiving text messages while behind the wheel - considered by some experts to be the most dangerous and fastest-growing form of distracted driving. Maryland currently bans texting and cell-phone use only by drivers under 18.
Hurd, who lives in Abingdon in Harford County, said the 61-year-old tractor-trailer driver reported that he had been having trouble with electronic equipment in his truck. The trucker was later given a traffic ticket for careless driving.
"He was trying to send or receive a message from his company," Hurd said. "Because of texting while driving, I will never hold a grandchild born to my daughter. Because of texting while driving, I will never hear my daughter's voice or her little giggle ever again."
He was one of about a dozen witnesses testifying in support of several bills intended to curb the use of cell phones and text-messaging devices while driving.
The General Assembly is considering a menu of bills dealing specifically with texting or cell-phone use and, more generally, with distracted driving. While a ban on hand-held cell phone use by drivers is still considered a long shot, leading lawmakers said there is a growing consensus that the state needs to address text-messaging behind the wheel - an increasingly popular practice among younger drivers.
The Senate passed a watered-down version of a texting ban last year, but the legislation didn't get through the House of Delegates.
This year, Del. Maggie McIntosh, who chairs the House committee with jurisdiction over the issue, has said she intends to deal with the issues of texting and cell phones in some form during the 90-day session. The Baltimore Democrat said the various proposals will be referred to a House Environmental Affairs Committee work group to reach a consensus on an approach.
