News

Brown Family Shares Don't Text & Drive Message

UPPER SANDUSKY---Commercial Savings Bank was proud to help sponsor a visit by the Alex Brown family from Wellman, TX, to area schools.   Alex Brown was a 17-year-old high school senior who was killed on her way to school on November 10, 2009, because she was texting and driving.  She lost control of her pickup truck and it went off the roadway, ejecting her from the vehicle and eventually rolling on top of her 110-pound frame.  She was not wearing her seat belt.

Mother Jeanne Brown and her 14-year-old daughter Katrina visited our area the week of September 17th and shared their message with nearly 3,000 high school and college-aged students.  Presentations took place at The University of Findlay (which included Hancock County high school students), Marion Harding High School, Mohawk High School and Upper Sandusky High School.

During the assemblies, Jeanne said she was not there to tell the students to not text and drive, but to make them aware of the dangers, so they can make informed choices.  Drivers who talk on their cell phones are 4 times as likely to be involved in an accident...the same as a legally drunk driver.  Drivers who text and drive are 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident.    Eleven teenagers die each day in traffic fatalities.

Jeanne shared several apps that are available for download that prohibit texting and driving: www.phoneguard.com; www.TextToggle.com; and www.DriveSafe.ly.  These applications either shut down the ability to text while the vehicle is in operation or read the messages aloud to the driver of the car.  

For more information on the Brown family, visit www.rememberalexbrown.org.

(Pictured above Upper Sandusky Branch Manager Sarah Johnson with Jeanne Brown and daughter, Katrina, at the Upper Sandusky High School events.  The photo below shows a 10' banner that contains more than 1,000 signatures of Hancock County and University of Findlay students who took the pledge to not text and drive.)