My press conference in Frankfort

Hello all,

Last week I was asked to speak at a press conference held by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. I gave a presentation about my story and experiences from texting and driving to my fellow Kentuckians. It was nice knowing I was giving back to my community and hopefully changing perspectives on the dangers of distracted driving.

Also at the press conference, there was a distracted driving simulator. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s like a car video game, except no racing. You are in a driver’s seat with a steering wheel, break and gas pedals, everything a basic car would need to drive. In front of you are three large screens where you can pick scenery to drive. While you are driving, the highway safety control stands behind you, texting with you, seeing how you are able to drive while texting. At the end of the drive, you can watch a video of how you drove, and the results are extremely realistic.

Before and after the press conference, I was interviewed by several state TV and radio stations. I was so excited to hear I was on NPR because that is one of my favorite stations to listen to in the car. It is weird being in front of all these cameras, but it didn’t seem to bother me.

After the press conference was over, we were given a tour of the Kentucky department of transportation government building. I was very impressed by how big it was and also how many different jobs you can do at the cabinet. We toured the War Room, and got to visit the Homeland Security department too.

This totally inspired me to work for a department of transportation in the future. I hope Kentucky laws are passed to ban texting and driving, and hopefully one day make it a national law.

What do you think about anti-texting laws? Do you think it will help prevent fewer accidents? Don’t hesitate to comment below!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Frankfort, KY... Here I come!

Hey guys,

Late last week I was asked to speak in Frankfort, KY for the transportation cabinet of Kentucky press conference. During this conference, I will be speaking to many people including the transportation cabinet of Kentucky, police officers, and local high school students. I want to ensure that after I give my presentation that people have a greater sense of the dangers of texting while driving. I have prepared a PowerPoint to accompany my presentation. I want everyone to visually see what impacted me, hoping that it impacts them as well.

The main ideas I want to communicate

- the safety issues involved with phone use while driving
- my ideas on how to alleviate the growing distracted driving problems
- how to raise teen awareness of the issue
- how my own experience negatively impacted my life


I have lived through a terrible accident that resulted from me making a poor choice, and I want to use my second chance to spread awareness of the dangers of distracted driving. My experience has opened my eyes to the real problem and I am trying to help fix it. The ultimate goal of my speech is to encourage laws to be passed which would make cell phone use in the car illegal. I am sure not everyone would be excited about the prospect of more strict driving laws; however I think these laws are important to ensure the safety of everyone. I just want to get my story out there for everyone to hear and understand, so maybe when they pick up their phone while driving, they second think, and maybe save a life.

I leave tomorrow morning, wish me luck!

xoxoxoxo

Cool news!

I have been very busy these last few days with school, homework, and my job. I wanted to give a quick shout out to a competition the NYOS and National Road Safety Foundation has put together for young drivers. They announced this contest last week at the Distracted Driving Summit I attended in DC.

Long story short, this competition is for a high school students who can come up with the best ideas for a PSA (public service announcement) to alert others about the dangers of using the phone behind the wheel. You can find the information by going to www.drivetolife.com.

I think it's really important for high school kids to be creative in a positive way. Take advantage of this incredible opportunity!

I am so tired right now and have an early day ahead of me tomorrow. I promise to have more up soon - be safe!

How did I get in Seventeen?

I’ve received a lot of questions lately on how I actually got into Seventeen magazine. Many people assume I submitted my story and they chose mine, which is not what happened.

One night as I was getting ready for bed, I checked my facebook and noticed I had a message from someone I didn’t know. I checked the message and as I started reading, this is what it said:

---
Hey, Nicole--

I'm Jess, one of the editors at Seventeen Magazine in NY. I know it may seem sketchy to get a message from someone claiming to work at Seventeen, but I promise I'm legit--you can see my name and articles in any issue of the magazine.

Anyway, I'm writing an article about driving-while-texting, and I'm looking to interview a girl (over the phone) who totaled her car driving-while-texting--would you be interested in finding out more about my article, so that you can decide if you'd want to be interviewed for it?

If so, please just let me know the best phone # to reach you at, and I'll give you a call asap.

I'll hope to hear from you as soon as possible (unfortunately, I'm on a tight deadline), and I appreciate you considering my message.

Thanks a lot,
Jess
---

After reading this message, I totally thought it was a scam. I thought, there is no way someone found out about my story from Seventeen, how did they even know how to get a hold of me?

Long story short… Seventeen magazine, from what I understand, was asking people all over facebook if anybody knew a girl my age that had totaled their car from texting. I have absolutely no idea who told them I did, but whoever did told them my name and what network to find me on.

To this day it is still a mystery who told Seventeen about me, and I wish somebody would tell me! But regardless, I got in the magazine. They loved my story because I mentioned I had an iphone, which is now one of the most popular cell phones people have. They thought it was important people understood the danger in not only cell phones, but touch screen cell phones, where you can’t feel the buttons you are pressing.

Anyways, I just thought I would confirm that I did not go to Seventeen begging them to put my story in their magazine. If it wasn’t for Seventeen, I would have never thought to get my message out to people. To be honest I didn’t think much of it until they interviewed me over the phone, that made me realize what I stupid thing I had done. After realizing how stupid, it was eye opening to how many people do text and drive.

So a huge shout out to everyone at Seventeen. I couldn’t be where I am today without you all.

Distracted Driving Summit

This past Thursday, October 1st I was in Washington DC speaking at the Distracted Driving Summit that was put on by the Department of Transportation. I was on a youth panel that was put on by Ann Shoket from Seventeen Magazine. The panel consisted of Reggie Shaw, Natalie Hayford, and me. It was a very cool and life changing experience. I have so much respect for both of them.

Reggie Shaw was 19 years old when he was driving to work in Utah; it was just like any other day. He was on his cell phone, sending and receiving texts. It had been something he was comfortable with, just like I was. All of a sudden he drifted across the center line and struck another car. There were two men in the car, and they were both killed on impact. It was very emotional hearing his story. He is such an amazing person, and never intended on hurting anybody. You can tell he carries a burden with him everywhere he goes. I know Reggie would never want to hurt anybody; he was just using his cell phone. After Reggie’s accident, Utah has one of the strictest laws in the United States when it comes to texting and driving. He now goes around to schools in Utah talking about his experience and the importance of texting and driving. Watch Reggie's emotional story, it is very life changing.

Natalie on the other hand had no emotional experience when it came to texting and driving. She realized how dangerous it was by common sense. She is very involved in her school and in her local SADD chapter (students against distracted driving). I have a lot of respect for what she does just to look out for her peers. She makes me want to take back time and get involved in my high school.

The panel was an experience in itself. I didn’t get as nervous as I expected. When you are speaking from experience, there are no lines to practice. Watch the video, it’s on the bottom right titled "Youth Panel"

Have a great day :-)

I lived through this

All blogs must start somewhere, and this is my beginning. I am Nicole Meredith, 18 years old and live in Louisville, Kentucky.

It had just turned July 4th in 2008 when I was heading to my good friend Laurens house. It was a typical summer night, just like any other. The music loud, sunroof open, and I was on my phone. I was driving down a major highway, where I was having conversation via text message. Now, like many people, I have an iphone, which is a touch screen, and this requires looking down while typing in the words. I was telling my friend how my night was going and what I wanted to do that night. When I received a message back, I was reading then "quickly" responding, when I realized I was not driving on smooth asphalt anymore.

It started to get quite bumpy, so as I looked up I realized I was driving halfway on the road and halfway in the grassy median. Like anyone, I freaked and tried to drive back on the highway, but when you are going 70mph you don't always get the response of the car you want.

My wheel locked and I was slamming on the breaks. My car started spinning out of control, the noises of glass shattering and tires rubbing, I thought my life was going to end. Suddenly I hear a huge "bang" and look up and realized my car was crashed into the median ditch against 3 barriers blocking me from ongoing traffic on the other side of the highway. I couldn't believe what had just happened, so I called Lauren to tell her.

We were on the phone, both freaking when I told her I had to call my parents. I knew I could not tell my parents what had actually happened, they would have me grounded forever. I called my parents telling them I had totaled my car and I needed them to come get me. By that time 3 cars stopped to see if I was okay and the cops had arrived. Luckily, I had no injuries. When my parents arrived at the scene, I told them a bug had flown into my car which caused the wreck. My mom, an insurance agent, said she had heard stories like that before so I knew I was safe with my story.

It wasn't until April of 2009 that I received a message on facebook from Seventeen Magazine, apparently they were looking for a girl my age to write a story on 'texting and driving'. Of course, I jumped on it immediately. Not thinking of what I would tell my parents, I just thought being in a huge magazine would be totally cool. I got the gig, and eventually had to explain to my parents what really happened, and I was grounded for a month.

After telling my parents, it really made me start thinking of what I actually did. TEXTED while I was driving. When I look back at it now, I realize how stupid it was. When it happened, I thought, "I just got into a car accident!" but after thinking about what I did, I realized it was not an accident, it was a choice. I chose to put myself in a stupid situation that could have easily been prevented if I had only realized what was more important - life over phone? The picture is very clear to me now.

My point in what I am trying to start is... I am like anyone else my age. I love to go out with friends, listen to good music, shop until I am completely out of money, and have fun. There is nothing different from what I did than what anyone else could do. I had been texting and driving since I first got my license, I never thought I would get into a car accident, I thought that's what happened to everyone else. But what people my age need to realize is it could happen to you, just like it happened to me.

This is the start of something big in my life, and I hope you can share the experience with me!