{"id":1146,"date":"2011-09-12T19:28:07","date_gmt":"2011-09-13T02:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2019-05-30T14:04:56","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T21:04:56","slug":"a-moving-message-dont-text-and-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2011\/09\/12\/a-moving-message-dont-text-and-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"A moving message: Don\u2019t text and drive!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hefter<\/a><\/p>\n

PALMDALE – A visibly emotional Angela Hefter sent a heartfelt message to the community Monday: Don\u2019t text and drive!<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want other people to suffer what we have suffered,\u201d said Hefter. \u201cWe want people to make sure that they make positive choices in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hefter family joined Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford and several county and state agencies Monday for a press conference to announce the proclamation of September 12, 2011 as \u201cDon\u2019t Text and Drive Day\u201d in the City of Palmdale in memory of Jacob Hefter.<\/p>\n

Three years ago on September 12, 2008, 18-year-old Jacob was one of 25 people killed in the Metrolink train accident in Chatsworth.<\/p>\n

The investigation revealed the Metrolink engineer ignored a red light signal because he was texting on his cell phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to honor Jacob\u2019s life by sending a message locally, statewide and nationally\u2026 don\u2019t text and drive,\u201d said Ledford. \u201cVery simple, but so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing National Safety Council estimates, Community Safety Supervisor Kelly Long said 1.4 million crashes each year are caused by drivers using cell phones or texting while driving.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents, we implore you to take this message home to your student, to your family members, to your teenagers who are now on the roads with their phones texting and driving,\u201d said Long. \u201cPlease do not text and drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who ignore the message will pay the price, said law enforcement officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the Palmdale station, for those of you out there that still practice this, we are going to do everything in our power to help prevent this,\u201d said Lt. Paul Clay of the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Palmdale Station. Clay said there were 2,400 cell phone violations (including texting and driving) last year and more than 1,600 violations for 2011.<\/p>\n

The California Highway Patrol is also cracking down on distracted drivers. Through September 19th, the department will be conducting focused enforcement on distracted drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program was designed to impact teens, but I believe this message is for everyone,\u201d said CHP Officer Steve Urrea. \u201cParents this is for you, please remember that we are the example for our children, they are watching us and it\u2019s up to us to set the good example for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In setting a good example, the Hefter family (through the Jacob Hefter Foundation) is inviting the community to make the pledge to not text and drive by signing a 1984 Chevy Blazer that Jacob once drove.<\/p>\n

The Foundation provides residents with a signature card to put their signature on the blazer as a pledge to not text and drive, then residents are given a thumb ring that says “Text Free Driver.”<\/p>\n

“Jacob’s brothers decided to make that a moving message and take it everywhere we can,” said Angela Hefter. \u201cWe invite everyone, at all points in time, whenever they can, and wherever our blazer may be, to take the pledge.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE – A visibly emotional Angela Hefter sent a heartfelt message to the community Monday: Don\u2019t text and drive! \u201cWe don\u2019t want other people to suffer what we have suffered,\u201d said Hefter. \u201cWe want people to make sure that they make positive choices in life.\u201d The Hefter family joined Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford and several […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}