Photo: www.startribune.com
A 20-year old driver from Hatton, North Dakota, is risking years of prison after she was accused of negligent homicide. The driver was surfing her Facebook account when she rear-ended an SUV at 85 miles per hour, without braking, on a North Dakota highway. An 89-year old woman has died in the accident.
At first, mobile phones were causing huge problems in traffic because of the reckless drivers who stopped paying attention on the road while having their conversations. Once the handsfree devices hit the market, the rate of accidents went lower. However, the roads face now a bigger problem: social media. More and more people cause car crashes because they stay to busy looking at their virtual social activity instead of keeping their eyes on the road.
In fact, 9 people are being killed every day and more than 1,060 people are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver. Researchers have found that distracted driving can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash (it’s a matter of logic if you ask us...).
Unfortunately, 89-year old grandmother from northwestern Minnesota Phyllis Gordon became one of the victims of this sort of reckless driving. Abby Sletten was texting and had her eyes on Facebook photos instead of the road as she traveled at 85 miles per hour down Interstate 29 towards Grand Forks on May 27, the Minniapolis Star-Tribune reported.
Police has searched Sletten’s cellphone and “determined that [she] was viewing pictures on her Facebook application... at the time of the crash. Sletten had also sent and received several text messages since she departed from Fargo,” the criminal complaint read. Moreover, a driver heading north toward Grand Forks told a Highway Patrol officer that he was traveling at 80 mph when Sletten’s SUV passed him on the left. According to him, Slaten’s car had its brake lights remaining dark and crashed into the other SUV.
Abby E. Sletten, of Hatton, North Dakota, appeared Wednesday in Traill County District Court after being charged with killing Phylis Gordon of Ada, Minnesota.
In fact, 9 people are being killed every day and more than 1,060 people are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver. Researchers have found that distracted driving can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash (it’s a matter of logic if you ask us...).
Unfortunately, 89-year old grandmother from northwestern Minnesota Phyllis Gordon became one of the victims of this sort of reckless driving. Abby Sletten was texting and had her eyes on Facebook photos instead of the road as she traveled at 85 miles per hour down Interstate 29 towards Grand Forks on May 27, the Minniapolis Star-Tribune reported.
Police has searched Sletten’s cellphone and “determined that [she] was viewing pictures on her Facebook application... at the time of the crash. Sletten had also sent and received several text messages since she departed from Fargo,” the criminal complaint read. Moreover, a driver heading north toward Grand Forks told a Highway Patrol officer that he was traveling at 80 mph when Sletten’s SUV passed him on the left. According to him, Slaten’s car had its brake lights remaining dark and crashed into the other SUV.
Abby E. Sletten, of Hatton, North Dakota, appeared Wednesday in Traill County District Court after being charged with killing Phylis Gordon of Ada, Minnesota.
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