Cardinal Stritch students hear sobering account of distracted driving

OREGON, Ohio — Five years ago, Brock Dietrich got the call that every parent fears.

His daughter, Sydnee, was driving in Columbus, and received a text on her phone.

"That quick second resulted in her losing control of her vehicle. It went off the side of the highway, and as a result she lost control, flipped the car over twice and was ejected from the vehicle and ultimately suffered fatal head trauma," Dietrich said.

Sydnee was just 17 at the time of her death.

Now, Brock is an advocate for safer teen driving, going around schools, educating kids who were his daughter's age when she had her accident.

"Whether it's putting it in the trunk, whether it's turning it off or putting it on silent, you have to have a plan," Dietrich said.

But Brock's message isn't just for students, it's for parents too.

"I actually used to text and drive and and I set a very poor example for my daughter and I have to live with the guilt that my actions potentially cost her her life," Dietrich explained.

Dietrich was at Cardinal Stritch high school in Oregon Thursday afternoon with the Arrive Alive tour.

The campaign uses a vehicle simulator for high school kids to understand the dangers of distracted driving.

"We let the students get in there and experience texting and driving, drinking and driving, and marijuana driving and the dangers of that," said Kent Tiedman with the Arrive Alive Tour.

"I don't have my license personally yet, I'm still working my way up there so this was actually a lot of... it helps with insight," said Romilo Garcia, a student at Cardinal Stritch.

They also hear first hand from the nurses who see patients after a devastating car accident.

"A lot of times you will see the injuries to the person that was distracted driving, but another person in another car that didn't know what happened," said Mercy St. Charles E.R. nurse Alexis Bolanis.

Brock Dietrich thinks the answer to reducing distracted driving isn't just more police work.

There needs to be a cultural shift.

"Our culture really understand that drinking and driving is completely unacceptable. and we need to get the same cultural expectations around texting and driving," Dietrich said.