Two months after Union County school bus driver Tim McManus died when a dump truck driver cross the center line and slammed head-on into the school bus McManus was driving, his family and friends are working to raise awareness about distracted driving.
"Reaching for something in your purse, picking up a glass up - that's distracted driving. I know the focus is a lot on texting. And, I know that's a big thing," Deborah Splawn said. " But we want to focus on all distractions. We want something positive to come in Tim's memory so that's why we started the page."
The face book page is called STIMULATE Change Stop Distracted Driving. Splawn teamed up with a group, including McManus' daughter, to create the page. They launched it last week, and it already has more than 800 likes.
"I want people to know that whatever you're doing in your car, you have to pay attention," McManus' daughter - Ashley Artis said. "Everything that's going on with your phone going off, music playing - you have to pay attention to the car in front of you, besides you, behind you. Anywhere you go. Even changing the station on the radio - it can wait until you get to a stop light."
On December 8th, McManus was on his way to pick up kids from school and take them home. Troopers say the driver of a dump truck wasn't paying full attention while driving on New Town Road. They say he crossed the center line and crashed.
Ashley Artis, McManus' daughter said investigators told her the garbage truck driver told them "he was reaching over into a backpack to get something out. We do not know what he was actually getting out. But that's what he was doing."
"I'm not angry. It just hurts" his long-time friend Deborah Splawn said.
Their hurt gave birth to the idea of raising awareness. McManus' family and friends said the crash didn't have to happen. So they created the face book page, and shared the page with schools, family, friends and bus drivers.
The yellow logo tells the story.
Splawn said "the yellow is for the bus. The number {334} is for his bus number. And the stop is the school bus stop sign. His name Tim is in the sTIMulate."
Everyday someone in the group posts statistics and information about distracted driving.
Splawn said "we've gotten some positive feedback from it too. People have sent me messages saying I'm really glad you started this. This really helped me to be aware."
Both Splawn and Artis said since McManus' death, they've become more aware of drivers around them - and what they're doing.
"I notice people texting. I notice on 485 that they're weaving in and out of traffic. And when I get up beside them, they're looking down at their phones. And I see it everyday," Splawn said. "It really bothers me. It bothers me now more than ever."
"I think people just don't have enough time in the day and they think I'm on the road and nobody's watching," Artis said. "I got just a little bit of time - let me look at this. Let me do that."
They're hoping this campaign will make drivers think, and stop distracted driving - before someone else feels the pain of hearing a loved one is dead because a driver wasn't paying attention.
"It could have waited. I mean that's my motto for right now," Artis said. "It really could have waited for anything out of that backpack."
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