“You’re My Reason”

Katherine is passion. Not only has she educated herself by putting her work life in a

position of traffic safety, but she also has a reason why. She didn’t come across this job just to

get paid, no, she worked her way in so she can help prevent traffic accidents on Utah roads.

One morning Kathrine was on her way to work at her normal call center job as an

insurance coordinator when her life changed forever. Her life has always gone by the book.

Wake up, go to work, come home, cook dinner, take care of her kids, read and go to bed. She is

very organized and lives by a set schedule. She had no idea what was coming her way.

On May 13th, 2011, she received a call from an unknown number, she answers the phone

and is shocked by the news. Her sister has been in a horrible accident. She quickly calls in to

work to inform her boss that she will not be coming in for the day and rushes to the hospital.

She runs into the emergency waiting room and is greeting by her parents and two

brothers all full of tears. “Bethany, (her sister) is currently in surgery. We should be getting an
update soon” her mother sobs. “What happened? How can this be?” Kathrine replies. “A young

teen was texting on her phone when she crashed into the side of Bethany’s car on the freeway”

states her brother. Bethany’s car had rolled over and was left upside down at the scene.

As thoughts raced through Kathrine’s head she anxiously sat in the waiting room for

hours, hoping for some good news. Kathrine and Bethany were very close, not only were they

sisters, they were best friends, they did almost everything together. They grew up wearing

matching clothes, dating boys who were brothers, sharing the same room, having all the same

interests, and even now have kids the same age. They were inseparable.

Kathrine could never imagine anything happening to her sister. As Kathrine was waiting

for an update her thoughts began to change, she became angrier and angrier. “How could anyone

be so selfish to texting and drive on the freeway? What was that girl thinking? Putting other lives

at risk!” She thought. She had so many emotions regarding the situation she wasn’t sure how to

react.
 Finally, a doctor approaches the family to give an update. Kathrine says she will never

forget the words that came out of the doctor’s mouth that day. “We did everything we could to

save your daughter, but she had lost too much blood and her heart stopped during the procedure.

I am very sorry for your loss”

Ever since this day Katherine’s life has never been the same. Her best friend was gone

forever. She became depressed and unmotivated for the longest time, her scheduled life became

very unorganized. Until one day, she decided to stop dreading on the situation and try her best to

make a change.

Kathrine started researching. She knew, of course, that she was not the only one who has

lost a loved one due to someone texting and driving. Statistics show that “Distracted Driving is a

growing problem. In 2016 Utah had 5,748 distracted driver crashes resulting in 3,303 injured

persons and 27 deaths.” (Utah Department of Public Safety, 2016) Kathrine also found that not

only is distracted driving the number one cause of accidents on the road but texting and or being

on your phone while driving is the leading reason for distracted driving. In fact, any distracted

driving case is 23 times more likely to be caused by texting. (Kayser) Kathrine informs that

being on your phone while driving is very dangerous because it takes all your focus away from

the road.

“Traffic safety experts classify distractions into three main types: Manual, Visual and

Cognitive. Manual distractions are those where you move your hands from the wheel. Visual

distractions are those where you focus your eyes away from the road. A cognitive distraction is

when you’re mind wanders away from the task of driving. Texting involves all three types of
distraction.” (End Distracted Driving Organization) This goes to show that it is truly impossible

to focus on your driving while on your phone.

However, texting and driving isn’t the only cause of accidents on the road. From my

notes, Kathrine stated how serious the issue of driving under the influence is. Not only drinking,

but also drugs, and prescription medications. She declares “Anyone who is impaired at all, by

anything, should not be on the roads.” (Kayser)

Later on, after doing her research, Kathrine decided to become an advocate for traffic

safety. She went around to different high schools public speaking about how important it is to be

safe on the roads. She emphasized the issue of texting and driving as she told her story about

how it has affected her whole life. She could only hope that this was a good way to help teens get

off their phones and pay attention to the roads. Her goal is to prevent others from going through

what she did.

 After public speaking for about a year and a half, Kathrine found a job at the Department

of Public Safety of Utah. She was offered a position as Project Coordinator. Her job was to

maintain and monitor project plans and project schedules. She would always get involved with

ongoing projects by passing on her own ideas for accident prevention.

While in this position, in 2018 Kathrine was invited to sit in on one of the hearings for

the new 2019 Utah law to lower the blood-alcohol content limit while driving from .08 to .05.

This “enforces the strictest drunken-driving regulation in the country.” (Levin, 2018) Kathrine

said she was for this law and was glad it passed. “Last year, Utah had the lowest number of

alcohol-related traffic deaths of any state, in large part because of heavy restrictions on alcohol

consumption, including limits on the strength of beer and a ban on the personal import and

transport of alcohol from other states. But driving under the influence continues to be a problem,

the Utah authorities said.” (Levin, 2018) This goes to show that Utah’s strict regulations do

lower the number of accidents caused by drinking and driving.

Today, Kathrine is working as a Support Service Coordinator for the Utah Department of

Public Safety, where she is managing the staff. She still to this day will brainstorm ideas to
prevent traffic accidents and present them to her team. She has such a passion and drive to help

others.
Citations

Kayser, Kathrine. In-person interview. February 19, 2020

Utah Department of Public Safety. “Distracted Driving” 2016

https://highwaysafety.utah.gov/other-focus-areas/distracteddriving/

Levin, Dan. “Utah to Begin Enforcing Strictest D.U.I. Law in Country” Dec. 18, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/utah-blood-alcohol-limit-drunken-driving.html

End Distracted Driving Organization. “What Is Distracted Driving?”

https://www.enddd.org/the-facts-about-distracted-driving/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw9ZzzBRCKARIsA
NwXaeKkIk70GPsSWhXYTbzvngX_cUkElIsoRTXkGmTB6dr1_NYn0lTvj5IaAogGEALw_w
cB

Images

Sent from Kayser, Kathrine. In-person interview. February 19, 2020

Utah Department of Public Safety. “Distracted Driving” 2016

https://highwaysafety.utah.gov/other-focus-areas/distracteddriving/