Her cap and gown were still in her car: Mariah West was going to graduate from high school the next day.
She was responding to a text message while driving, and her car veered off of the road and hit a concrete bridge.
She was partially ejected from the car, and her head hit the pavement. The teenager died of brain injuries sustained in the crash.
In this video from CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with the teenage driver’s mother, who had talked to her daughter many times about texting and driving. It’s an important message from one of the many victims of distracted driving: a parent who outlives their child because of a text message.
See also: How long does it take to check a text?
