Tragic crash draws awareness to distracted driving

Monday evening 82–year–old Robert Snyder Sr. of Odell was killed after his tractor was hit by a semi, driven by 38–year–old Troy Smith just north of Pickrell on highway 77.

Smith was arrested for motor vehicle homicide after being distracted while driving.

“The farmer was doing everything he should do – he had all of his lights working, he had his proper markings on his equipment, and it looked like he was driving as far to the right as he could in the lane,” Sgt. Frederic Storm said.

With Snyder following all the rules that a slow moving vehicle should, the Nebraska department of transportation wants to stress the importance of being aware of your surroundings.

“As drivers that’s our responsibility, is to scan ahead 8 to 10 seconds looking for those hazards. At highway speeds that’s about a quarter of a mile or so and in town it’s a couple of blocks,” Mark Segerstrom said.

Distracted driving has caused almost 4,700 accidents in Nebraska in 2017 and 157 crashes caused by texting and driving.

NDOT says that even a short text takes more time than you think.

“A quick text can maybe be about 5 seconds. If you take your eyes off the road for 5 seconds, and you’re traveling 55 mph down the road, you’ve covered more than the length of a football field,” Segerstrom said.

Although the most common distraction comes from phones, there are multiple ways a driver can be distracted.

While driving, it can be anything from tuning your radio, eating, checking a notification, or rowdy passengers.

If you do see a distracted driver on the road, there is something you can do to prevent an accident.

“Be safe, be safe about yourself, know your surroundings. If you have a ability to get a drivers license plate number, pull over to a safe spot and you can call that in,” Segerstrom said.

If you are able to get the license plate of the distracted driver, you can either call your local law enforcement or star 55 for the state patrol.