Jacob Freybler made the fatal mistake of texting while driving on his way home from work June 18, 2014.
The 17-year-old’s family continues to struggle with the aftermath of what happened.
Jim Freybler, Jacob’s father, says “It changed our whole life. There is a new normal but we don’t know what it is yet.”
Jacob’s father turns the pain from the accident into a powerful message. He is using the phone found in his son’s lap to preach to schools and classes about the dangers of texting while driving.
“It’s kind of like a reminder that this (the phone) doesn’t care if you live or die,” Freybler said. “But it also has something on here that’s priceless. Everyone leaves a voicemail right? So I have his voice. So we can call this whenever we want to. And we do. We do.”
Jim and his family are encouraging everyone to take the pledge online to help end distracted driving.
The pledge can be found on the Facebook page, “Stay Alive, Don’t Text and Drive.”