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Family of texting and driving victim upset bill was not addressed in the Senate

Posted at 5:26 PM, Mar 14, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-14 18:23:24-04

In a state with 14 million drivers, it makes sense that texting while driving produces so much tragedy.

There were 50,000  crashes involving distracted driving in Florida in 2016, that's five crashes every hour with more than 3,500 injuries and 233 deaths.

Riverview parents fight to end distracted driving after their son was killed in crash

Florida House: Time to fully ban texting while driving

Brooke and Jordan Scherer lost their 9-year-old son Logan when a driver, who was texting and driving, smashed into the back of their car on 1-75. Logan died instantly.

"How many other people are going to have to die? How many Logan’s are going to have to suffer this same fate before someone takes a stand and says this is enough," says Logan's Mom, Brooke Scherer.

Logan's parents started "Living for Logan," group dedicated to ending distracted driving and banning texting behind the wheel.

The Scherers thought they finally had Tallahassee's attention about what's really going on, on roads we all share and the phones we all use.  And at first they did, the bill passed the house, but then it got a death sentence in the state senate.

That death sentence came in the form of silence. The bill was never even heard in the State Senate.

Senator Rob Bradley heads up the appropriations committee, which decides how bills get funded and whether they see the light of day.

Senator Bradley was reportedly concerned the bill would lead to unfair pull overs and could allow law enforcement to peer into drivers' phones to determine whether they were texting.

New device would allow law enforcement to prove you were texting and driving

Logan's mom has an answer for that.

"What about Logan’s rights?" she said.

Our rights as human beings, as his parents. His rights as a human being to get to grow up and experience life were snuffed," says Brooke.