Mother and daughter describe loss of family member for Distracted Driving Awareness Month

Lexington, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Mark Sevilla was driving down Interstate 71 in Boone County back in January of 2015 when a semi-truck crossed lanes, hit Mark head-on, and killed him.

Kathy Strack, Mark’s sister, describes the terrifying day.

“Mark was on his Bluetooth at the time, so he said to his friend, ‘hang on’ and just screamed,” she said.

That day forever changed Mark’s family. Kathy and her daughter Sarah Strack started the organization 2 Eyes Just Drive. They share Mark’s story across the world.

“Everybody you know, knows someone who was in an accident – we don’t call them accidents, we call them crashes because they are preventable,” Sarah said.

She says now more than ever both she and her mom notice how many drivers have a difficult time putting down the phone when they’re behind the wheel.

“It just takes a second for things to go very wrong,” Kathy said. “You look down and before you know it, you’ve gone the length of a football field.”

She adds that distracted driving doesn’t discriminate. Anyone could be a victim in a matter of seconds.

“We hear a ping and we have to answer it, and that doesn’t go away when we’re behind the wheel,” Sarah said.

Sarah says peoples’ addictions to their phones don’t go away when they get in the car.

“You can put all the legislation in place, but it needs to become socially unacceptable, like drunk driving is,” Kathy said.

While April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, both Sarah and Kathy urge everyone to put their phones down, keep two eyes on the road, and just drive, so other families don’t have to lose a loved one like they did.

“He was just awesome, and it’s such a loss to our family,” Kathy said. “We really just don’t want any family to ever have to go through what we’ve gone through, to get that call, and the devastation, there’s always just that emptiness.”