But from the depths of her grief, the teen has forged an extraordinary public campaign against distracted driving.
Strack — with the help of her family — recently created a slogan and logo – “2 Eyes Just Drive” and a 15-foot-long banner now hangs in the Butler County school reminding her fellow Lakota East Thunderhawk classmates that “Hawks drive to stay alive.”
She also successfully lobbied to have an impaired driving simulator, which allows teens to experience in a virtual reality on a video dashboard the hazards of trying to text while driving.
This month, Strack and her friends hand wrote 2,800 small, paper notes of warnings, statistics, advice and urgings to avoid texting while driving and placed them on every locker in the school. The 17-year-old is also speaking to groups of students about her campaign and is handing out donated key chain holders with the “2 Eyes Just Drive” slogan.
Her uncle — 45-year-old Mark Sevillas — was killed by a truck driver last year. The subsequent trial, which found the driver at fault, revealed he had been texting prior to his crossing a highway medium and crushing Sevillas’ car.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 16- to 24-year-olds. Moreover, according to the American Automobile Association, 59 percent of all crashes among young drivers involve distractions within six seconds of the accident.
After her uncle’s death, Strack began to notice with growing alarm the number of teens and adults texting while driving.
"I started to see it more and it terrified me because all these people are at risk because they are on their phones behind the wheel," Strack said. "It took me a while but I started a Facebook page called "2eyes.justdrive" and it just kind of took off."
“The Facebook page was a way to get people to share their experiences with distracted drivers,” she said.
Lakota East Principal Suzanna Davis praised Strack for transforming her grief into initiative.
“I’ve been so impressed with Sarah’s emotional connection with students, but also her ability to take this (untimely death) and turn it into a teachable moment,” Davis said.
“For her family to go through such tragedy, it would have been easy for them to take that message (of distracted driving) and hold onto it very dearly for themselves. But for her to be able to expose herself, to talk about how to learn through tragedy — especially for a student her age — to help our students grow from that is impressive,” said Davis, who has backed Strack’s efforts.
Lakota Schools spokeswoman Lauren Boettcher agreed.
“Sarah has an incredibly powerful message to share with her peers and it’s inspiring to see her convert such passion into action. Both she and East’s leadership should be commended for their efforts to bring this program to the entire student body,” she said.
Among the many rallying behind Strack’s cause is classmate Riana Spiller.
She looked around at rows of school lockers with Strack’s anti-texting messages and was inspired to be more aware of the hazards of distracted driving.
“It’s very impressive how she is trying to change the people who are driving and trying to make sure they are safe on the road and not endangering anybody else,” Spiller said.
Strack said she didn’t know if her campaign would resonate with her classmates. She sums it up on her campaign’s Facebook page: “Every time we get behind the wheel we have the power to kill. We have the power to tear a family apart.”
“I was pleasantly surprised that people are taking this so seriously and I’m so happy they are,” she said.
AT A GLANCE: DISTRACTED DRIVING
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, out of the 783 driver deaths reported in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, 181 driver deaths were attributed to distracted driving, including using a cell phone or eating while driving.
Distracted was the second-leading cause of driver fatalities that year, after careless driving.
The Ohio Highway Patrol reports in 2015, 13,261 drivers in Ohio crashed while being distracted by something within their vehicles.
Thirty-nine of these drivers were in fatal crashes which resulted in 43 deaths. Another 4,593 drivers were in injury crashes resulting in 6,916 injuries. The number of reported distracted drivers rose 11 percent from 2014 to 2015.
Ohio law bans all “electronic wireless communication device” usage for drivers under 18. Texting while driving is illegal for all drivers but only as a secondary offense. Across the U.S., 46 states ban text messaging for all drivers. Talking on a hand-held phone while driving is banned in 14 states.
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