Heather Hurd is the latest victim featured by the U.S. DOT in its “Faces of Distracted Drivng” video series. In 2008, the 26-year-old was on the way to her wedding planner’s office in Orlando when a trucker who was fumbling for his text messaging device slammed into nine vehicles at a red light.
Hurd and another woman were killed, and Hurd’s fiance was seriously injured. The wreck occurred on Florida’s infamous “Bloody 27” highway. A stretch of the road was renamed in Heather Hurd’s memory.
Her parents became distracted driving activists and went on to help create Heather’s Law (2009) in their home state of Maryland. Florida’s proposed Heather’s Law has been proposed in the Legislature several times, but the state has enacted nothing.
