After Wrecking Car, Dewey Man Advocates Against Texting While Driving

A Dewey man totaled his car when he glanced down to read a text.

He's embarrassed by the accident, but is telling everyone how quickly your phone can cause you to crash.

We've heard these warnings a thousand times, but many of us still grab our phones to glance at a text while driving.

John Livingston said he always did.

"It's not going to happen, I'll be okay. It's just a second," Livingston said.

Now he's reminding everyone how deadly it can be after causing a wreck due to texting while driving.

He got a text while driving around Dewey early Friday morning and, out of habit, he picked up the phone.

"I got a text, so I went to look at it and was getting ready to respond to it," said Livingston. “I felt my car just kind of drop, so I hit my brakes and by that time it was a little late."

Livingston said his car teetered on the edge of a culvert before falling into it. He had to crawl out of the window and call for help.

"This was for sure a wake-up call. I will never, I will turn my phone off before I get back in the car again," he said.

This isn't Livingston's first wake-up call to driving dangers. In 2010, his cousin, James Hollifield, just 18, and a week out of high school, was killed by a drunk driver in Avant.

Livingston dedicated his back windshield - now shattered and laying in a ditch - to ending drinking and driving.

"It's in memory of him and it's a big one and it has, 'Don't drink and drive.' My next window is going to say don't drink and drive and don't text."

He's already sharing his message on Facebook, asking others to share, writing, "Please think when you get in your car with your cell phone. A text can definitely wait."

"It woke me up and I want everybody else to know that texting is not something to play around with," Livingston said.

There are several bills currently in front of Oklahoma legislators regarding texting and driving.

Livingston said he wants texting and driving banned.