An advocate for legislation that would have banned drivers from operating a motor vehicle while using a cellphone lashed out at a state legislator on Wednesday, claiming that she prevented the measure from advancing in the Florida House of Representatives and potentially becoming state law earlier this year.
Tallahassee resident Demetrius Branca’s 19-year-old son Anthony died in 2014 when a distracted driver hit him as he rode his motorcycle to Tallahassee State College. In the past few years, he’s personally lobbied local governments and state lawmakers up and down Florida to pass legislation enhancing the state’s ban on texting while driving to get a “hands-free” distracted driving measure into law.
In 2023, distracted driving resulted in the deaths of 3,275 people, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which reported that “texting is the most alarming distraction.”…