Kansas father urges lawmakers to help prevent distracted driving

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (KWCH) – A Kansas man is bringing his late daughter’s story to lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

Cassandra Linder died in a distracted driving crash near Garden City in 2023. She was 16.

Now, her father, Todd Linder, wants to ensure that you and everyone else stay focused on the road to prevent distracted driving crashes and deaths.

Last month, he shared Cassandra‘s story with the Kansas Congressional Delegation, hoping to raise awareness around distracted driving.

Cassandra was driving home from her sister’s when a truck hit her head on.

“Distracted driving could be somebody sitting in the passenger seat or people sitting in the back seat,” said Todd. “Maybe you just went through that drive-through and all of a sudden, you’ve got that monumental soda right in front of your face.”

A 2023 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey shows nearly 1 in 10 traffic fatalities were due to distracted driving.

“Most people think, ‘Oh, it’s got to be higher than that,’” said Todd. “Well, think of the number of drivers that you interact with every day on your way to work or on your way to the soccer game, or on your way to something else, 1 in 10 is a pretty big number.”

Todd hopes sharing his daughter’s story helps urge Kansas lawmakers to act on the problem of distracted driving and encourages Kansas drivers to pay attention to the road.

“We [Kansas] had 102 fatalities in 2023,” said Todd. “My daughter was one of those statistics, and it should never be that way. We’ve got to get there as Kansans. We can’t keep doing this.”

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