Manteca Drivers Glued To Cellphones Hours After Teen Dies In Distracted Driving Incident
MANTECA (CBS13) — A teenage driver is accused of vehicular manslaughter, after authorities say she hit four pedestrians while she was looking for her cellphone.
Less than 24 hours after one of those four teens was killed, CBS13 cameras found several drivers along the road where the crash happened doing the very same thing that lead to the accident.
The California Highway Patrol says a 14-year-old boy is dead, because a driver was searching for her cellphone instead of watching what she was doing.
Investigators say Mia Aguiar, 19, was driving along Yosemite Avenue when they say her eyes left the road to search for her cellphone, when she swerved off the road and hit the teens.
CBS13 cameras caught several drivers in the same spot as the crash talking on their cellphones.
The deadly crash happens to come during the National Safety Council's Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
"You see people on their cellphones all the time," said neighbor Steve Rocha. "I bet I can count 5 to 10 times a day, texting, head down, not looking where they are going."
Salvador Carmetas heard the loud collision outside his home just after 1 a.m.
"I hear a lot of noise, a lot of people crying and everything like that," he said.
The other three teens hit in the accident are still recovering at the hospital.
Aguiar was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail and charged with vehicular manslaughter.
In 2012, 3,028 people were killed in distracted driving incidents and an estimated 421,000 were injured, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.