SAN ANTONIO – The family of a man killed when a distracted teen driver crashed into his trailer wants a law passed by the Texas Legislature banning distracted driving statewide.
Robert Cornish, 32, had parked on the shoulder of the road in the 6000 block of Loop 410 on Sept. 22, 2015, to check on a trailer he was pulling.
A car, driven by a teenage girl, veered across two lanes of traffic and slammed into the trailer, pinned Cornish between her car and the trailer, according to the police report.
Cornish died in the hospital later that evening.
“We just love and miss him so much,” his widow, Blake Cornish, said Monday. “He was an amazing person.”
She and her husband’s parents have filed a wrongful death suit against the teenage driver alleging distracted driving.
“Distracted driving is the new DWI,” said Tom Crosley, the family’s attorney. “Distracted driving is just as dangerous as driving while legally drunk.”
A lawsuit filed by Crosley on behalf of the family does not seek monetary damages.
Cornish’s father, Earl, said that what the family wants is a law banning distracted driving statewide.
A law, he said, that would bear his son’s name: “Bobby’s Law.”
A bill banning distracted driving was pre-filed in Austin on Monday by state representative Tom Craddick.