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Girl’s life-changing story is heart-wrenching reminder not to text and drive

A teenage girl was involved in a life-changing car crash that happened when she looked at her phone to check a text message.
Liz Marks

When she was a teenager, Liz Marks was involved in a life-changing car crash that happened when she looked at her phone to check a text message.

According to a Maryland newspaper – The Star Democrat, when she was just 17 years old, Marks crashed into the back of a tow truck that was stopped waiting to turn in a left turn lane.

In a video pleading with drivers not to text and drive, Marks revealed that she had been looking at a text message when she crashed her car.

Read more: Woman posts to Facebook moments before fatal car wreck

Because of the crash she is blind in one eye, lost her sense of smell, lost some of her hearing, lost the ability to create tears, and she cannot fall asleep naturally.

“I thought I was invincible, Marks said, “but clearly I was completely wrong.”

Marks said aside from the medical problems, the worst part is that she feels alone.

“The hardest part about my life after the car accident was the fact that I was alone,” said Marks. “Everyone was away at college, I wasn’t. I couldn’t drive, couldn’t go to college. My friends were there for me at first, but after a while they weren’t.”

“I looked up on her Facebook page, and she said on there, “Can anybody please hang out with me today? I don’t have any friends,”” recalled Marks’ mother, Betty.

Marks and her mother teamed up with the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to make the video. They want to drive home the point that texting and driving can have life-altering consequences.

“Don’t text your loved ones when you know they’re driving,” said Marks’ mother. “It can change their lives forever.”

“If you get a text, don’t look at it,” Marks said. “It’s not worth it.”

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