Shauna Sauer of Caldwell told the Senate Transportation Committee this afternoon that her 18-year-old daughter, Taylor, died on Jan. 14 of this year from a texting-while-driving accident. "Taylor slammed into the back of a tanker truck that was doing 15 mph on the freeway that evening," the mother told the senators, surrounded by her husband, Clay, and Taylor's four surviving siblings. "She was on her way home for the long weekend from college, where she had attended Utah State in Logan. Taylor was a very intelligent and caring young lady. She was salutatorian of the Marsing 2011 class. ... She was involved in many community activities."

Sauer said, "As a family we strongly feel that there needs to be a law that specifically states that texting and driving is illegal. ... Teenagers need things spelled out. They honestly don't feel that texting is inattentive since they feel they are so proficient at it."

She urged passage of SB 1274, Sen. Jim Hammond's bill to ban texting while driving. "Isn't saving one life worth passing a law?" she said, "because what if that one life were your daughter's, or your granddaughter's, or your best friend?" Her voice breaking, she said, "We don't want any other families to have to go through this pain."

Hammond told her, "The point that you make I think is a very important point. We need to stop this before it happens to anyone else. Thank you."