Father Mourns Loss Of Child From Distracted Driving Accident

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Vijay Dixit is comforted sitting in a memorial garden created in his daughter's honor.

Shreya was 19 and a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was coming home with a friend who was driving. The driver crashed.

"She claims that she was not texting, but you never know," he said. "She was distracted."

They got a call saying there had been an accident, and that Shreya was dead.

"Life had completely come to a halt," he said.

Shreya was a donor.

"She has probably helped about 100 people," he said

The pain still lingers.

"It hurts about the same, but sometimes more," he said.

That's because many of Shreya's friends are graduating -- he said he feels her presence, and that gives him relief.

Dixit has made it his life to building distraction-free driving communities, even creating a free online course.

"Awareness and responsibility, and awareness and accountability are two separate things," he said.

In a world where multi-tasking is rewarded, he said people need to be aware of the dangers of doing too much in a car.

You can find out more about his efforts at the Shreya Dixit Memorial Foundation website.