Teenager's last words: "Driving and facebooking is not safe! Haha."

[ReynardMuldrake]

Helloooo Darwin awards!

Bright, outgoing college teen Taylor Sauer proved in the last minutes of her life she knew right from wrong — but still committed a fatal mistake.

Sauer was making a late-night, four-hour drive from the Utah State University campus in Logan to visit her folks in Caldwell, Idaho. She passed the time along I-84 messaging a pal on Facebook about the Denver Broncos football team. But she stopped short, writing in her final missive, "I can't discuss this now. Driving and facebooking is not safe! Haha."

Moments later, Sauer, going more than 80 mph, slammed into a tanker truck that was slowly creeping up a hill at 15 mph. She was killed instantly; investigators saw no signs that she applied the brakes before the fatal crash. And in checking her cell phone records, they learned Sauer was posting about every 90 seconds during her drive.

"I think she was probably (texting) to stay awake, she was probably tired," Taylor's dad, Clay Sauer, told Ann Curry on TODAY Monday. "But that's not a reason to do it, and the kids think they're invincible. To them, (texting) is not distracting, they're so proficient at texting, that they don't feel it's distracted driving."

Clay and Shauna Sauer, still grieving over their 18-year-old daughter's Jan. 12 death, have become lobbyists in their home state to urge the state legislature to pass a ban on texting while driving. Idaho is one of 13 states in the U.S. that has no such law in place.

[cont'd]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/466270.../#.T1TnrfE7U1I

[|Zach|]

Yeesh goin 80

[AndChiefs]

Originally Posted by |Zoccer|

Yeesh goin 80

If she was in the Idaho portion of the drive the speed limit would've been 75. That's not much over.

[Deberg_1990]

Newsflash! Teenagers drive stupid. Ill bet insurance companies have known this for years.

[DJ's left nut]

You can pay a hell of a lot of attention, but if you come up a hill and there's a !@#$ing tanker truck doing 15 on a highway, you're in a little bit of trouble either way.

No question that she shouldn't have been texting, but there but for the grace of God goes anyone that swears they'd have never hit that truck. A situation like that could pop up if you're simply changing the radio station or sneezing. A 65 mph difference closes in a hurry and 80 mph on an interstate is hardly unreasonable (I know I'm at 80-85 for most of my trip down 44 through OK or 35 through KS).

Those trucks that take their sweet-ass time on the highway are dangerous as hell. Especially when it's late and you're on hilly terrain where you kinda struggle to pick up distance as you go up and down over the hills and don't have a prolonged lock on whatever you're coming up on. It makes it really tough to gauge their speed.

[Johnny Vegas]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

You can pay a hell of a lot of attention, but if you come up a hill and there's a !@#$ing tanker truck doing 15 on a highway, you're in a little bit of trouble either way.

No question that she shouldn't have been texting, but there but for the grace of God goes anyone that swears they'd have never hit that truck. A situation like that could pop up if you're simply changing the radio station or sneezing. A 65 mph difference closes in a hurry and 80 mph on an interstate is hardly unreasonable (I know I'm at 80-85 for most of my trip down 44 through OK or 35 through KS).

Those trucks that take their sweet-ass time on the highway are dangerous as hell. Especially when it's late and you're on hilly terrain where you kinda struggle to pick up distance as you go up and down over the hills and don't have a prolonged lock on whatever you're coming up on. It makes it really tough to gauge their speed.

I've almost met the ass end of tons of 18 wheelers because they decide to pass another 18 wheeler going up a hill when I'm coming up on them and I'm at cruise control going 80. Their ****ing truck is going 30 up hill trying to pass another truck going 30 up hill. They have no respect for other motorists.

[Dr. Gigglepants]

Originally Posted by Johnny Vegas

I've almost met the ass end of tons of 18 wheelers because they decide to pass another 18 wheeler going up a hill when I'm coming up on them and I'm at cruise control going 80. Their ****ing truck is going 30 up hill trying to pass another truck going 30 up hill. They have no respect for other motorists.

Paging R8ers in 3, 2, 1...
Posted via Mobile Device

[R8RFAN]

Originally Posted by Johnny Vegas

I've almost met the ass end of tons of 18 wheelers because they decide to pass another 18 wheeler going up a hill when I'm coming up on them and I'm at cruise control going 80. Their ****ing truck is going 30 up hill trying to pass another truck going 30 up hill. They have no respect for other motorists.

You are driving too fast and we are only protecting the motoring public...

[Johnny Vegas]

Originally Posted by R8ers

You are driving too fast and we are only protecting the motoring public...

stuff it. 75 is the MPH and I pass cops going 80 without ever getting pulled over. 30 mph on the interstate is actually more dangerous than going 5 mph over the speed limit. Its absolutely against the law to go less than 45 on the interstate. Truck drivers won't ever pass another truck till a car gets about 100 feet from the trailer then only to cut off and have us slow down to and wait 15 miles for a trucker to pass another trucker. **** agendas. Stay out of the passing lane if you can't meet the speed.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Johnny Vegas

stuff it. 75 is the MPH and I pass cops going 80 without ever getting pulled over. 30 mph on the interstate is actually more dangerous than going 5 mph over the speed limit. Its absolutely against the law to go less than 45 on the interstate. Truck drivers won't ever pass another truck till a car gets about 100 feet from the trailer then only to get cut off and have to slow down to and wait 15 miles for a trucker to pass another trucker. **** agendas. Stay out of the passing lane if you can't meet the speed.

Truck drivers are, by and large, degenerate assholes.

Being lectured by one is similar to multiplying a negative by a negative.

If a truck driver thinks you are doing something wrong, chances are you're on the right track.

[R8RFAN]

Originally Posted by Johnny Vegas

stuff it. 75 is the MPH and I pass cops going 80 without ever getting pulled over. 30 mph on the interstate is actually more dangerous than going 5 mph over the speed limit. Its absolutely against the law to go less than 45 on the interstate. Truck drivers won't ever pass another truck till a car gets about 100 feet from the trailer then only to cut off and have us slow down to and wait 15 miles for a trucker to pass another trucker. **** agendas. Stay out of the passing lane if you can't meet the speed.

You still slowed down didn't you?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Johnny Vegas

stuff it. 75 is the MPH and I pass cops going 80 without ever getting pulled over. 30 mph on the interstate is actually more dangerous than going 5 mph over the speed limit. Its absolutely against the law to go less than 45 on the interstate. Truck drivers won't ever pass another truck till a car gets about 100 feet from the trailer then only to cut off and have us slow down to and wait 15 miles for a trucker to pass another trucker. **** agendas. Stay out of the passing lane if you can't meet the speed.

That is not "absolutely" true. It is in some areas, it isn't in others.

[R8RFAN]

Originally Posted by Johnny Vegas

stuff it. 75 is the MPH and I pass cops going 80 without ever getting pulled over. 30 mph on the interstate is actually more dangerous than going 5 mph over the speed limit. Its absolutely against the law to go less than 45 on the interstate. Truck drivers won't ever pass another truck till a car gets about 100 feet from the trailer then only to cut off and have us slow down to and wait 15 miles for a trucker to pass another trucker. **** agendas. Stay out of the passing lane if you can't meet the speed.

Also quit dragging ass in the hammer lane with your lights on bright and he wouldn't get out there.... You are a bad driver

[Toad]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

You can pay a hell of a lot of attention, but if you come up a hill and there's a !@#$ing tanker truck doing 15 on a highway, you're in a little bit of trouble either way.

No question that she shouldn't have been texting, but there but for the grace of God goes anyone that swears they'd have never hit that truck. A situation like that could pop up if you're simply changing the radio station or sneezing. A 65 mph difference closes in a hurry and 80 mph on an interstate is hardly unreasonable (I know I'm at 80-85 for most of my trip down 44 through OK or 35 through KS).

Those trucks that take their sweet-ass time on the highway are dangerous as hell. Especially when it's late and you're on hilly terrain where you kinda struggle to pick up distance as you go up and down over the hills and don't have a prolonged lock on whatever you're coming up on. It makes it really tough to gauge their speed.

Amen to that. I hate it when any driver creeps along on a highway. Drivers that cant handle the min speed should take a side road...Damn! I believe the min speed is like 45 on the Interstates.

Thanks for listening.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

You can pay a hell of a lot of attention, but if you come up a hill and there's a !@#$ing tanker truck doing 15 on a highway, you're in a little bit of trouble either way.

No question that she shouldn't have been texting, but there but for the grace of God goes anyone that swears they'd have never hit that truck. A situation like that could pop up if you're simply changing the radio station or sneezing. A 65 mph difference closes in a hurry and 80 mph on an interstate is hardly unreasonable (I know I'm at 80-85 for most of my trip down 44 through OK or 35 through KS).

Those trucks that take their sweet-ass time on the highway are dangerous as hell. Especially when it's late and you're on hilly terrain where you kinda struggle to pick up distance as you go up and down over the hills and don't have a prolonged lock on whatever you're coming up on. It makes it really tough to gauge their speed.

Exactly. The math behind the studies about how texting while driving is just as bad as drunk driving show your reaction time is only marginally worse... it takes a situation like this, where you might be ****ed no matter what you were doing.

Originally Posted by Johnny Vegas

stuff it. 75 is the MPH and I pass cops going 80 without ever getting pulled over. 30 mph on the interstate is actually more dangerous than going 5 mph over the speed limit. Its absolutely against the law to go less than 45 on the interstate. Truck drivers won't ever pass another truck till a car gets about 100 feet from the trailer then only to cut off and have us slow down to and wait 15 miles for a trucker to pass another trucker. **** agendas. Stay out of the passing lane if you can't meet the speed.

I wish people would do that more often... I passed a cop going about 2-3 over the other day, and I looked back a few minutes later and there were two lanes of about 20 cars each behind the cop.

And I've always wondered if that's a game with truck drivers... after noticing it several times, I'd sit back and watch one behind another for a couple of miles, just to speed up, and sure enough that's the exact moment they decide to play leapfrog.