Putting a Face on Distracted Driving's Heavy Toll [VIDEO]

(Nov. 16) -- On this page, we've published several op-eds on the huge toll distracted driving is taking on the country's highways and byways.

Traffic safety expert Leonard Evans, for example, noted that "driving while distracted is not like drunk driving -- it is far worse." Drunk drivers tend be on the road at night, when few other people are on the road. But distracted driving is a 24/7 problem, and as a result, "the victims of distracted driving are in all too many cases random road users behaving responsibly."

In another piece, Mark Grabowski pointed out how, despite the risks, distracted driving is treated far less harshly than drunk driving. "Typically, texters only pay a fine similar to a minor speeding offense."

And Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told how in one year alone, distracted driving "led to an estimated 6,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries in the U.S. -- probably all of them preventable."

But while these words are important, images are often far more powerful. And the Department of Transportation has done an important public service by collecting videos of those whose lives have been shattered by distracted drivers. In the one below, a daughter tells how her 58-year-old mother was killed instantly while on a hike by a distracted teenager going 70 mph. Other videos can be found on the DOT website, and LaHood wants families to share their stories.

You would do well to watch them all before taking that cell phone out while behind the wheel.