The cheerleaders at Timber Creek are taking their texting and driving campaign to the state level.
The Text Free For Tita campaign was started earlier this year by members of the TCHS Cheer and All-Star Champion Cheerleading squad after losing a member of their All-Star cheer team to texting and driving in April of 2016.
Now the Champion Cheer Leadership team is helping to put their movement into action by creating a petition calling for Texas State officials to make a law banning the use of handheld electronics while driving.
Timber Creek student Nicole Butterbaugh, a member of the Champion Cheer Leadership team, spoke about her team’s strong feelings toward the cause.
“We knew that we wanted to make a difference. We didn’t want anyone else to feel the losses we had due to something as preventable as texting and driving,” Butterbaugh said.
Texas is one of four states in the US that does not have a law against texting and driving. There are laws currently in place that limit cell phone use and prohibit new drivers, bus drivers and people driving in a school zone from using their phones. However, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an average of 1,161 are injured and eight people are killed every day due to distracted driving, and the fatality count is continuing to rise.
The team strive to get 20,000 signatures on their online petition by Nov. 21, 2016. The website, change.org, will send the petition straight to Texas State Officials as soon as the goal is met.
“We actually have a limit of 30 days to reach our goal,” said Butterbaugh, “We have a public show off event called Gold Gala this weekend at the Fort Worth Convention Center.”
The team are also partnering with six other Texas All-Star Cheerleading gyms throughout Texas to show a booth at their show offs promoting the petition.
“We know that if we work together we could do something big about texting and driving,” said Butterbaugh.
View and sign the petition here: