A Deadly Wandering, by Matt Richtel

A Deadly Wandering tells the story of a young man named Reggie Shaw who was texting while driving to work one morning. He was weaving from side to side on a highway in Utah, and eventually side-swiped a car going in the other direction, causing it to go into a spin. The spinning car crossed into the other lane and was T-boned by a truck pulling a trailer with tons of heavy equipment. The momentum of the crash killed the two men in the car instantly. Reggie was barely scratched.

Author Matt Richtel had previously investigated how texting and other distractions affect driving. In A Deadly Wandering he delves deeply into the research of attention as well as the growing public awareness of the dangers of distracted driving. At the time of the crash depicted in this book, only one state had outlawed texting while driving, but cases like this would bring about a rapid change in the laws across the country.

Mr. Richtel also tells Reggie's story. For more than a year he was in denial that his texting caused the crash. He denied texting at the time of the crash and it was only when it was proven through the cell carrier's phone records that he had been sending and receiving texts at the time of the crash that he took responsibility for his actions. Since then he has become an evangelist for driving safety and regularly speaks to young people about the dangers of driving and texting.

Withe A Deadly Wandering, Mr. Richtel brings together not only Reggie's story, but also those of the victims and their advocates who wanted only to find justice. Combined with the story of the neuroscientists who are investigating the impact of distraction on the human brain, this book is a warning for anyone who has been tempted to answer the phone or look at a text while driving.

Matt Richtel. A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention. New York: William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, 2014. Advance Reader's Edition. 389 pages. ISBN 9780062284068.