It’s National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. The National Safety Council, with the endorsement of the U.S. Congress and the help of many organizations, is working hard to spread the word that talking, texting and anything else that distracts you from driving is dangerous – and can be deadly.
 

Oprah’s been a huge mover and shaker on the topic, with 187,654 people taking her No Phone Zone Pledge since January.

Pat and Doug Ralls of Brentwood also have a pledge card. They unveiled it Friday when they presented their first of several planned presentations on inherent dangers of distracted driving to Brentwood Academy’s upper school student body.
 

The Ralls know first hand what a distracted driver can do. Last October, one was responsible for the death of their 23-year-old son Brian, a 2005 BA grad.
 

The couple took turns sharing statistics and information with the students, coordinating it with a PowerPoint presentation.
 

Doug Ralls noted that more people died in 2008 because of distracted drivers than the number of U.S. solders who died that year in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 

“This is a war that is completely, 100 percent preventable,” he said.
 

“We obviously have a huge reason to be passionate about this,” said Pat Ralls, who admitted to the students that before Brian’s death she often talked on her cell phone while driving. She said she thought she was being careful. Now she knows better.
 

She made the audience uncomfortable by asking them a question.
 

“If you were on your cell phone and if something like this were to happen to you, think what your parents would feel like. Think would you might feel like if, being distracted yourself, you killed someone.
 

“One young woman died after texting a person Y-E-A-H. Yeah. Boom.
 

“Was that really worth it? No.”
 

 The Ralls shared information from the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s interview with the young woman who was driving the Jeep that crashed into Brian’s car.
 

She told investigators that her cell phone rang and she reached for it to give it to her boyfriend. She remembers driving onto the median then trying unsuccessfully to correct her path. She doesn’t remember anything after that.
 

“That two-second mistake, that two seconds of carelessness, took our son’s life.” Doug Ralls said. “She has to live with this for the rest of her life.”
 

The Ralls are now dedicating themselves to help prevent the tragedy they experienced from happening to other parents.
 

They support new laws banning the use of cell phones while driving. Currently, nine states ban the use of hand-held devices; five have partial bans. Twenty-three states, including Tennessee, ban texting while driving, with nine having partial bans, Doug shared.
 

“It’s time for Tennessee to lead instead of follow. It’s time for you to make a difference,” he challenged the students.

They have quietly started a bumper sticker campaign, providing bumper stickers with the message: “Distracted Driving Kills; If You’re Driving, Hang Up Your Phone” with a picture of Brian.
 

Pat Falls told the students that in order to get one, people have to be willing to have on their car and have to be willing to pay attention.
 

The couple then shared pictures and memories of Brian. They flashed photos of him as the 2005 Div. II state discus champion, standing beside second-place finisher Michael Oher of The Blind Side and NFL fame. There were pictures of Brian as a BA football player and from his graduation in cap and gown. There was a picture of him and his mom.
 

The last two slides told a different story. There was one of the accident scene -- of Brian’s light blue BMW crushed almost beyond recognition. The second was of “where Brian’s remains are now,” his dad said softly. The picture was of the Columbarium in the Prayer Garden at Brentwood United Methodist Church.
 

“This is something we never, ever thought would happen and something that was completely preventable,” Doug Ralls concluded.

“So what can you do? You can take the pledge,” he said.
 

He also encouraged the students to share what they learned with their families.
 

“There’s not a lot of awareness… Talk to your parents about it. Parents can be some of the worst offenders,” he said. “They do it not because they are out to hurt someone but because they don’t know any better.
 

Doug told the students about the Facebook group page, “Stop Phoning and Driving – In Memory of Brian,” he created. He links to current stories on the issue. On Friday, it had 667 members.
 

In closing, BA Headmaster Curt Masters asked the students to think about the preciousness of life. “I hope you’ll take it to heart and follow through with the pledge cards.”
 

The Ralls will give their presentation to the Ravenwood student body before the end of school and to Brentwood High students in the fall.

To read BHP's previous interview with Doug and Pat Ralls, click here.