FORT WORTH, Texas — The dark side of spring break is one that claims hundreds of Texas lives each year.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) just launched its statewide “Drive Sober. No Regrets” spring break drunk driving prevention campaign. It’s an issue that's close to home for Shenica Trammell. She lost her son Charles Trammell III to a drunk driving accident in August of 2022.
“It still hurts, it's still painful, it's still unimaginable. It still is unbelievable,” said Trammell.
Charles was a defensive tackle for Texas Wesleyan University. He was just beginning his senior year of college, but the 20-year-old’s bright future was tragically cut short. His mother still remembers getting the phone call.
“We just knew we had to get to Fort Worth. Didn't know the extent, just it was an accident.”
The family rushed from San Antonio to North Texas. They soon learned Charles had been helping a friend change a flat tire when he was hit by a drunk driver on the US-287 ramp to westbound Interstate 30. The impact pushed Charles over the bridge, a 60-foot fall.
The 28-year-old driver that hit him, Miguel Lopez, was convicted and is currently serving an 8-year sentence. Police say he fled to a nearby campus parking lot.
“He kept going and jumped out of his vehicle and tried to run away. But he was captured. He was caught by the police,” said Trammell.
Studies show most drunk driving accidents happen after dark, and the numbers often go up during popular travel times like spring break.
TxDOT’s most recent data is staggering. In 2022, Dallas saw almost 4,000 alcohol-related crashes, and nearly 200 people died. Fort Worth had close to 2,000 DUI collisions with 56 fatalities, according to TxDOT. Statewide numbers reveal a 42% increase from the year before in alcohol-related traffic deaths during spring break.
Trammell is hoping her story will help raise awareness.
“My message is, please don't…don't make a temporary decision that will affect another person's life permanently,” she said.
She also says her son will be remembered as someone who always put others before himself.
“The light that he illuminated, always helping people, always doing whatever he can to make you laugh, to help people, and that's what we time we taught him was serve," Trammell said.
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