One Utah woman’s creative solution to distracted driving
Nov 27, 2024, 3:00 PM
(Tori Merrill)
(Tori Merrill)
PLESANT GROVE, Utah — A Pleasant Grove woman has a creative solution for distracted driving. She is making drawstring bags to store phones and other devices.
Tori Merrill said that she and her son came up with the design for the phone-sized ‘focus bags’ about five years ago. She has since handmade about 4,000 bags and teamed up with Utah’s Zero Fatalities program to distribute them.
“I have teenage drivers and so its important to me that they’re safe and that they’re being safe,” said Merrill. “It’s just something in my gut that says I need to keep doing this.”
According to the state of Utah, each year between 2017 and 2021, an average of 15 deaths were caused by distracted driving. Merrill hopes that her bags save lives.
“[Losing someone] would be devastating. I can’t even imagine losing a loved one,” said Merrill.
