A mother’s love turned into Maggie’s Law
Carole McDonnell said the tragic loss of her daughter Maggie McDonnell, a dancer and the youngest of four siblings, will always remain an open wound in her heart.
McDonnell, of Turnersville, refused to call her daughter’s 1997 death in a car collision an accident. She instead referred to the incident as a car crash, because she said it could have been avoided. Since it happened, she has lobbied to expand laws against impaired driving.
Maggie, 20, a social work major at Gloucester County Community College, was driving around 11 a.m. July 2, 1997, to her part time job as a restaurant hostess when a driver crossed three lanes of traffic and hit her head-on.
Michael Coleman, who McDonnell said admitted he had been awake for 30 hours, fell asleep at the wheel prior to hitting Maggie with his car. After the first trial’s deadlocked jury, the second trial acquitted the driver and gave him a $200 fine for reckless driving. McDonnell was outraged and determined to prevent the incident from happening again. She was instrumental in passing Maggie’s Law, named after her daughter, passed in the state of New Jersey in 2003. The state law charges drivers with vehicular homicide if they kill an individual while sleep-deprived when behind the wheel.
Currently, McDonnell serves on the Gloucester County highway safety task force, volunteers in the county prosecutor’s office in the victim witness unit, and works part time at Kennedy Hospital as a patient advocate.
McDonnell has given speeches about safe driving, interviews on national television news, and gives presentations to students before prom season about not getting behind the wheel if they are in a state where they are unable to drive safely.
“The signing of Maggie’s Law was a healing moment for me, but there will never be closure. There is no such thing as closure when you bury a child. There’s no way around it; you work your way through it and you never get over it,” McDonnell said.
McDonnell encourages teen drivers to call their parents to pick them up if they are too tired to drive from a night of post-prom partying or studying for an exam.
Recently, McDonnell has worked with the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey to help launch its new Web site in July.
The association’s Web site, www.njteendriving.com, is designed to advise adults and parents on how to teach teens to be safe drivers on the road.
McDonnell will be featured on the site, providing her first-person account of what happened to her daughter and the creation of Maggie’s Law.
The site also features a map of common crash sites throughout the state, updates on new driving laws, ways to set a good driving example for teens, real stories of crash victims and their families, and a list of common distractions that teens may face while driving. In addition, a section detailing New Jersey’s graduated driver license program for new drivers is provided. The graduated driver’s license program requires new drivers to avoid using cell phones and other electronic devices, not have more than one additional person in the car, and refrain from driving between midnight and 5 a.m. A site created by the association, titled www.ugotbrains.com, was previously created directly for teens.
According to www.njteendriving.com, about 6,000 teens die in car accidents each year nationwide, and drivers in their first two years of having a license are at the highest risk of having an accident.
The association’s overall aim is to raise awareness about brain injuries by educating the public, and it offers support for family members of victims of brain injury, including navigation of insurance issues.
Spokesman for the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey Bill Kolbenschlag hopes that the site will encourage discussion among teens and parents.
“Our goal is to get across to parents how important their role is in keeping teens safe on the roads. A lot of people take on the “Why me?” attitude and say they are not responsible or say their child may not do it because they are a good kid,” he said. “It’s important to talk to all teens.”
Kolbenschlag said some of the most common distractions while driving are talking on a cell phone and having multiple friends in the car. He said teens can be made aware of these distractions through education on how to be safe on the roads.
McDonnell, of Turnersville, refused to call her daughter’s 1997 death in a car collision an accident. She instead referred to the incident as a car crash, because she said it could have been avoided. Since it happened, she has lobbied to expand laws against impaired driving.
Maggie, 20, a social work major at Gloucester County Community College, was driving around 11 a.m. July 2, 1997, to her part time job as a restaurant hostess when a driver crossed three lanes of traffic and hit her head-on.
Michael Coleman, who McDonnell said admitted he had been awake for 30 hours, fell asleep at the wheel prior to hitting Maggie with his car. After the first trial’s deadlocked jury, the second trial acquitted the driver and gave him a $200 fine for reckless driving. McDonnell was outraged and determined to prevent the incident from happening again. She was instrumental in passing Maggie’s Law, named after her daughter, passed in the state of New Jersey in 2003. The state law charges drivers with vehicular homicide if they kill an individual while sleep-deprived when behind the wheel.
Currently, McDonnell serves on the Gloucester County highway safety task force, volunteers in the county prosecutor’s office in the victim witness unit, and works part time at Kennedy Hospital as a patient advocate.
McDonnell has given speeches about safe driving, interviews on national television news, and gives presentations to students before prom season about not getting behind the wheel if they are in a state where they are unable to drive safely.
“The signing of Maggie’s Law was a healing moment for me, but there will never be closure. There is no such thing as closure when you bury a child. There’s no way around it; you work your way through it and you never get over it,” McDonnell said.
McDonnell encourages teen drivers to call their parents to pick them up if they are too tired to drive from a night of post-prom partying or studying for an exam.
Recently, McDonnell has worked with the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey to help launch its new Web site in July.
The association’s Web site, www.njteendriving.com, is designed to advise adults and parents on how to teach teens to be safe drivers on the road.
McDonnell will be featured on the site, providing her first-person account of what happened to her daughter and the creation of Maggie’s Law.
The site also features a map of common crash sites throughout the state, updates on new driving laws, ways to set a good driving example for teens, real stories of crash victims and their families, and a list of common distractions that teens may face while driving. In addition, a section detailing New Jersey’s graduated driver license program for new drivers is provided. The graduated driver’s license program requires new drivers to avoid using cell phones and other electronic devices, not have more than one additional person in the car, and refrain from driving between midnight and 5 a.m. A site created by the association, titled www.ugotbrains.com, was previously created directly for teens.
According to www.njteendriving.com, about 6,000 teens die in car accidents each year nationwide, and drivers in their first two years of having a license are at the highest risk of having an accident.
The association’s overall aim is to raise awareness about brain injuries by educating the public, and it offers support for family members of victims of brain injury, including navigation of insurance issues.
Spokesman for the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey Bill Kolbenschlag hopes that the site will encourage discussion among teens and parents.
“Our goal is to get across to parents how important their role is in keeping teens safe on the roads. A lot of people take on the “Why me?” attitude and say they are not responsible or say their child may not do it because they are a good kid,” he said. “It’s important to talk to all teens.”
Kolbenschlag said some of the most common distractions while driving are talking on a cell phone and having multiple friends in the car. He said teens can be made aware of these distractions through education on how to be safe on the roads.
