Highline High School students coming out of the cafeteria after lunch on Monday, Dec. 13 were drawn to Heather Mae Lerch's dream car, parked at the curb.

Heather had bought her dream car, a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt SS, as a 19-birthday present for herself. She had worked hard, graduating with honors from Tumwater High School and was attending Centralia College.
Getting off work from her job at a Tumwater Subway sandwich shop about 10 p.m. on Feb. 23, she was on her way home on a familiar road.

About two miles from home, Heather lost control of the car on a curve. The car flipped and Heather was killed. Her parents checked the call log on her cell phone and determined she had been reading and sending texts on her phone right up to the moment of the fatal crash.

Now, Trooper B.L. Kessler of the Washington State Patrol had towed the horribly mangled car to the high school in Burien as a powerful visual demonstration of what can happen when anyone texts while driving.
The Highline students peered into the shattered windows and read the information panels describing the dangers of texting while driving and a biographical sketch of Heather.

Some took photos of the totaled car with their cell phones. Some texted their friends about what they were seeing.

"Some students are expecting a D.U.I car," Trooper Kessler noted. "The ones who don't drink suddenly realize the dangers in texting, too.

"This opens up a lot of their eyes. With their friends around, they don't want to say anything but they go away with an idea of the actual reality."

Kessler said she has taken the car to about seven high schools. It has also appeared at the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup and the state capitol building in Olympia.