Peter and JoAnn Bengtson have pushed for hands-free laws in Iowa since their daughter was killed in a distracted driving crash in 2020.
In 2020, Peter and JoAnn Bengtson’s lives changed forever.
They received a call informing them that their daughter, 28-year-old Ellen Bengtson was hit by a distracted driver while biking in Charles City.
She died hours later in the hospital.
(more BIKEIOWA News on Ellen)
Since then, Peter and JoAnn have pushed for hands-free driving laws in Iowa. It wasn’t until Tuesday that they say they finally felt some sort of relief.
We got the notification that that went into effect yesterday, it brought tears to my eyes knowing that that something out of the horrible... Ellen’s horrible death, something good could come out of that.” Peter said.
Since 2001, 122 people have died as a result of distracted driving.
But it’s not just the Bengtsons feeling that relief.
Deputy Mark Moses with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office was one of the first officers out on the roads enforcing this new law. He says this will ultimately save lives.