86,384<\/a>\u00a0crashes\u00a0in 2025. TxDOT is reaching out to motorists this month through commercials, billboards and a mobile exhibit featuring a driving simulator that brings the dangers of distracted driving to life.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re behind the wheel, you should be completely focused on just one thing: driving,\u201d said TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams. \u201cRoad hazards and obstacles require quick thinking and reaction time, and just a few seconds can be the difference between life and death. I promise that text message or bite of food can wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
The driver who hit Dee’s family suffered no major injuries. Initially, the driver denied allegations of distracted driving, saying he was looking out the window or fiddling with the radio. Dee said he admitted more than a year after the accident that he\u00a0was texting and driving.<\/p>\n
“We went out as a family of five and came back as a family of three,\u201d Dee said.<\/p>\n
Officers told the family they did not take the driver\u2019s phone after the accident because the law did not allow it at the time. Two minutes before the accident occurred, records show the driver received a text message and was in the process of responding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took\u00a0two\u00a0lives,\u201d\u00a0Kevin\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cHe got behind the wheel, texting on the freeway and killed two people.\u00a0[Gabbi] will never have any kids, and neither will [Alex]… He took so much from me, from both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sitting under a pavilion in Capp Smith Park, Dee and Kevin laughed at how cliche they sound saying Alex and Gabbi were good kids, but insisted it was true. The family would come to the park often to train and participate in local fun run events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The family called Alex \u201cTender Heart\u201d when he was growing up. As he got older, Alex got more involved with music. He played the guitar, piano, drums and accordion. Before his death, Alex was pursuing a career in music, writing songs and playing in a band.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAny type of\u00a0music,\u00a0he loved,\u201d Dee said, laughing as she recalled the memory of her oldest son. \u201cEven when he was walking around with no guitar,\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0be playing the air guitar.\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0ask\u00a0him,\u00a0\u2018What are you doing?\u2019 and\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0say,\u00a0\u2018I\u2019m thinking about a song\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dee referred to Gabbi as her best friend and \u201ca five-foot-zero ball of fire\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lived vicariously through her life because she was just so fun,\u201d Dee said. \u201cShe was so fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabbi attended the Art Institute of Fort Worth to pursue a career in photography, and worked at a Walgreens in Haltom City. Growing up, she took photos of everything, expressing her \u201cartistic vision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
More than 10 years have passed since the crash. Healing has not been a linear process, but\u00a0Dee and Kevin managed to pick up the pieces and carry on. Kevin said the three of them became closer after the crash than they had ever been before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Working with TxDOT to share their story has been a part of\u00a0Dee\u2019s\u00a0healing\u00a0process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“When I saw my children in that coffin, I told them I was going to be their voice,\u201d Dee said. \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0not telling you my story for sympathy,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0telling you my story because I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want you to be the next person to have to tell your story. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want you to have a story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dee Devilla-Estelle sat in the passenger seat of her red Ford Fusion and kept repeating to herself, \u201cthis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[122,27,29,28,88572,89217,975,840,271],"class_list":["post-264712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-tarrant-county","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tp-transportation","tag-tp-tarrant-county","tag-traffic-accidents","tag-transportation","tag-txdot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}