Milwaukee City Wire

Cynthia Williams is determined to do all she can to make sure no other parent has to feel what she has felt.

Well past a decade since she lost her then-teenage son to distracted driving in 2006, Williams is still working overtime to curb the problem.

She recently sponsored a mock car crash outside Washington High School through the "Love from Afar, the Christopher Williams Foundation," to educate young people on distracted driving and how it can kill. The foundation also oversees Parents against Distracted Driving, or PADD.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says that one in five crashes involves distracted driving, and a distracted-driving crash happens across the state every 22 minutes, a recent report on tmj4.com said.

While the Foundation and PADD both list comforting grieving parents as being at the top of their mission, there is also hope that the mock car demonstrations will move teens to think before they engage in such reckless behavior.

"I think we need to start tackling things that are in our homes—any race, age, or gender—that are causing them to get in the car and drive distracted," Williams told TMJ4. "Life is just heavy these days."

As for her son, Williams reflected that there isn't a day that goes by where she doesn't still think of him, recalling the teen who always took great pride in his appearance.

"I think the best points were him liking to look good physically," she said, sitting in front of a portrait of him.

Williams noted that none of it is easy for anyone forced to have to go through it.

"It's a big memorial, everybody is there after the first day or two," she told TMJ4. "But the week after the mashed potatoes and chicken is gone, and the pastor is gone, and the funeral is gone, you are by yourself. Get the proper resources that you and your family need so you do not continue to create legacies of grief and pain."