When David (Dave) Muslovski woke up on June 17, 2010, he never thought that it would be his last day to be alive. As the founder and owner of Iron City Wood Products in Youngstown, Ohio, he was familiar with hard work and was in the process of training to one day hike the entire Appalachian Trail, all five million steps.
Tina Yanssens, Dave’s daughter and vice president of the company, remembered, “My dad walked seven miles to work every day and seven miles home every evening to get into shape and live out his dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail for his retirement. He had a map of the trail framed and hung next to his door to motivate himself every day before walking out the door.”
Unfortunately, tragedy struck when Dave Muslovski was killed while on a morning walk by a nineteen-year-old woman who was texting while driving. Yanssens said, “I didn’t even have a cell phone that could send text messages at the time. I had never heard of distracted driving. I started paying attention when I was driving on Route 680, which is the interstate to get from my house to work. I started realizing, ‘Oh my God, everyone’s on their cell phone.’ I actually can admit that I got so upset when my dad was killed that I had a hard time even having a phone in the car with me.”
After the incident, Yanssens and her family immediately started campaigns to raise awareness and pass laws to crack down on distracted driving. They started the David S. Muslovski Charitable Foundation, which is dedicated to preventing distracted driving as well as providing scholarships for people going to trade schools.
Yanssens explained, “Texting while driving is the worst form of distracted driving. It requires you to take your eyes off the road, take your hands off the wheel, and your mind is not focused on what you are doing.”
Why trade schools? Yanssens said, “My dad was not college educated. I mean, he went to community college,but he was a diesel mechanic by trade. For his entire life, he had an affinity for hard work and blue-collar workers. He really connected. We do a lot of business with the steel mills, and my dad loved just being able to get into the mill and talk to the guys.”
After the accident, she turned her family tragedy into fuel to tackle the distracted driving issue. She became an immediate advocate on the local, state and national levels for passing distracted driving laws. She lobbied then Governor John Kasich to pass the first distracted driving law in Ohio. She also traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with the director of the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board for a distracted driving panel they were hosting. Yanssens has talked to various groups, including local rotary clubs, customers and vendors, as well as numerous high schools.
Yanssens noted, “We have rented distracted driving simulators for various high schools in our area during prom and graduation season. To round out our message, we had our tractor trailers lettered to warn about the dangers of distracted driving and were on the forefront of distracted driving policies with our own employees while in company-owned vehicles.”
Since Yanssens first started lobbying on the issue, Ohio has passed revised laws making distracted driving a primary offense. This allows police to pull over violators for distracted driving without having to find another reason. Yanssens recalled, “Ohio’s distracted driving laws initially were so weak that they were very difficult for the police to enforce.” Also, making it a primary offense allows for advocates on the issue to tap into federal funds to support greater education and enforcement.
Currently, the foundation is focused on education. Yanssens noted, “My mom retired, and the hope is that she is going to pick up and run with the foundation now full time.” Working on this issue and speaking out about it has provided healing for Tina Yanssens. She admitted, “The more you talk about it, the more it allows for healing.”
For information on the foundation, email tina@ironcitywoodproducts.com
