(Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series on Distracted Driving.)
Demetrius Branca is on a mission to make Florida a hands-free driving state.
In early February, the dad from Tallahassee, appeared before the St. Johns County Commission urging them to adopt a resolution supporting state laws that would make it illegal to hold or use a mobile device while driving.
The pit stop was one of many on Branca’s journey through the Sunshine State urging the passage of stricter laws and penalties for distracted drivers, along with making Florida a hands-free driving state.
In 2014, just one month shy of his 20th birthday, Anthony, Branca’s second son, was killed by a distracted driver. Branca told the St. Augustine Record that the driver was so “engrossed in his phone,” he never saw Anthony stopped in front of him as he sat on his motorcycle waiting to make a legal left turn. He simply hit and ran over Anthony “before his head even popped up.”
“The driver never saw him,” he said. “He never hit the brakes, swerved or skidded. He hit Anthony and coasted to a stop,” Branca said. “Anthony was dead within 20 minutes of impact. The driver’s excuse that his brakes didn’t work never panned out. There was no indication of anything other than the obvious, the driver’s head was down because he was looking at his phone.”
The driver was fined $1,100 and had his license suspended for six months for careless driving.
“Not reckless driving,” Branca said. “Careless driving, which is a moving violation, a misdemeanor. He killed my son with no consequences.”
Branca said that his world plunged into a “really dark place,” as Anthony was not Branca’s first loss. Alex, Anthony’s older brother by a year, went to sleep as an infant and never woke up.
“I plunged into an existential place after the death of Alex, not knowing what was up or down,” he said. “The birth of Anthony and the United States Air Force saved my life. And now, my Anthony was gone. My life became a disastrous freefall.”
Branca described Anthony as an amazing kid; confident, full of love and laughter, fun, creative, clever, joyful and kind.
“We were best friends,” he said. “He understood me in ways no one else ever has.”
Six months following Anthony’s death, a classmate and fellow band member reached out to Branca, sharing a letter written by Anthony to welcome the incoming freshman and her twin brother. “Nothing is impossible,” he wrote. “Impossible is a word used by the weak to justify giving up. Never give up.”
Branca described the letter as quintessential Anthony, reaching across the chasm between life and death to share a message meant only for him.
“Anthony saved my life twice, once before he was born and once after his death,” he said. “Those words turned my life around. To this day, they serve as the seeds that keep me going.”
“This is self-preservation,” he said. “This is for my own sanity.”
Branca’s lobbying efforts paid off. In 2019, texting and driving became a primary offense in Florida and school and work areas became hands-free zones. But the grieving father wasn’t done.
During the 2024 legislative session, a comprehensive, hands-free bill, written by then-Sen. Robert Bradley, R-Green Cove Springs, and bearing Anthony’s name, was filed excluding drivers from “fiddling with anything, pets on your lap, putting on make-up, shaving and eating.”
“The law stated that you can’t do anything other than drive,” Branca said.
The “commonsense solution to the deadly epidemic plaguing every Florida community” sailed through all three committee assignments with unopposed, bipartisan, unanimous support.
“If passed, the bill would have yielded immediate and measurable life-saving results,” Branca said.
The bill, however, never even became an agenda Item, a decision Branca said “sentences families of fatalities caused by distracted drivers to the same painful existence and hellish life I’ve lived in the years since Anthony’s death.”
“Distraction is the root of the problem,” he said. “People drive Florida’s dangerous highway stretches with their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road. The beautiful white light that was my son Anthony was extinguished by someone distracted by a phone.”
Defeated but undeterred, Branca began his “grassroots, county by county, municipality by municipality” journey urging commissioners to voice their support to enforce penalties for driving distracted while making Florida a hands-free state.
And despite gaining traction, the “big fish aren’t biting.”
“There’s a flawed perception that the government shouldn’t regulate what people do in their car, which is absurd because we’re already told what to do,” he said. “We must wear a seat belt, and we can’t drive drunk. Officers can look in our cars and test our blood. So, what’s the difference?”
Branca told St. Johns County commissioners the county’s 2024 driving stats: 3,638 crashes that resulted in 1,912 injuries and 23 fatalities. The state of Florida ranks 43rd for driving fatalities with an average of 10 deaths per day in vehicle crashes.
“States enforcing Hands Free laws see an immediate reduction in traffic deaths by up to 25%,” Branca said. “Hands-Free legislation with steep penalties dissuades drivers from using hand-held devices while driving. The math is simple and so is the solution.”
Branca said that nothing will stop him until government officials adopt resolutions for hands-free driving zones and Tallahassee passes a comprehensive hands-free driving law.
“We must commit ourselves to the lives of our family and friends, to Floridians, and visitors alike,” he said. “I didn’t choose this path. This path chose me. We need to protect our children.”
Commissioner Christian Whitehurst confirmed that the County Commission gave consensus to send a letter of support for a bill that is working its way through Florida’s legislature.
The St. Augustine Record reached out to the Florida Department of Transportation for a statement regarding information and statistics on distracted driving.
“It is proven that texting while driving and any other displays of distracted driving are dangerous,” wrote Jacob Pickering, community outreach specialist with the Florida Department of Transportation, via email. “While FDOT is not a law enforcement agency, local law enforcement can also receive safety concerns directly from interested parties and assist with enforcement. FDOT reminds all users of the roadway that it takes all roadway users acting safely and responsibly to get home safely.”
Pickering reviewed FDOT’s statewide Target Zero safety initiative designed to reduce the number of serious injuries to zero.
“Target Zero allows us to align resources and establishes actions for all safety partners to take steps to improve how Florida connects, interacts, plans, designs, operates and maintains its transportation system,” he wrote. “Additionally, FDOT is committed to working with law enforcement to eliminate distracted driving and encourage all roadway users to take accountability for the safety of everyone on the roadway.”
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: County by county, one man crusades against distracted driving in Florida