GRANDVIEW, Mo. — Stephany Bening’s life changed forever on May 13, 2021. That's when a driver distracted by her phone hit and killed Bening’s husband, Mike, as he was picking up something from a lane of southbound Interstate 49 in Cass County.
“My daughter is actually the one who called me and said, 'Something’s happened to dad,'” Bening said, remembering that night.
She joined Hands-Free Missouri to lobby legislators for a new law that bans texting and driving. Previously, Missouri law only banned drivers under the age of 21 from using their phone.
“I really want the world to know that we have a choice to be victims or victors,” Bening said. “I don’t want to raise a bunch of victims and I don’t want to be a victim. I want to be a victor. How can we use our story to change history and to change the world?"
Bening helped change history this summer with passage of a new law that took effect Monday.
It's called the Siddens Bening Hands Free Law, which prohibits drivers from physically touching their phone in most circumstances and requires drivers to use hands-free devices to talk on the phone or use voice-to-text technology to create messages.
“I just lost it; I cried so hard,” Bening said upon learning the law bearing his late husband's name passed. “It was like, ‘Oh my word, our name is going to be forever in history.’"
Bening, a mother of two and devout Christian, met the woman who killed Mike this summer at a court hearing. She hugged the woman and forgave her.
“I’ve been guilty of being on my phone when I drive," Bening said. "I’m probably a worst offender, so, for me, it’s like what kind of grace would I want someone to give me."
While the new law goes into effect today, law enforcement will not start writing tickets for violations until Jan. 1, 2025. The next 16 months there will be a grace period for law enforcement to educate drivers and issue warnings to violators.
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