Written by The Houston Chronicle is reporting:
In the days after Lisa Torry Smith was struck and killed by a driver while walking her 6-year-old son to school, her family pledged to do something to prevent more senseless deaths.
Joining forces with Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton, the woman’s husband, sister and parents spoke with state lawmakers, launched a letter-writing campaign and testified at the Texas Capitol to push for a new law that would make it easier to prosecute drivers who injure a pedestrian or cyclist in a crosswalk.
On June 18, Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Lisa Torry Smith Act into law. It goes into effect Sept. 1.
“I just hope that this saves more lives,” said Elaine Brooks, the woman’s mother, during a Tuesday news conference in Richmond. “Because the grief that we feel will always be with us. And it’s good to know that there will be families that down the road will be spared deaths.”