ORLANDO, Fla. – For Central Florida mother Brook Stealey, working to make sure what happened to her 21-year-old daughter Haley Boggs never happens to another driver, is one way she copes with the loss.
Boggs and a friend were driving in Pennsylvania in April 2022 when her car broke down on the side of the road.
“Went back to their car to get their phones and that is when the distracted driver struck and hit them,” Stealey said. “It’s been life altering, for sure. It’s something that we don’t want any family to have to go through. It’s the whole reason we started Haley’s Light.”
Haley’s Light is a nonprofit organization committed to raising awareness about highway safety and providing crucial information on how to navigate the challenging situation when a vehicle becomes disabled. The mission is clear: to spare other families the pain and grief associated with accidents by empowering them with knowledge and tools.
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“She, most of the time, put others before herself and I wanted there to be meaning in this,” Stealey said.
So they worked to come up with a solution to help drivers stay safe if they’re ever stranded on the side of the road: a special magnetic safety light drivers can attach to their cars to make them more visible.
“It was the angle of how the car had broken down, that the hazard lights weren’t as visible as they should be,” said Stealey, talking about Boggs’ crash. “We all know there are situations where the hazard lights don’t work if your battery’s dead, so that’s why we came up with a product as well.”
Stealey showed News 6′s Mark Lehman how it works.
“This button here takes you through all the different modes of the light,” Stealey said. “If you needed to place multiple around your vehicle in the road like this, you can do that.”
“Kind of like a road flare,” said Lehman.
“Yeah, absolutely.”
Now Haley’s Light has teamed up with the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) to get even more results with the lights. CFX’s Road Rangers will distribute the safety lights to drivers they are assisting on the expressway system.
“This powerful, yet simple, solution has the ability to remind people to move over for drivers who are stopped on the roadway after dark,” said Michelle Maikisch, CFX executive director. “Utilizing our Road Rangers to distribute these lights to the drivers they are assisting on the side of the road is just one way we can make our roads safe for everyone whether they are traveling on our system or elsewhere.”
For Stealey, having added support on their mission means the world.
“With so many people working together, we’ll have the ability to bring this down to zero,” Stealey said. “We’re just so very thankful for their partnership. it means everything. This means the world and I feel change.... change is going to happen.”
“What do you hope is the message that drivers take away from this?” Mark Lehman asked.
“That we need to, as families, we have to start talking about this. This is not just parents and their children. This is everyone in families. If it can happen to Haley, I stand here as my testimony, it can happen to anyone,” Stealey said. “I take each success story of someone using Hailey’s Light as we saved a life.”
You can also purchase lights for yourself or loved ones starting at $11.00 with deals for purchasing multiple lights. You can purchase them here.
To learn more about this initiative by CFX or Haley’s Light, visit CFX’s website.
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