Kathi B. Wright

May 5, 2002 was that day that changed everything for Kathi Wright, Education Director of the Don’t Drive Drowsy Foundation, and her family.  Kyle, her 17-year-old nephew, lost his life that night to a young driver that fell asleep at the wheel.  Kyle had been out for a walk around the block with his friend, and the driver had been awake for far too long.

As the shock of Kyle’s death became a reality, Kathi thought about the times she had been sleepy behind the wheel and wondered why we rarely, if ever, hear anything about drowsy driving.  With 1.2 million drowsy driving crashes a year and 84 million fatigued drivers on the road every day, someone should be talking about this!

After retiring from 32 years in the education field, Kathi began educating teens on the dangers of driving sleep impaired.   At the 2018 TN Lifesaver’s Conference, Kathi was the recipient of the ‘Making A Difference Award’ by the TN Highway Safety Office and the TN Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

While Kathi and her family will never get to see Kyle graduate high school and college, or marry and have a family, they will keep his memory alive by telling his story to teens and young drivers. Kyle’s untimely death could have been prevented if more drivers were aware of the deadly consequences of drowsy driving.  The Kyle W. Kiihnl Memorial Foundation, now the Don’t Drive Drowsy Foundation, has made it their mission to save lives by educating drivers about the dangers of driving sleep impaired.  Kathi has a 45 minute presentation in which she talks to high school students about the dangers of driving sleep impaired and ways to avoid a drowsy driving crash.  She also speaks to elementary and middle school children on the benefits of sleep.

The Don’t Drive Drowsy Foundation is an advocate for later high school start times.

Please visit www.kylekiihnlfoundation.org for more information and remember,

Don’t Drive Drowsy ~Just Pull Over.