The walk along Picciola Road is usually quiet at 7 a.m., marked only by the hum of early commuters and the humid stir of the Florida morning.
For 25-year-old Austin Gage Hunnewell Foden, it was a routine path to a job he worked to support the two young daughters he adored.
He never made it to the clock-in.
In a single, violent instant on Sept. 22, 2022, a vehicle drifted. There was no screech of brakes, only an impact so forceful it threw Austin over the car and into a reality his family is still struggling to navigate. The driver, authorities would later determine, was distracted.
For Austin’s mother, Lorie Hunnewell, the tragedy didn’t end with the sirens. It began a secondary, more agonizing journey through a legal system, being shuffled between Lake County and the cities of Leesburg and Fruitland Park and legal outcomes that treat “distraction” as an accident rather than a choice.
But most of all, hers is a personal battle with the silence of words left unsaid.
‘We were so much alike’
To know Austin was to know a man who lived with grease under his fingernails and a fishing pole in his hand. A gifted mechanic, he had a mechanical mind and a laugh that friends say was “infectious.” But like many mothers and sons who share the same stubborn streak, Lorie and Austin (who also went by “Gage”) were at odds when the accident happened.
“We butted heads because we were so much alike,” Hunnewell shared in a recent memorial for End Distracted Driving. That similarity is now a source of haunting “what-ifs.”
Hunnewell carries the weight of a relationship that was “not on the best of terms” at the moment of impact. It is a specific type of grief — the kind that comes when the chance to say “I’m sorry” or “I love you” is stolen by a stranger’s phone screen.
“I carry so much guilt because we were not on the best of terms,” Hunnewell says. “I didn’t get that chance to fix things.”
Since Austin’s death, Hunnewell has adopted Picciola Cutoff Road in his memory and hosts cleanups along it. The next clean-up will be in September, the anniversary month of the accident. Visit her public Facebook page for updates.
For Hunnewell, advocating for pedestrian safety is a mom’s final, public act of love.
A mom’s campaign against distracted driving
As Picciola Road continues to carry traffic every morning, Austin’s absence remains a loud, aching void. But through Hunnewell’s voice, his story is no longer just a statistic in a police report.
Despite the determination that distraction caused the crash, the driver in Austin’s case faced no criminal charges or convictions.
The aftermath was surreal for Hunnewell. She said law enforcement wasn’t in touch with her regarding details about the accident, and did not acknowledge her grief. “At one point, I even sent a certified letter to the police chief (of Fruitland Park) to inquire about what happened, and you know, I never even got a reply back.”
Hunnewell has turned her frustration into fuel to advocate for others. By partnering with the Faces of Distracted Driving project, she is pushing for a cultural shift: a world where looking at a phone while behind the wheel is viewed with the same social stigma as drunk driving.
Today, Hunnewell’s advocacy extends to other safety campaigns, such as EndDD (endd.org), where she shares Austin’s story with students and drivers, hoping to prevent another mother from standing over a roadside memorial. She speaks of the five seconds it takes to read a text — the same five seconds it took to leave two little girls fatherless.
But the grieving mother’s message is also a plea to the living. She urges families to settle their differences today, reminding them that the “more time” we think we have can disappear in the blink of a distracted eye.
Advocating for pedestrian safety
Hunnewell wants pedestrians to learn safety rules. She has a business card made with her name and number and a photo of her Austin to provide guidance and help her connect with others for advocacy and support. She volunteers with groups such as Best Foot Forward (facebook.com/BestFootCFL).
She also reaches out to other mothers who’ve lost children to pedestrian collisions and other accidents. She has lent support to the Keri Anne DeMott Foundation dedicated to a young woman who was killed in a DUI accident.
According to 2025 data from the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), pedestrian crashes account for just 2.9% of all traffic incidents in the state, yet they represent more than 20% of all traffic fatalities. Florida consistently ranks in the top three nationwide for pedestrian deaths — a crisis of infrastructure as much as it is one of behavior.
“I just try to inform people,” she said. “I see people walking all the time on the street, with their backs to traffic, and it just makes me wanna pull over and just say, ‘Hey, allow me to save your life today. Please walk facing traffic.'”
The rural road problem
National NHTSA data reveal that in rural areas, 89% of fatalities that occur in the dark happen on roads with no artificial lighting, such as Picciola Cutoff.
“I post a lot on Facebook about it,” Hunewell said of the road where her son died.
“It is very dark, and people speed down that road. It is terrible. The reaction I get from people who live in that area; they won’t even walk there, though they see people walking and bicycling on that road all the time. I would love to have four or five working streetlights on that road. There are some there, but they’re hidden, in people’s yards or behind trees.”
In the low light of a 7 a.m. commute, a pedestrian in dark clothing becomes nearly invisible to a driver whose eyes are even momentarily diverted to a smartphone.
Also, some areas are designated “dark skies” areas for wildlife protection. If you must walk along a dark road at night, Hunnewell advised that Walmart sells reflective vests for pedestrians for less than $20.
The TRIP report (“Rural Connections: Examining the Safety, Connectivity, Condition and Funding Needs of America’s Rural Transportation System”) is frequently cited in Florida news because it ranks Florida fifth in the nation for rural road fatalities.
In 2022 alone, there were 728 fatalities on Florida’s non-interstate rural roads.
Breaking the legislative stalemate
In 2022 alone — the year Austin was killed — the state recorded 268 distracted driving fatalities. Yet, for families like Austin’s, the justice provided by the courts rarely matches the scale of the loss.
In early 2026, Florida Sen. Erin Grall (R-Fort Pierce) sponsored Senate Bill 1152. The proposal aimed to close the loopholes in Florida’s current texting ban by prohibiting drivers from holding a wireless device for any reason while behind the wheel. The lack of action has left advocates like Melissa Hamrik of the Hands-Free Florida Coalition frustrated.
Despite the 614 pedestrian lives lost in 2025 alone, Grall’s bill stalled.
“If an officer sees you using your phone, they currently have to prove you were texting, which is often impossible,” Hamrik told WPBF, an ABC affiliate in the West Palm Beach area. “We are trying to close that loop so behavioral change can actually happen.”
Local leaders are slowly beginning to respond to Hunnewell’s requests. Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini has spoken with her and agrees that the lack of lighting along rural roads like Picciola Cutoff Road and similar corridors is inherently more dangerous and said he has requested a study of the area.
Sabatini told the Daily Commercial that he emailed traffic engineer Jeff Earhart. “I’m going to request that the traffic department put some additional lighting and also fix the lighting that’s already there, since it is, in fact, a rural county road.”
Hunnewell attended a virtual safety meeting hosted by Lake County government earlier this month and was told that Picciola Cutoff Road is on a list of areas slated for improvements.
“I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anybody else,” she said. “That’s the only thing we can do, right?”
If you’d like to support Lorie Hunnewell’s efforts, visit facebook.com/ProudMotherWifeMimi
Tips for walking safely along a busy road
When walking on roads without sidewalks, your positioning can save your life.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: After son’s death, Lake mom rallies for pedestrian safety on rural roads
Reporting by Julie Garisto, Leesburg Daily Commercial / Daily Commercial
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
