Man on phone who killed bicyclist speaks about distracted driving in new DPS video

The images are hard to look at -- a mangled Schwinn bicycle, a crumpled bike trailer, shredded clothes and a cracked helmet scattered along a rural road in southwestern Minnesota. There are ambulances and police cars, too.

And there is pain in the voice of Matt Boever as he talks about the fateful events of June 30, 2014, the day Chris Weber picked up his cell phone to make a bank deposit and struck and killed his wife and soul mate Andrea Boever as she biked along a Rock County highway with her two daughters riding in a trailer near the family farm. The girls, 1 and 4, at the time survived.

It's all captured on "Shattered Dreams: Distracted Driving Changes Lives," a 10-minute video released Monday by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) to draw attention to the problem of distracted driving and the live-altering ramifications it can have.

"Our hope is that people will watch this video and push the pause button and consider what they are doing behind the wheel other than focusing on the road," said Col. Matt Langer of the Minnesota State Patrol. "It could have been you involved in this story."

In the video, Weber, who spent 120 days in jail and was recently released, recounts the moment leading up to the fatal crash. Weber, 27, was working as an electrician and was one his way from one job to another. He dialed his phone to pay a bill, something he'd done many times before and never gave a second thought about. That's when he heard the fatal thud and realized he hit Boever.

"It was my fault, no questions asked. I am the one who could have prevented it," Weber said Monday during a media briefing. "Before the crash, I'd see people on the phone and it never bothered me. Now everytime I see somebody on their phone, it makes me sick. I made a choice to be on the phone, to make that call. That is a choice I can't take back. I killed somebody because of that."

Though not part of his sentence, Weber, a father of two, agreed to speak at Monday's event promoting the video available for the public to view on the DPS' YouTube channel.

"That day Andrea was riding her bike and she was doing everything right," Matt Bover says in the video. "Chris was doing something unsafe, looking at his phone. That hurts.

"Phones are a habit, a bad habit especially behind the wheel," Boever continued. "Yeah they make life easier, but they made life tougher. There is no text or phone call that is that important. Put the phone away."

Boever was not available to comment Monday, but he did release a statement.

"My hope is that this video will send a powerful message that no call or text is worth taking another person's life on the road. Before this crash, that could have easily been me, but no longer do I use my cell phone while driving and I plea for everyone on the road to put the phone down. We miss Andrea more than anyone can imagine. I know that Andrea would be proud that we are making an effort to change habits to make Minnesota roads safer. This video allows my voice to be heard about the dangers of distracted driving, allowing me to focus on my girls and move forward with our lives."

Last week, the new transportation bill signed into law by Gov. Mark Dayton increased the fines for drivers caught texting for the second or subsequent times. The fine for the first offense is $50, goes up to $225 for subsequent violations. With court costs, the fine could exceed $350, said Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis.

In April, Minnesota law enforcement officials cited 909 drivers in a six-day period in a campaign conducted by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety.