Kari Meeks prepares to release a string of balloons in memory of her sister Karly.

Donald Meeks hugged his daughter Kari and watched as 500 balloons floated into the sky.

“They’re going right toward Karly,” he said.

Pell City High School students released the balloons as a tribute to Meeks’ younger daughter, who was killed in a car accident last August.  Tuesday would have been her 18th birthday, and her classmates and relatives marked the occasion with a memorial program during which students were cautioned about the dangers of speeding and distracted driving.

“Cell phones, texting, and speeding are the perfect set-up for an accident, and God knows we don’t need the loss of another beautiful life,” said Jennifer Stephens, Karly’s mother.

Karly was killed on Deer Trace Road near Pell City when the car in which she was a passenger left the road and hit a tree.  Authorities said that speed was the primary cause of the crash, and Donald Meeks said that, contrary to reports, his daughter was wearing a seat belt.

“My daughter would be alive now if we had the laws Georgia has here in Alabama,” he said, adding that he plans to lobby local legislators to adopt more stringent drivers’ training laws for teen drivers.  “I want to do that in Karly’s honor.”

Since 2007, 16-year-olds who apply for drivers licenses in Georgia must complete a state-approved driver’s education course followed by 40 hours of driving, six of which must be at night, supervised by a parent or guardian, who are required to provide sworn verification of completion.

“That paperwork proves to society that the teenager is mature enough to drive a car and that the parent and child are building a safe driving pattern,” Meeks said.  

Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death of people ages 15 to 20, Police Chief Greg Turley told students during the service, cautioning them against speeding, texting and drinking while driving as they approach this year’s prom.  The program also included songs and a performance by the school’s winter guard as tributes to their late classmate.

“We’ve been planning this for a while, but it turned out bigger and more beautiful than we’d hoped for,” Stephens said.  “We want to make it a tradition.  Maybe next year we’ll release butterflies.”