ANACONDA — An Anaconda family is headed to the state capital to push for the passage of Chloe’s Law—intended to help protect Montanans from distracted drivers—after they lost their daughter tragically to a distracted driver in 2021.
"She had a beautiful smile, beautiful eyes," says Connie Worl as she scrolls through photographs of her daughter. She lingers on a portrait of her daughter, her horse and her dog.
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"Chloe was an amazing person. She was always the first person to step up if someone needed help. She’d be right there," says Connie.
In the image gallery, Chloe Worl's life unfolds from happy baby pictures to images of her playing softball and musical instruments and riding horses with Dillon's Rambin' Rose Drill Team. Chloe is also photographed with sparkles of sunshine as she embraces her fiance.
Connie laments about the future that Chloe lost when she died tragically: the wedding plans, the future grandbabies, all lost in an instant. A tragedy the Worls hope other families can avoid if Montana legislators can work together to pass a law to protect others from distracted driving.
While on her way to work on a March morning nearly four years ago, 25-year-old Chloe Worl was struck head-on and was killed instantly by a distracted driver.
"The person who killed our daughter was so distracted with whatever she was doing with her texting, Snapchatting, she drove in our daughter’s lane for the length of a football field, collided with our daughter, and didn’t put on the breaks at all," says Worl.
In January 2024, the 35-year-old woman who killed Chole Worl pleaded guilty to felony negligent homicide. She admitted to texting while driving 60 miles per hour on a highway outside of Dillon.
The woman was given a suspended prison sentence, community service, and a fine. The Worls say because there is no state law regulating distracted driving there is no way to hold people accountable, but that’s not the only impact.
"Because we have nothing on the books in our state, we can’t even collect data for our state. We can’t even collect certain funds for our highways because we don’t have a law," says Keith Worl, Chloe's father.
Last May, the Worls attended a national roadway safety meeting in Washington D.C. with hunderds of others who have lost loved ones on America's roadways. At the meeting, they discovered Montana is the holdout state when it comes to passing laws against distracted driving. They are asking for a bipartisan effort to get Senate Bill 359 out of committee and on its way to becoming the law of the land.
"You know, we can be a holdout, but let’s be a holdout state for people who care about each other, who help their neighbor, who have manners, who, you know, hold the door for each other—let's be that. Let’s not be a holdout state for something that’s common sense: when you get in the car, you put your phone away. You can still use your cellphone; you need to do it a hands-free method," says Connie Worl.
