Ohio began enforcement of its distracted-driving law in October 2023. It didn’t take long for the measure to have a significant impact in the Buckeye State.

By October 2024, a report by the Columbus Dispatch indicated that crashes had dropped 11.6% and fatalities on Ohio roads and highways were down 19.4%. Tickets issued by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and other law-enforcement entities were way up.

That was welcome news. We suspect that the second year of strict enforcement of distracted-driving violations will yield similar results as drivers realize the seriousness of failing to pay attention to what they’re doing behind the wheel.

But not everyone has gotten the message. There were still more than 8,000 crashes and 29 fatalities attributed to distracted driving in Ohio.

One of those happened on Oct. 17, 2024, on state Route 5, when Cortland resident Anthony Marble-Salem, then 18, was driving a 2021 Audi A7 and rear-ended a 2015 Ford Escape driven by Nicholas Stoian, 38, of Cortland. Stoian’s car was the last in a line of vehicles stopped at a red light at the intersection of state Routes 5 and 305.

Stoian — a husband and father of three children — was killed in a violent six-vehicle, chain-reaction crash. He was simply sitting in traffic, waiting for the light to change. Everyone who gets behind the wheel takes for granted when we come to a stop at a traffic light or stop sign that those following us will be paying attention. We assume that those few moments we spend stopped in traffic won’t be the final moments of our lives.

Tragically, however, they were the last last few seconds of Stoian’s life. Crashes like the one that took his life and left his wife a widow and his children without their father are precisely why Ohio’s distracted-driving law was put in place.

But laws against certain behaviors can only do so much. There are laws against all kinds of acts, including distracted driving, operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs and alcohol, using illegal drugs and committing murder, among other things. And yet, people still do these things.

That’s where the courts are supposed to step in and hold offenders accountable for their actions, be they intentional or not.

We don’t believe that Marble-Salem got into his car that day intent on hurting or killing anyone. But apparently distracted by a device, he did just that. Marble-Salem, now 19, must live with the reality of his actions on Oct. 17, 2024, for the rest of his life.

Nicholas Stoian’s survivors also must live with the tragic aftermath of the teenager’s distracted driving. It’s also a life sentence for the Stoian family.

Marble-Salem, who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in May, will serve just two weeks in the Trumbull County jail. Most of his original 180-day sentence was suspended, He began serving his sentence on Aug, 19. He also received two years’ probation, 200 hours of community service and the loss of his driving privileges for one year.

Is that the price of a human life these days?

Marble-Salem learned a hard lesson when he apparently took his eyes off the road. But he gets to move on with his life. Stoian wasn’t so fortunate.

We’re not arguing that the young man who caused his death should be locked away for the balance of his own, but the courts, particularly Trumbull County Central District Court Judge Thomas Campbell, should have imposed a sentence that served as a stronger example of the consequences of distracted driving.

We don’t believe that happened in this case. Shoplifters sometimes get stiffer sentences in Ohio. Are a couple of steaks or a case of beer worth more than a man’s life?