Rod Ammon: Welcome to the ResponderSafety.com podcast, brought to you by the Emergency Responders Safety Institute, a committee of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association. To remain mindful of why we do this work, we start every podcast with an update of emergency responders struck by fatalities. Since January 1st, 2024, 34 emergency responders have been struck and killed while assisting the public on the roadway. We have information on the loss of these responders and a memorial tribute available at ResponderSafety.com/fatalityreports. Our thoughts are with their families and colleagues. Please visit ResponderSafety.com for more than 150 resources and training that will help you operate more safely at roadway incidents and educate the public about how to safely avoid or pass an emergency scene on the roadway. Tammy Guido McGee is #ConnersMom. Her son Conner Guido was killed after his high school's homecoming when an unlicensed teen driver drove recklessly and crashed the car Conner was riding in. All three boys in the car were killed. Since her son's tragic death, she has become a strong advocate for teen driving safety in Virginia and across the nation through the Gweedo Memorial Foundation. Spelled Gweedo G-W-E-E-D-O like the beloved nickname Conner's friends had for him. The foundation educates teen drivers and their parents on the dangers of destructive driving decisions. They also advocate for passage of legislation that addresses the factors that led to Conner's death. Two bills have been passed to date and a third is about to be filed. We'll speak to Tammy about those in a moment. Tammy also speaks nationwide, supported by grant funding and donations, meeting thousands of teenagers. She became aware that they often see things they know are dangerous or wrong, but they're reluctant to report them out of fear of retaliation or being labeled a snitch. So she started the website ifyouseesomethingsaysomething.org, where teens can anonymously report behaviors that concern them, and the foundation will work confidentially with the necessary agencies to follow up on the tips. The tips the website has received come from all over the nation and go far beyond reckless driving. Tammy's work has received numerous awards, including the 2024 Peter K. O'Rourke Special Achievement Award from the Governors Highway Safety Association and the John T. Hanna Martin H. Schlosser Award for Traffic Safety Activism. Welcome, Tammy. Thank you for coming on to talk to us about your son and the important work you're doing to make our roadways safer for everyone, as well as making teens active participants in their own safety and the safety of others.

Tammy Guido: Thank you for having me. I very much appreciate the opportunity to share our message, and thank you for what you do each and every day to keep our roadways safe.

Rod Ammon: Well, we do our best, and obviously thank you very much to you as well. I think it's only appropriate that we start with Conner and have you tell us about him.

Tammy Guido: Well, I think as any mother probably is a little biased about their child, I would probably take that same stance with Conner, but he truly was an amazing son. He was full of life, and love, and happiness. And honestly, he just wanted to make everyone laugh. So whether it was in the cafeteria or on the field playing soccer, he would be the one that would jump up and down or do something silly just to get a smile out of someone. That was the type of person that he was, and that's why he was selected to be the junior ambassador, which was to show around all the new students that came to our school and make them feel warm and welcome when they come into a strange environment. So he was a lover of soccer, that's for sure. That's all he really wanted to do each and every day. He talked about it at breakfast, he talked about it at dinner, and he played it every opportunity that he could. So certainly such a very immeasurable tragedy that should have never happened.

Rod Ammon: I looked at his photos that you had shared with us, and he just emanates a great spirit from his image alone. So again, I'm sorry for your loss. And again, grateful that you're here with us. So as much as you're comfortable, you want to tell us about what happened that day?

Tammy Guido: Of course. Homecoming is a time where we thought we were just going to be doing dinner, and dance, and flowers, and pictures, and my daughter was a senior at the time. So we had both of our children at homecoming that evening. And it started off wonderful. We got to spend a lot of time with them and had some great pictures. Needless to say, did I never think that would be the last time that I would see my son. But we had a little thing that we did with each other, and it was the kind of two fingers at my eye versus two fingers at his back and forth. I got you. You got me. And that was how we left things, and that was the last time that I saw my son. We knew there was going to be a party after the dance, as you and I probably, and most everyone listening to this have done that, right? It's homecoming and you know there's going to be a party. So as parents, we concentrated on no drinking and driving, because that seemed to be really what we were raised probably most of us listening to be aware of, no drinking and driving. We talked about drugs. We talked about spending the night, calling an Uber. And for honestly, if you'd like call your mother or father, we'd come get you, right? We know that most teenagers probably don't want to call their parents to come pick them up at a party. That could probably be a little embarrassing. But as parents, we covered just everything that we thought we should cover leading into that night. Never did we ever think that we had to cover reckless driving, underage driving, bragging and boasting driving. That was just not something that we really thought to ever think of to cover. So when Conner went off to the dance, I had asked he and his sister to send me a picture of them at the dance, because she was a senior, he was a junior. It'd be the last time the two of them would be together at such a function. And I got a great picture. Conner is sweating through his white shirt. His tie is gone. Rumors of him break dancing on the floor, which the picture showed just having the time of his life. And unfortunately that's not how it ended for us. When the dance came to a close, this driver who had transferred to our school pulled up in a high performance BMW and yelled to Conner, "Hey, come on. Let's go to the party." And it should be very innocent to be able to hop in the car with someone in a high school parking lot. So Conner hopped into the car, decided he would go with him to the party. And as they were getting ready to leave, Conner's friend Logan was there, and Conner yelled to him, "Hey, come on. Let's go. We're going to the party." Now, mind you, Conner nor Logan, either one were supposed to be with this driver. Why they made that decision and the decision that will ultimately cost them their lives, I don't know that we'll ever know the answer to. But what we do know is it was a very innocent act. You should be able to hop into the car and go one mile down the road, and that's really what it was. It was just one mile. Sadly, the driver left the dance doing 70 miles an hour in a 35 by state trooper, reenactment, estimation. When he went down this road, not 500 yards down the road, there was a curve. He lost control of the car, ran off the road, hit a tree, flipped the car, and he killed all three of them that night. So something again, that should have never happened. And sorry, obviously it's very emotional.

Rod Ammon: It's totally understandable.

Tammy Guido: Yeah. Saturday, just three days ago was the five-year anniversary of Conner's death. And while I live and breathe it every day, and I share our story and talk with thousands of teenagers, it still is very emotional, right? He's my baby, and he's not here anymore, and he should be. But it was things that we found out after the fact. We found out that the driver was improperly licensed. He was underage. He was in the driver education program at the high school, and the parents had given him this BMW to drive for at least four weeks that we know of. He was driving to and from school by reports from other students, teachers, and bus drivers. So we know that he was an underage, unlicensed driver. But then we found out he'd been bragging about it on social media. We have his social media posts where he's telling people to stop complaining and, "I don't care whether you like how fast I drive or not." There were videos and pictures of him driving reckless, and really sad. I mean, that's completely preventable. Everybody who was on his social media that saw those posts could have spoken up. People who saw him the night before the homecoming dance at the homecoming football game doing donuts in the parking lot could have spoke up. And those people range from students, of course, but parents, teachers, bus drivers, possibly even the student resource officers. People who saw this behavior, but no one had enough courage to speak up and do something about it. And now we have three teenagers who are gone, three teenagers' lives who were cut short. Conner had a very promising career in front of him to go to college and play soccer as a goalie, and that was what he lived for. And by one innocent act hopping into a vehicle took his life.

Rod Ammon: Yeah. Every time I think about it, I just think brutal. And you did so many things. You did what, I don't know, as a father, I think were all the right things that you would do. And well, it speaks well to the website that you put up, and we can talk about that a little bit later. But if somebody had said something, maybe it could have changed things. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, so now you have to do something. And when did you resolve to become this voice for teen driving safety? I mean, you could take a lot of paths after a loss like that. And I'm wondering, how did you see that path as you're going through this grief?

Tammy Guido: Well, there's no rule book. Let me tell you that. There is no rule book that you can go to page 163, and this is what you should do and how you should act if your child is ripped from you. So it was definitely something that I wish that no parent will ever have to go through. Sadly, we know that won't be the case. But there's no way to figure out how to move forward. So it was a lot of therapy, Rod. It was a lot, a lot of therapy, a lot of therapy. It was a lot of time processing and talking and reaching out and joining others who had lost a child, just trying to figure out how to process those emotions and those feelings. Obviously a lot of anger, Rod, right? It should have never happened. We had parents who entrusted this vehicle to a 16-year-old knowing he didn't have a driver's license. We had a school system who gave the teenager a parking permit so that he could drive and park on the school grounds every day, even though he was in their driver education program. So yeah, Rod, a lot of anger. A lot of things, emotions that had to be worked out. And that took a while. I mean, I didn't work for two years and it was extremely difficult on our family, my husband, my daughter, my mother. We have a very, very large family, and we did everything together. So it definitely put a strain on our family and all preventable. And that's why I do what I do now, Rod, is because it's preventable. And if I don't share Conner's message and I don't talk about this with other teenagers who could possibly be impacted, what kind of person would I be? And that's really what it came down to for me. I decided that I had to stand up and fight, that I had to say something. And mind you, in no way do I mean negativity towards the driver or his family in the sense of the message that I'm carrying. It's an awareness message, right? It's, "Hey guys, this could happen to you, and you don't think it will." And Conner didn't think it would, and I certainly didn't think it would be us. But this is about raising awareness. This is about educating our young teenagers to be mindful of what they see on social media, what they hear about in the locker rooms, and the hallways, at the fields, and really making sure that parents get involved. So when we started, I obviously didn't know what I was doing. I'm an accountant by trade, a boring little sit behind the desk bean counter. And here I have been thrusted into a situation with no rule book, no training, and just trying to figure it out, Rod. So we spent a lot of time talking, asking for advice, and help, and support, and just really decided that we would honor Conner with the name that he loved, that his friends called him on the soccer field, and start the Gweedo Memorial Foundation with the intent to impact teens and their parents of new drivers.

Rod Ammon: You speak of it like it was the only path you could have taken, and I think you should know that I think it's amazing when I see someone like yourself turn that energy and that pain into something positive. It isn't something that a lot of people do. You've done an amazing thing. I mean now from what I understand, you're out meeting with the governor, and working with legislators, and traveling the country as a speaker. So tell me more about the Gweedo Memorial Foundation and let's remind people that it's G-W-E-E-D-O.

Tammy Guido: Yes, it is. Conner loved Gweedo. It was, "Way to go, Gweedo. Good save, Gweedo." And as a goalie, I watched him command that field. I watched him see the plays, recognize what was happening, and tell his team where to go and what to do. And I like to correlate that back to driving. That's exactly what we need to do with driving, is we need people to stand up and we need them to tell others what they should and they shouldn't be doing. So when you say there was obviously another path that I could have gone and not chosen this path, there's no disrespect to anyone who doesn't choose this path after they've lost a child. It's a personal decision. It's a very difficult one. It's very time-consuming on our family. It's very draining and emotional. Every time I relive that day, it's horrific, right? I mean, I'm reliving the last breaths of my baby, and I do that because I want to help other people. I do that because I do not want another mother to be me. I do that because I know that kids have power to help others if they just choose to make that decision. So as we talk about the foundation and how it developed, mind you, again, not a public speaker, not a politician. I just got thrusted into it. And I'll tell you everything I've ever done in my life, I've done with passion. While accounting doesn't sound like passion, because I was an accountant by trade. I was a really good accountant, and I love putting my signature on something and making sure that it's the very best that I could do. And that was what I was going to do for Conner. Even though he's not physically here, I know that I am continuing to take care of my baby in death just like I did in life. So when we started, it was, okay, what do we do? And quite honestly, Rod, I had gotten a letter from a Congresswoman expressing her condolence for the crash and the loss of Conner. It was very big and very well covered in our area, certainly not what you want to be known for. I go places and people are like, "Oh, you're Conner's mom." And while I'm proud of that, at the beginning it was very difficult. And this congresswoman along with our attorney, Brad Huffman of Huffman & Huffman really gave me the push to go do something because the more I talked about it, the more wrong I remembered it to be. The more wrong and the more reasons it should have never happened. And when you have that many fallacies in a situation, that's when you go, "This isn't okay. Something has to be done about this." And so we started our advocacy route talking. And I really do believe that a grassroots approach is the way to get through to our teenagers. I have watched several different organizations, several different victim advocates. And I sat back and I watched what goes on in the high schools and what the kids really pay attention to. And if you ask them and you listen to them, they'll tell you real life stories are what impacts them. Sitting in a classroom, watching a movie, or going through your driver education manual and seeing a crash doesn't hit home to them unfortunately. And maybe it didn't when we were their age too Rod, I don't know. But if you listen to teenagers, what they're telling you is that they want to hear from real life experiences. And while I wish it wasn't me, God, I wish it wasn't me, what kind of person would I be if I didn't take our tragedy to help other people? And we just started going and talking. We found organizations that we work with like VCU Project IMPACT that does mock crashes at high schools, and they needed a victim's advocate to speak. So I wound up finding myself in front of anywhere from 100 to 600 teenagers at a time, taking a few minutes to tell them about Conner's story, and what they could do to prevent that from happening to them. And I'll tell you, one of the key things that I try to drill home with these teenagers is the power that they possess. And they all kind of look at me funny when I say that, but they're way more powerful than I am. I can win awards and accomplish things, and that might seem to somebody as powerful, but it's not. These teenagers are the ones who have the power, because they hear and see things that no parent, no teacher, no bus driver will ever hear. No coach will hear it. These are things that are said amongst teenagers, and that's where we need to focus our efforts and our energy in affecting this next generation of drivers. We have to get to them, and we have to get them to understand that they're driving a lethal weapon. And so we took a very grassroots approach by going and visiting these high schools. We also visit with Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. They have a program called Sharing the Roads where they'll bring large big red trucks to high schools. And that also gave us an opportunity to outreach with these teenagers. Sadly, a lot of high schools won't allow you to come speak as a speaker because of so many problems they've had in the past. And it's sad because I've heard stories about speakers who would cuss, or yell, or throw things that wouldn't be appropriate for a teen audience. And it's sad that that is where we are. But I have been able to use a lot of different partner organizations to get to these children, to be able to be seen and speak with them. Tonight, I'm going to go talk to 15 different track teams at a shoe store, Point 2 Running store. And so we take any opportunity we can, where there are teenagers to go be effective and to share Conner's story.

Rod Ammon: First of all, I can't imagine how hard it is to walk out in front of that many teenagers and share your story. And I'm interested in a couple of things. I guess one thing I want to highlight first is something you said about partnering with these other organizations to get around some of the obstructions that you found going into these schools. And I've heard about what you're talking about and it's unbelievably frustrating. We're supposed to be parents and speakers, and we're all supposed to be responsible and set some kind of example. But yeah, I guess that doesn't happen all the time. So I noticed, and I'm just going to say the names, you partnered with, you already said it, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, DRIVE SMART Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University Project IMPACT. How did you build those relationships?

Tammy Guido: Rod, I'll tell you. I'm a pretty stubborn individual. When I see the need that's really, I just go after it and I just literally call them and say, "How can I get involved? What can I do? How can I be effective? What's your program like? Tell me about it." And I just go for it really Rod, I just go for it, because I figured sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission, especially when we're talking about saving lives. And that's what we're talking about, right? We are talking about saving lives, we're talking about impacting the next culture of drivers to be distracted free drivers, to make sure that they realize that everything that they do in a vehicle besides drive is a distraction. And now we're in a day and age where these teens that are driving now, they grew up with a cell phone. They were pretty much given one at seven, eight, nine years old, and they've had it ever since. So not like, when I grew up, our phone was attached to the wall. So definitely a different environment. And then we talk about the vehicles and the different technologies that are in vehicles now versus where they were before. So we have a generation of teenagers who are much more technologically advanced than we are. But when it comes to being in a vehicle, we haven't done a great job explaining that it's a lethal weapon and that you're really just supposed to drive. I mean, we have car manufacturers boasting about hands-free driving and clapping while you're driving down the road. Well, that might be an adult in that commercial, but what do you think a teenager thinks when they see that? A teenager thinks, "Oh, well if I buy that car, I don't even have to drive. The car drives for me." So I think we have to be very conscious about what we do in our education and our outreach with this generation that we have coming up, because I really believe if we can grow a culture of distracted free teenagers, young adults right now, that will perpetuate itself and we're going to see much more improvement in distracted driving.

Rod Ammon: I think there's a little bit of it already. I have a couple people who work around me, they're like, "Oh, come on man. The problem's still there." And I think what you're doing is working. I think what a lot of folks are doing to focus on this is starting to work. I travel a lot on the country, across the roads. I ride a motorcycle, so a lot of times I'm looking real hard inside windows to see what may or may not be a problem. I'm seeing just a little bit less of the distracted driving kind of thing, but I'm still seeing tons of it. And I have to tell you, the audience for this podcast is very much first responders and folks that have an opportunity to speak to children or to speak to teenagers and go out there. And I think they're frustrated about, how do you make them feel It's real? We've all talked about it as parents. They think they're indestructible. So I'm wondering, as you've been out speaking to these teens, what do you think has worked?

Tammy Guido: I hate to say or to repeat, but I really believe that the advocacy that comes from a grassroots approach is how we get through to our teenagers. I think that teachers have a curriculum that they need to follow when it comes to driver's education. I think that the governor here in Virginia especially who passed the cell phone ban where these teenagers do not have access to their cell phones when they're in a learning environment is crucial. I was just at a high school in Northern Virginia last week and none of them had their cell phones. So what else do they have to do but to pay attention? That's what we need. We need them to pay attention. We certainly don't want to hinder anyone from an emergency situation not being able to reach their child. And I think there are protocols for that in such a situation. But I think that limiting their access when they're in a learning environment is crucial. But a teacher is a teacher, right? A parent is a parent. I am neither one to those students. I am neither one. And so they look at me and they listen in a manner differently than they would their parent or their teacher. And there's a lot of us out there, unfortunately, Rod. I wish there weren't because if there weren't, that would mean there's less fatalities. But there are a lot of advocates like myself who are doing exactly what we're talking about. We are boots on the ground, I guess is what you'd call it. We are boots on the ground trying to get into these high schools, trying to get these school superintendents to understand. And this is the one thing I say Rod that I think is very meaningful. The one thing that most everyone does in high school, whether you do it in high school or in a third party driving school, that you learn is driving. At that teenage age of high school, you learn driving. And it's the one thing we pay the least amount of attention to. We sometimes are like, "Well, let somebody else teach my kid how to drive. Oh, they'll learn it in high school. Oh, they'll learn it in that class." It is the one thing that we pay the least amount of attention to, and it's the number one killer of our teenagers age 15 to 19. It's not drugs, it's not suicide, it's driving. And it's the one thing we have 100% control over. So I continue to push for that effort from all, whether it's teachers, superintendents, parents, all of us have to come together and understand that driving is so crucially important when they learn it, to make sure that we are influencing them and understanding that they're driving a lethal weapon and that they have the ability to maim or kill themselves or other people, and that we've got to slow down. We've got to put our phone down, we've got to buckle up. We know seat belts save lives, yet we still have so many, many people who don't wear their seat belts each and every day. So it definitely is a continual message that we, and like yourself are trying to put out to make sure that we're doing our job to help save lives and make sure that things don't happen to other people.

Rod Ammon: Yeah, it's interesting when I think back to what has worked. When my kids were no longer teens, they're in their twenties now, but there's no drinking and driving that I'm aware of. There is always a designated driver. There's often an Uber coming back later at night. And I'm so grateful for that, because I said the same things to my kids that you said to Conner. "I'll come get you," and all those things that come with it to make it difficult to do. But I keep looking for those tips that you might have that you think might set off a light bulb in these kids when you're talking to them that we can share with our audience who is often also doing what you're doing. Have you found a couple of things that you hold onto that make you feel like you're in better connection with a teen? You already talked about the fact that you're coming in as a different person. You're not the teacher, you're not the driving instructor, but you're coming in with a story. You want to share anything about what you think is most successful in your way of communicating?

Tammy Guido: Really, I think you have to meet teenagers where they are. I think that sometimes, myself guilty as charged, as parents, we're so busy in our day-to-day life, and we have so many things on our plate from taking care of a home, and trying to get to work, and groceries, and food, and clothing, and sports events, and running kids, that sometimes we are the worst example. And as parents, I think it's really important for us to slow down and be a good example. But by being able to meet teenagers where they are on the level that they're at, I think is crucial for their engagement with you. If I'm chewing at your ear telling you, "You haven't done your homework, you need to clean your room," maybe I haven't stopped enough to think about why they haven't done those things yet, what's going on in their life. So I think that being able to meet teenagers where they are and trying to understand the obstacles and the things that are going on in their lives is crucial to getting them to buy into what I'm telling them. It's not the same as it used to be. The things that these teenagers have to deal with are so much different than what we had to in the generation that I grew up in. I can't imagine wanting to be a teenager right now from the social media aspect. And we talk about teenagers speaking up. Who would speak up in this day and age with social media? They could be ostracized before they ever leave the classroom. It's really crucial to make sure that these kids understand that I understand where they are and the obstacles that they are facing each and every day that they get up and they go to that school. Even from a bullying perspective, which we know is a problem and something that we continue to address. But I really believe that just taking a minute to put yourself in their shoes, and that's that old adage my daddy taught me growing up, is you really have to understand where that person is, and put yourself in their shoes, and make sure that they believe and they know that I care. And I tell these kids when I talk to them, they get a card with my cell phone number and my email address. I give it out to every teenager I speak to because I do care. And I want them to know that no matter what's going on at home, what's going on in a vehicle, that they have the right to stand up for themselves. And if they can't, they have somebody that they can call.

Rod Ammon: It's a beautiful thing that you do. That's quite a way of sharing. That along with the fact that you put up this site. And I think it's important for us to bring it up again, to have an anonymous reporting tool for teens because of the things you said, about being called out or bullied for saying something, or the pushback that they get. And it's ifyouseesomethingsaysomething.org. I think that's a great idea. And it sounds like you get quite a bit of traffic on that, and I think it went beyond driving. So thanks for that work.

Tammy Guido: Yeah, certainly I never thought in a million years Rod that ifyouseesomethingsaysomething.org would be available, that domain. It blew my mind, because we've heard it. I mean, you've heard it. If you see something, say something. We know that there are other platforms out there. But when that domain became available in '21, it was either '20 or '21 shortly after Conner was killed, I grabbed it and I jumped at it. I listening to these teenagers, I was hearing what they were saying to me, and I was like, "They need a way to speak up without fear of retaliation." They needed to be able to know I cared and that I would do something about it. And it's just enveloped into this amazing website where we get tips from all over the country, but not just driving. It was derived from driving, from the death of my son. And sure, we get lots of driving tips, but we get drugs, alcohol, bullying, sexual assault. We had an ammunition tip. And last month when I was in Indianapolis receiving the Governor's Highway Safety Award, we got a school shooting tip. And I'm just Conner's mom from Yorktown, Virginia. So what I have done and what I continue to do is to share with these kids the power that they have, that it is not just an adult world. This is a teen world. These teens have power. They just have to choose to use it. And they're using it on this website. They're letting us know what's going on. And that is an amazing help to these kids. I truly believe it, and I just am going to continue with every last amount of energy that I have to continue to raise awareness and save lives.

Rod Ammon: Well, it was a great idea and it sounds like it's just working out very well. And as you said, when I get down and I get into communication directly with these teens, I learn more. And having that reporting tool where they don't feel threatened sounds like a perfect thing. Let's talk about the bills you've gotten passed in Virginia. What's specifically the 2021 Conner's Law?

Tammy Guido: I was angry. I'll go back to that. And I think any parent in my shoes would be angry, that how a teenager who is in a driver education program could still get a parking pass. It blew my mind. I mean, there's computers, there's systems. We should have checks and balances. It was common sense that you would not give a parking pass to a teenager for them to be able to drive a vehicle and park every day out of Virginia public high school unless they had a driver's license. But that wasn't the case for us. So while his teen had transferred to our school and he showed up driving, we made assumptions, and we all know what the first three letters of assumptions spell, and that's what we did. We made assumptions that, "Well, he must have a driver's license because he's driving, because parents would never let you drive without a driver's license, right?" Well, unfortunately that's just not the case. And there are reasons sometimes that parents are allowing children to drive without a driver's license that we can address later in what I'm hoping will be our fourth bill here in Virginia. So that first bill was really aimed at protecting our teenagers when they are in a parking lot of a Virginia public high school ground. They should feel comfortable and know that anyone that's driving in that parking lot has a valid driver's license. So that bill was a very bipartisan bill. It was unanimous, and it was really common sense. But the other piece to that bill is it did have the VDOE, the Virginia Department of Education increase the curriculum in driver education classrooms to cover a little bit more about the dangers of driving without a license, reckless driving, speeding, the things that contributed to the death of my son. So very happy and very, very proud of Conner's Law House Bill 1918 that passed in 2021.

Rod Ammon: So to be specific, these teenagers have to take these classes because the Virginia Department of Education has made it happen. And also, the students have to submit a standard application form developed by the DOE, which shows that they have a valid driver's license. Just so I wanted to touch back on that so that these ideas can be shared. So then there was the 2022 Conner's Second Bill. You want to talk about that?

Tammy Guido: Yeah. So the Conner's Second Bill was really aimed at parental involvement. So there was a bill on the books in the state of Virginia, but it was only valid in District 8, and District 8 is Northern Virginia. And it was a 90-minute Partners for Teen Safe Driving course where basically parents could come with their child for 90 minutes to make sure that parents knew what the rules were for safe teen driving. Sometimes in life we parents have oops, and maybe we didn't plan to have another child 10 years later from our previous one. And here we are raising another child, and we've forgotten maybe what those rules are for teen driving. Or maybe it's our first child and we don't know anything about the rules for teen driving. So this course was designed to engage parents alongside of their teen, and that's the crucial word right there. We wanted the parents to come with the teens and be involved. So we asked for that bill to go statewide in Virginia. It made no sense to me that this bill was only good for District 8 parents and students. So that bill is statewide now in Virginia where parents are encouraged to come to this 90 minute parent teen safe driving course with their teenager. And that's really the second fold of what I was originally trying to accomplish with Conner's First Bill going and geared towards safety for students in parking lot. And then Conner's Second Bill geared towards parent involvement. As we know, parents are the number one influencer of our teens' driving behavior. And so that was Senate Bill 78.

Rod Ammon: How did you get these passed?

Tammy Guido: Oh, a lot of hard work Rod.

Rod Ammon: I figured. It's so easy for me to say, "How'd they get passed?" How did it go?

Tammy Guido: Yeah, it was a lot of knocking on doors, phone calls, emails, calling, really just beating down the doors. I will tell you that our tragedy was so well known that I initially enlisted the support of a local senior senator who was crucial on both of our bills. And I think that Conner's First Bill was very common sense. The second bill received a little bit of pushback, especially from our rural communities who maybe didn't want to drive as far as it might take them to go for that 90-minute course. But we got it passed, and we are finding out that there are very few parents who are not taking that course with their teens. And I'll have parents that thank me. I'll have emails that come to me going, "I had no idea." Because one of the other things that we did is we recorded a video that'll be shown before the start of that parent-teen 90-minute course, where I'm really telling these parents, "I didn't think it was going to be me. And you're sitting here thinking it isn't going to be you, but I'm here to tell you it could be you. So put your phone down and pay attention. These 90 minutes could save your teenager's life." And so we get lots of great feedback on those bills and the work that we've done. But it certainly came at a cost. I work around the clock. There's times I get up at 1:00, 2:00 in the morning because I have a great thought, and I've got to go write it down, and something else I need to do. And we work really, really, really hard, but for a benefit. And that benefit is for another mother to not be me and for another teenager to not be Conner.

Rod Ammon: Well, everybody appreciates your work. I know all of us, and when Jack had told me about the work that you had done, they were all very impressed. And like you said, the passion all the way from the accounting right through to this. So powerful. You have one more bill. You're not giving up. You've got a third bill coming in 2025.

Tammy Guido: It has already been filed Rod. So we are excited about that. When people ask me, "How did you find out about this? I mean, I didn't know anything about that." And I'm like, I'm doing the work. I'm trying to understand what's out there. I'm trying to figure out what's not right, what needs to be fixed. And we have introduced House Bill 1549, and House Bill 1549 is basically fixing some language in a bill that basically is going to say if a minor who he knows has no operator's license or has a learner's permit but is operating outside of the Code of Virginia, you could be held accountable to a Class 1 misdemeanor. Now, in layman's terms, what that means is if you are a parent or guardian and you allow your teen to drive without a driver's license, if you allow them to drive with multiple people in a vehicle, anything that's in violation of the driving code, that you can be held guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. So in our case, even though the parents had entrusted this vehicle to their son, the code in the state of Virginia did not allow for any accountability in our particular case, even though obviously this teenager didn't have a job and didn't earn the money to buy themselves a BMW obviously. It came from somewhere, right? So the mother, father, brother that owned and had access to this vehicle that they gave to him should have been held accountable for the death of those three boys. Do I think that that driver intentionally went out to kill himself or someone else? I absolutely do not believe that. But I believe that the choices that he made and the choices that his other people made did exactly that. And it led to the death of three teenagers, my baby being one of them. But it was preventable. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to make a statement and let people know that you cannot do that. You will not be allowed to do that. You will be held accountable. That is not okay.

Rod Ammon: I love the word accountability. And tied to enforcement, I think it's so wonderful. Accountability helps us all, personally and those around us. And enforcement is so difficult sometimes to get done, but having this law at least as a spine to some things as we move forward, sounds like a positive thing. I can't wait till we can get to the point where we know when somebody's got a phone up, and they're distracted in their car, and it would be a safer place.

Tammy Guido: And you know Rod, there's some great apps out there. For the parents listening, there's some wonderful apps that you can put on your child's phone, which will help you monitor their behavior in a vehicle. And we encourage everyone obviously to look into those. They're available on our website with some of our partners that we have information out there. But there are tools and every parent has the right to do that. Driving is a privilege, and each and every parent should assess their own child's ability to drive safely on our roadways and be okay with monitoring that behavior, because it's not always what your child does. It may be what somebody else's child does that affects you. And so we definitely want to encourage parents listening to this to monitor their teens' behaviors, especially when they start off and they're new in that role of driving.

Rod Ammon: Well, I only have one other thought, and that is, what do you want people to do? When you and I end this podcast, what's your call to action? What do you want them to do when the episode's over?

Tammy Guido: I want them to call their local school, their local superintendent and say, "I want Tammy to come talk to our teens. I want the grassroots approach here in our hometown. I want these teenagers that my son, my daughter associates with, I want them all to hear Conner's story. I want them to know that it's not okay, that it is preventable. And I want our school, and our parents, and our teens to get involved before it's too late, because I don't want them to wind up like me. I want them to have the opportunity to be proactive, not reactive." We want to engage and we want to save lives, and we're happy to do it. We are lucky to be funded through a grant. It doesn't cost the school system anything to have us come. We are happy to provide previous speeches and recordings to them to be vetted. We're happy to do anything we can do that will get us involved with your school, your teen organization, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, civic groups. Whatever it may be, where teens are is where we need to be, and we need your help getting there.

Rod Ammon: And you're there for them. I mean, and that's quite a gift considering what you've gone through. So for these parents and for these other responders that are listening to us, reach out. I think it can only help you, and it can help their children and others on the road. Tammy, I thank you for bringing all this information to our audience. We've got links on this podcast page on learning.respondersafety.com so listeners can connect with the Gweedo Memorial Foundation and organizations you work with. We appreciate your strength and commitment to change, and you've experienced a profound loss, and we want to acknowledge that. And thank you for devoting your life to helping teens and their families prevent similar tragedies.

Tammy Guido: Well, I thank you so much for having us and hope that everyone just takes a minute to listen and understand that they can help, and we can do something about this together.

Rod Ammon: Thank you, Tammy. I appreciate it very much.

Tammy Guido: Thank you.

Rod Ammon: Now for the news from Respondersafety.com. Crash Responder Safety Week is November 18th through the 21st 2024. This year's theme is "Reduce Your Speed As You Proceed". Each day of the week has a messaging focus area, including driver education, responder training, and slow down move over. Your organization, become a CRSW ally in action to support the effort. For information and resources to help you in promotion, visit transportationops.org/tim/CRSW. Again, that's transportationops.org/tim/CRSW. We have roadway incident response training and public education resources available for you as well, and you can get those links on this podcast page at rsln.org. ASTM has published E3422/E3422M-24. It's the standard specification for protective helmets worn by pedestrian roadway workers. It is the first standard to specify the requirements for a helmet designed to mitigate the hazards of impacts at roadway incident responses. Its publication is the culmination of years of advocacy to address the unique struck-by hazards of working roadway incidents with PPE designed specifically for those hazards. The new standard is appropriate for all responders and roadway workers, including public safety, fire service, emergency medical services, law enforcement, fire police, special traffic units, road and highway construction, and maintenance, towing, and recovery, Departments of Transportation and safety service patrols. Links to more information are on this podcast page at rsln.org. Finally, just a quick reminder to connect with us on social media for timely updates on news and emergency response and ResponderSafety.com activities. Like and follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/roadwaysafety, on Instagram at Instagram.com/respondersafety, and on X at X.com/respondersafety. If you know of an incident where an emergency vehicle or a responder was struck while operating at a roadway incident, please report it at ReportStruckBy.com. We are collecting these reports to better understand how struck by incidents occur so we can determine what training, public education, and safety messaging is needed to reduce struck by incidents. Anyone can file a report. You can report anonymously. Reports from all response groups are accepted. This program has been supported by the Federal Highway Administration.

This podcast, ResponderSafety.com and the Responder Safety Learning Network are made possible by funding from the Fire Prevention and Safety Grant from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program administered by FEMA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. We appreciate your support, and remember to share these podcasts with your colleagues to spread the word about safety practices at roadway incident scenes.

Thanks for joining us today on the podcast. Stay safe everybody. We'll see you next time. For ResponderSafety.com, I'm Rod Ammon.

ResponderSafety.com

Gweedo Memorial Foundation

2021 Conner’s Law (VA House Bill 1918)

Tammy Guido Tells Conner’s Story for Partners for Safe Teen Driving

IfYouSeeSomethingSaySomething.org

Partners for Safe Teen Driving

National Operations Center of Excellence

ResponderSafety.com Crash Responder Safety Week Resources

ResponderSafety.com Public Education and PIO Resources

ASTM E3422/E3422M-24, Standard Specification for Protective Helmets Worn by Pedestrian Roadway Workers

New Helmet Standard Specifically for Roadway Workers Published. ResponderSafety.com.

Helmets & Head Protection. ResponderSafety.com.

ResponderSafety.com page on Facebook

ResponderSafety.com on Instagram

ResponderSafety.com on X

ReportStruckBy.com