The deadliest time of year for teenagers -- and what a local mom is doing about it
Good Saturday morning. Today we'll show you how a Yorktown mother turned her son's death into a statewide safety crusade, plus an update on a local candidate's campaign.
We are in the deadliest 100 days of the year for teenagers.
The American Automobile Association says 33% of teenagers who perished in road crashes in Virginia between 2013 and 2022 – 151 in all -- died during the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when schools are out.
“We lose more teenagers from Memorial Day to Labor Day than any other time of year,” said Tammy Guido McGee, a tireless advocate for teen driver safety. “Teenagers are at home, and their parents are at work” and they are in cars going to the beach and other entertainment venues, she said.
McGee’s own son was killed in a car driven by a teen without a license nearly six years ago.
Since that time, she has lobbied for state laws to ensure teenage driver safety, including two new laws that take effect in Virginia July 1.
It will now be a misdemeanor offense for anyone to allow a vehicle to be used by someone they know has no legal right to do so, or by a minor who lacks a driver’s license or would be using a learner’s permit outside its usual limitations. Another law encourages all school districts in the state to offer behind-the-wheel training as part of a high school drivers education.
McGee’s 16-year-old son Joseph Conner Williams Guido died Oct. 26, 2019 on his way to his school’s pep rally. The BMW he was riding in was driven by a transfer student who had recently moved to the school, was underage, and lacked a driver’s license. The two boys and another teenage passenger all died in the crash.
She said she was stunned to learn from acquaintances later that other people knew the driver was underage and had been lent his parents’ car even though he did not have a license.
“I actually had somebody come up to me at Conner’s celebration of life and say, “ ‘I knew that kid drove like a maniac,’ “ she said. She explained she had no idea the boy driving her son was underage, and wants to alert other parents to similar dangers.
“I was very involved with my teenager and I didn’t know driving is the number one killer of our teenagers…. driving is what you do every single day and it just seems normal.”
She has set up a website where anyone can submit tips about dangerous drivers, https://ifyouseesomethingsaysomething.org/
Since the death of Conner, a soccer star who was known to his friends as Gweedo, McGee has poured herself into advocating for teenage driver safety. She speaks regularly to schools across Virginia, raises money for scholarships and maintains a website to educate parents and their children about the problem.
McGee said she advocated the legislation to encourage schools to include behind the wheel instruction as part of their drivers’ education courses, to help lower income students whose families cannot pay for private road lessons.
There are 36 school districts in Virginia that do not offer practical driving courses behind the wheel, she said, including the York County schools Conner attended, she said.
McGee and her husband, Conner’s stepfather, moved out of York County after his death. The crash that took his life was less than a mile from her home, she said, “I just couldn’t live there any longer….going by that crash site every day.”
“We had the perfect American dream family….three girls and a boy, all excellent athletes, all honor roll students,” McGee said. That ended with the accident.
“I want to try to keep another parent from being me,” McGee said.
County taxes, spending, education on voters’ minds, candidate says
Taxes, schools and government spending are top of mind with the James City County residents she meets, Tammy Wainwright told us.
We caught up with Wainwright, a Republican candidate for the Powhatan board of supervisors’ seat being vacated by Michael J. Hipple, while she was campaigning at the Anonymous Coffee House in Norge Wednesday.
Wainwright said she has made four door-to-door campaign jaunts since she announced her candidacy in April, as well as attending weekly meetings of the local conservatives’ breakfast club and other gatherings.
The door-to-door campaigning “is actually a lot more fun than I anticipated,” Wainwright said.
The people she’s talked to in her district are concerned about the government center and the pace of county spending in general, as well as rising taxes.
Education was another issue that surfaced in her meetings with voters, Wainwright said.
“I think everyone wants a quality education for our kids and to make sure that our tax dollars are providing a good education, but yet our (SOL) test numbers seem to improve.” She said., adding, “A lot of people think that the board of supervisors has more say over what the school board does” besides approving a budget contribution.
James City County has the majority of students in the joint Williamsburg-James City County school system and provides 90% of its local funding.
Could land trusts create affordable homes in James City County?
James City County has been studying the use of land trusts to lock in affordable housing in the county.
A community land trust separates the ownership of the land under a house from the home itself. The homeowner owns the house and can build equity in it but rents the land to ensure it remains in the affordable housing program.
A. Vaughn Poller, the county’s neighborhood development administrator, and Assistant Director of Community Development Tammy Mayer Rosario will outline the potential program to the Board of Supervisors when they meet Tuesday.
They said ground leasing offers advantages over other mechanisms like deed restrictions and covenants, provides assistance to homeowners, and allows for a permanent repository of affordable housing in the county.
The board meets June 24 at 1 p.m. in the county government board room, 101 Mounts Bay Road.
City of Williamsburg meetings:
Architectural Review Board, June 24. 6:30 p.m. Stryker Center 412 N. Boundary St.
Historic Triangle Recreational Facilities Authority, special budget session June 25, 3 p.m. Stryker Center.
Highway Construction Updates
Starting as early as June 23, contractor crews with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) are scheduled to temporarily close the Lightfoot Park and Ride lot, located at 617 East Rochambeau Drive in York County, for paving and reconstruction.
Improvements to the existing gravel commuter lot, adjacent to the I-64/Route 199 Lightfoot interchange, include new asphalt pavement and markings for 68 parking spaces, including three Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant spaces. The reconstruction will also feature the addition of five bike racks, updated parking signs and lighting, and the construction of a stormwater management pond.
The improved Park and Ride lot is estimated to reopen in late 2025.
I-64, Gap Widening Segment C, James City County:
Single-lane closures on I-64 west from Route 199/Lightfoot (exit 234) to the New Kent County-James City County line June 23-27 from as early as 7 p.m. to as late as 6 a.m.
Brief, intermittent stoppages on Six Mt. Zion Road in both directions between Fieldstone Parkway and La Grange Parkway June 23-27 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Long-term, temporary closure of the Lightfoot Park and Ride in York County. View the full traffic alert.
Long-term, temporary traffic shift on I-64 west from east of Route 199/Lightfoot (exit 234) to the New Kent/James City County line. View the full traffic alert.
Long-term, temporary traffic shift on I-64 east between the New Kent/James City County line to Route 199/Lightfoot (exit 234). View the full traffic alert.
State Headlines
Senate draft of ‘big, beautiful bill’ could cut funds for Virginia hospitals, also affect Medicaid
Virginia group plans nuclear test reactor to boost research efforts
Passings
Duerant Lueversal (Armstead) Wallace,76, June 15.
Jerry Winchester Brown, 74, June 8.
James Leighton Bean, 96, June 19.