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Mom encourages teens to be 'backseat drivers' if they feel unsafe in the car with friends

If you’re worried about offending the driver, the National Road Safety Foundation has some advice on what to say.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — When you’re in the driver’s seat, you’re in control. But when you’re a passenger, your life is in someone else’s hands. That’s why one mother wants you to speak up if you feel unsafe. She lost her son in a crash.

Conner Guido was the type of guy who lifted everyone around him.

"He was a beacon of light. I don't know anyone who didn't like him. He was full of energy and life. And I think his whole objective in life was to make people laugh,” Mom Tammy Guido said.

But on homecoming night 2019:

“Conner's girlfriend called me and said Miss Tammy there's been an accident. We rushed to the crash site which was less than a mile from our house. And it had already been coordinated over. And I did everything I did to get to my baby barring trying to fight the officer to get him,” Tammy said. “I knew when I got the phone call he was dead. Just call it a mother's instinct."

Tammy says the pain of losing her son was made worse when she found out how the crash happened. Conner had been riding in the car with a new friend driving.

"He was not supposed to be riding with him,” Tammy said. “This teenager was unlicensed underage and had been showboating. He took off about 70 miles in a 35. He had newly transferred to our school, so we didn't know he didn't have a driver's license. If a teenager shows up driving a vehicle, you'd assume he has a driver's license because parents wouldn't let you drive without a driver’s license, right?”

Every year about 25,000 passengers like Conner die in car crashes across America. The National Road Safety Foundation wants you to know it's okay to be a backseat driver if you feel unsafe.

“If they feel the driver is driving recklessly, whether it's speeding, being distracted by a cell phone, driving aggressively, tailgating, zooming from lane to lane, cutting people off, these are all things that can cause a crash. And you as a passenger have a right to speak up,” said David Reich with the National Road Safety Foundation.

But a lot of passengers won’t speak up because they are worried about the driver getting angry with them.

“It's not always easy,” Reich said. “Sometimes a driver will say ‘Hey don't be a backseat driver’ or ‘Mind your own business.’ If that happens you should just try to explain ‘Hey listen, you're making me nervous. I'm scared and I also care about you. I don't want you to get hurt or worse. So please take it easy.’”

Here are three ways experts say you can protect yourself as a passenger. First, as we know to have a designated driver on a night out drinking, have a designated texter who can respond to texts for the driver. Also, buckle up. About half the passengers who died were not wearing a seatbelt. And if you want to anonymously report someone's bad driving instead of confronting them about it, you can do that on ifyouseesomethingsaysomething.org.



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