Bedford Co, VA - Recent deadly accidents involving teenagers have the Bedford County community talking about possible solutions. Teenagers at Jefferson Forest High School are also taking action about how to influence their friends positively behind the wheel.
Nearly 200 students from the county's three high schools – Jefferson Forest, Liberty, and Staunton River met at Jefferson Forest Wednesday to learn how to talk to their peers about safe driving.
Staunton River has lost three students in crashes in the last month.
The training was planned before the recent fatal crashes. There was actually talk of postponing the training, but organizers said now is the time to plan to save lives.
Organizers say they don't want to wait until it happens again.
Youth of Virginia Speak Out, or "YOVASO" is made up of students who take safe driving seriously, saying there are no accidents, only crashes.
"Accidents are accidents, but crashes are preventable. You can die driving. Being stupid can kill you," said Juvenile court Judge Louis Harrison.
Harrison wishes it was a speech he never had to give.
"One of the things that I really wanted was to have a teen driving program that was so strong that no one would die when I was a judge. OK, I've lost 7 so far. Five this year," said Harrison.
Harrison has only been a judge for three years.
It's also been three years since Zack Divers, a YOVASO trainer, graduated from Staunton River.
In 2009, the same meeting happened in a conference room at the sheriff's office. Only 12 kids in the program county-wide attended the meeting then. Wednesday, it grew to 190 students at the Jefferson Forest auditorium.
"Do I think that our program is growing because of these things? Yes. Do I think that they're just getting involved because of these wrecks? No. We do so many active things throughout our schools. If a fatality causes more kids to come to our program, we'll take 'em," said Eri Tomlin, who isn't afraid to speak out about her classmates.
"You could kill two little kids, a mom and a dad. That would be your fault and you live through it. You have to live through that the rest of your life," Tomlin continued.
YOVASO students will kick off a holiday driving safety campaign at Staunton River High School next week. A driving forum will also be held there Monday night.
All teens and parents are welcome regardless of where the kids go to school.
