This article was reprinted with permission from Virginia Mercury.
Lawmakers will consider a bill in January that aims to stop unlicensed minors from operating a vehicle by charging the vehicle owner with a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Tammy McGee, whose son died in a 2019 car accident after an unlicensed and underage teen driver crashed the car he was in, has become an outspoken advocate for safe driving laws. She is now working with lawmakers including Del. W. Chad Green, R-York, to create accountability for parents and adults regarding driver safety for teenagers with House Bill 1549.
“It’s another tool that law enforcement would have to hold parents responsible,” Green told the Mercury. “Maybe with this change in law, parents and adults will say, ‘hey, we’re not going to let this happen,’ and it could end up saving some lives.”
Under current state law, owners only face a penalty if they knowingly allow someone whose driver’s license, learner’s permit, or privilege to drive a motor vehicle has been suspended or revoked to drive a vehicle.
If the General Assembly and the governor approve the new bill, vehicle owners could face a one-year jail sentence and a $2,500 fine.
McGee, who operates the Gweedo Memorial Foundation, in honor of her late son, Thomas Conner Williams Guido, affectionately known as “Gweedo,” died in a car crash on Oct. 26, 2019 in York County. Since the accident, she has advocated for teen driving education in Virginia.
In 2021, the General Assembly passed a bill that she pushed to address safety in school parking lots and another the following year requiring parental involvement in teen driver education. She also launched a website to allow people to anonymously report tips about unsafe driving, illegal activities, and bullying, to name a few.
McGee said she hopes the momentum will carry during the short session beginning on Jan. 8 with House Bill 1549 and another bill, still to be filed, that will ensure all students have access to in-car driver education. McGee said not all school divisions offer behind-the-wheel education in Virginia.
She fears that if students don’t have a behind-the-wheel education, they are likely to drive without a license if they or their families cannot afford private instruction.
“That gives our parents a peace of mind about the quality of education and the safety of their child when you think about these driving schools,” McGee said.
“Would I have been in these shoes had my son not died?” said McGee. “No.”
“I wouldn’t be passionate about driving and safety,” she added. “But what I do know is that what happened to me shouldn’t have happened. … My baby’s aspirations to play collegiate soccer were wiped away by an innocent act of stepping into a vehicle, and anybody should be able to hop into another vehicle and know that that teen is licensed, and that wasn’t the case.”
