Mayo High School hosted a conference to combat distracted driving in teenagers led by the local law enforcement last week, April 10th at 10am outside of door six. This distracted driving conference was led by the “Towards Zero Deaths,” program located in Southeastern Minnesota and their coordinator, Jessica Schleck. The conference was to highlight the importance of safe driving, especially in young inexperienced drivers. Local Law enforcement began the conference giving hard statistics and speaking about how texting and other distractions can lead to fatal issues for not only the drivers, but everyone around them. They hoped to open the eyes of some teenagers and help them see the error in their ways.

Then, the conference shifted to a more personal and touching set of stories. Mayo Senior Grace Riley spoke about her own experiences with texting and driving fatalities. Grace lost her cousin, Deej, in a car accident due to texting and driving in 2012. In her passionate speech about her experiences Grace said, “I don’t want anyone to go through the pain that I have felt, losing someone to something that is completely preventable.” Grace’s bravery and educated viewpoint on the subject opened the eyes of her peers and classmates at the conference.

The purpose of the conference was to “kick off” the “End Distracted Driving Campaign” for the SE MN Toward Zero Deaths Program. The local law enforcement officials also helped out in sophomore health classes, targeting the newest drivers in our school. Throughout the day on Monday they also hosted different games in the door 6 foyer, for example a simulator that demonstrates the dangers of distracted driving. The overall goal of the conference was to keep the students of Mayo High School as safe and distraction-free as possible!