ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Students at two Dougherty County high schools received a lesson in road safety on Tuesday, May 12, as the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers approaches in less than two weeks, according to AAA.

Mike Lutzenkirchen, founder of the Lutzie 43 Foundation, shared his story of loss with students to educate them about the dangers of distracted and impaired driving.

“The Lutzie 43 Foundation was founded upon a loss of my son, Phillip Lutzenkirchen, who played football at Auburn University from 2009 to 2012 and was killed as a backseat passenger in a single vehicle crash that also took the life of the driver,” Lutzenkirchen said.

Lutzenkirchen said losing his son in 2014 had a profound impact on his family. The foundation now travels the country urging students to slow down, stay focused and make smart choices before getting behind the wheel.

Foundation carries on son’s legacy

“My son was a great young man. We’re all biased of our children. We’ve got three beautiful daughters. But my son lit up a room when he walked in there. He made you feel like you’re the most important person,” Lutzenkirchen said.

Lutzenkirchen said he believes his son would be proud of the foundation’s work.

“When I get to see my son, I think he’s going to say, ‘I’m proud of you, Dad...’ I made some bad mistakes, but I think he’s going to sit and say, ‘Dad, it’s amazing the incredible friends you had to put this together.’ The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is funding this. I think he’d be very proud of what we’re doing,” he said.

Coroner brings program to local schools

Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler said he wanted to bring the program to local schools to help students understand the dangers before he has to see them in a body bag.

“This is real. This is real. We have had put a lot of people, kids in body bags because they were distracted from doing something they weren’t supposed to do,” Fowler said.

Fowler said he hopes the visual component of the program will have an impact on students.

“I hope they felt the impact because I put too many kids in the body bag that shouldn’t have not been in the body bag. So I think trying to let them see something visual, that’s important to me. Maybe that might catch their attention more than me just talking,” he said.

Students rotated through interactive stations offering different perspectives, including emergency rooms, recovery, first responders and trucking professionals. They climbed into a semi to see the road from a truck driver’s seat.

“I don’t care what your socioeconomic background is, what you go to at night or so forth, what vehicle access you have. We’re all going to be in vehicles or we’re going to be on the road. That’s just what we do as humans. And we want to protect the kids of Albany,” Fowler said.

The foundation’s message centers on three principles: clear head, clear hands, clear eyes.

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