5 students died at 1 Georgia school. Now focus is on grieving, safe driving

So what do you do after the deaths of five students?

The school brought in counselors to meet with students individually and in small groups. The community donated more than $60,000 in at least three fundraisers to help the families. There were memorial services, half-time tributes at sporting events, a dedication made for the yearbook. And now, there’s a focus on teaching about safe driving. The school is starting its own chapter of Students Against Destructive Driving.

The school brought in Mike Lutzenkirchen. He lost his 23-year-old son in a car crash in LaGrange 2014, and now works to prevent more young drivers from facing a similar fate.

On Tuesday, he fed a harsh line about this year’s crashes to a crowd of hundreds of subdued students.

“They weren’t accidents,” he said. “They were decisions that were made.”

Each of the crashes involved an element of unsafe driving, according to authorities: speeding or driving under the influence or driving late at night or not wearing seat belts.

Young drivers, or those ages 15-20, accounted for 8% of all licensed drivers in Georgia in 2021. But they accounted for 10% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes, and 18% of all drivers involved in crashes with serious injuries, according to data from the Georgia Department of Transportation.

There were more than 250 fatal crashes involving young drivers in the state in 2023. So far in 2024, there have been 46. That’s down from the same time last year.

Students were respectful, quiet while Lutzenkirchen spoke. They’re looking for answers, Principal Susan Stoddard said. The assembly aimed to empower them to step up when things could go wrong.

They left the assembly with a lanyard, meant to hang on their rearview mirrors to remind them to take a few seconds before driving to go through the checklist: Is your mind clear? Is your car free of distractions? Is your seat belt on?

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