Local teen-driving advocate nationally recognized for work honoring her son

Ever since her son’s death in 2019, Tammy Gweedo McGee has become a well-known advocate for teen driving education.

YORKTOWN, Va. — A local mom is getting recognition for her years-long fight for roadway safety measures.

Ever since her son’s death in 2019, Tammy Gweedo McGee has become a well-known advocate for teen driving education.

On October 16, 2019, her 16-year-old son Conner got into a car with two other Tabb High School students. The driver didn’t have a license and wasn’t old enough to drive.

Leaving their homecoming dance going 70mph in a 35mph zone, the teen driver took a corner, hit a tree, and flipped the car, killing all three of the teens instantly.

That day has shaped everything Tammy is, and does, now five years later.

She started the Conner Gweedo Memorial Foundation, honoring the 16-year-old who loved to make people laugh. He was also a fierce competitor on the soccer field, who was recruited to play goalkeeper at the collegiate level before his death.

The foundation promotes teen driving education, and Tammy has even used Conner’s car as a mobile billboard for safe driving.

But this week, the attention is on Tammy  – the woman who has devoted her life to saving lives – getting not one, but two, significant driving bills passed in the Virginia General Assembly, one of them named after Conner.

Tuesday, Tammy received the 2024 Peter O’Rourke Special Achievement Award from the Governors Highway Safety Association, which recognizes contributions to preventing traffic crashes.

The national recognition, as Tammy puts it, is not just a personal honor, but a testament to the collective work of safety advocates everywhere.

On top of the foundation and her legislative work, Tammy also founded an anonymous reporting website for traffic issues like reckless driving.