MT. VERNON — Traffic Safety Days was this past week in Williamson County. Jim Hood and Illinois State Trooper Greg Miller have partnered to bring awareness to area high school students about the dangers of distracted driving.

Hood is the father of Lacy Hood who lost her life during a terrible, distracted, driving accident, just one month after she got her license.

It’s estimated 70% of all vehicle crashes are caused by some sort of distracted driving.

Hood says we’ll never know the number of future lives being saved by the lesson in his daughter’s tragic death.

Next time you’re driving and that phone goes off, think of Lacy, and wait until you’re parked to respond. Listen to the full interview with Jim Hood, this Sunday on the Southern Illinois Insider with WMIX AM940/96.5FM and 94.1FM.