YORK COUNTY — A press conference and public awareness event was held Tuesday at the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office to recognize a new Virginia law targeting unlicensed teen driving.
The law — championed by local advocate Tammy Gweedo McGee — makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to knowingly allow an unlicensed or improperly supervised minor to drive if it results in a crash causing injury or death.
The law was carried in the 2025 legislative session by Sen. Danny Diggs and Del. Chad Green, both of whom spoke at the event. They were joined by Del. AC Cordoza, York-Poquoson Sheriff Ron Montgomery, Maj. Ronald Maxey of the Virginia State Police and McGee.
McGee’s son, 16-year-old Connor Guido, was one of three boys from Tabb High School who died in a car crash in Yorktown on Oct. 26, 2019. It was later revealed that the driver was underage and unlicensed 15-year-old who had been given the keys. In the wake of that tragedy, McGee has become an advocate for teen driver safety.
Green at the time was Vice Chair of the York County Board of Supervisors, and the tragedy made a lasting impression he took with him to Richmond.
“I thought, what a senseless loss of life that was. When I got to the General Assembly, Tammy came. We started talking the first year I was elected, and I said, ‘This is a great idea. Let’s see what we can do. Let me test the waters. Let me see what we can do to prevent this from ever happening again,'” he related.
“Tammy came up to my office. I remember this the first day when we met, when we talked about formulating this bill, and at the end of our talk, Tammy said Connor’s favorite color was green. And I said, ‘You know what? That’s just it’s not a coincidence.'”
McGee established ifyouseesomethingsaysomething.org, a site providing teens and community members a safe, anonymous way to speak up when they witness something concerning — whether it’s reckless driving, bullying, drug use, or any other dangerous behavior, and The Gweedo Memorial Foundation, with a mission to educate new teenage drivers and their parents on the dangers of destructive driving decisions.
“I stand here as his voice, because he no longer has one. This new law, which you’ve heard in detail, goes into effect today, and it does make me smile, because I know that Connor is continuing to live in death, just as he did in life, saving lives,” McGee said.
McGee noted the new law was the fourth piece of legislation passed in the five and a half years since Connor died.
“Tammy was in the General Assembly every day, really pushing this bill, and I think she really deserved the credit. We were just the vehicle for her to get this bill passed,” said Diggs. “I’m happy and proud to have been a sponsor of it, and I appreciate Tammy for putting forth all of her efforts into this … she’s now become known nationwide as a traffic safety advocate, and she does an outstanding job. I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
Green said that the General Assembly’s short session made it a challenge to get the bill on the docket. He added that some who initially opposed the bill had to be won over, but chalked that up to a misunderstanding about the bill’s scope.
“It was a race to get that through both the transportation and the courts and laws committee, and then get a vote in general in the House of Delegates, and then in the Senate, and then have the governor sign it, so we’re very proud of what we were able to do, and Tammy was integral in that process,” Green said.
“I don’t think that safe driving bills should ever be terribly partisan, however, I think some partisanship creeped into it at the beginning,” he added. “But, I think at the end, everybody saw the bill for what it was to help save lives, and that’s why it passed. But yes, it was one of the most … trying bills that I have worked on and gotten passed in my two years.”
The new law went into effect as of July 1. McGee said it brings long overdue accountability to those who knowingly place teens and others at risk and closes a dangerous loophole while sending a clear message: if you see something unsafe, you must speak up.
“This is going to help save a lot of lives, especially a lot of young lives,” said Cordoza. “So we focus on that, folks’ safety is of the utmost concern in York County, and we pride ourselves on being one of the safest, if not the safest, county in Virginia.”
McGee said her work is not done, and thanked the law enforcement officials and legislators in the room for standing with her.
“Every step of this journey has been about saving lives. Connor’s name continues to be attached to real change, but this work is far from over. I will continue to fight through education, outreach and legislation, as long as they’ll have me, until no other parent has to bury their child because of a preventable driving decision … Long live Connor,” she said.
Another law that went into effect July 1 is the Christopher King Seat Belt Law. Advocated by local Christy King, it requires every person in a vehicle to be buckled up, even those in the backseat.
In 2020, 18-year-old Christopher King, who had just graduated from Jamestown High School, got into the back seat of a car with friends. Moments later, the vehicle crashed. Christopher was not wearing a seat belt and lost his life. The driver and other passengers, who were buckled up, survived.
In his opening remarks, Montgomery noted Virginia does not have a great track record when it comes to seat belt usage.
“I’ve talked about it for a while — some of these laws that are now secondary offenses — I’m hopeful that as we move forward with the next General Assembly that we can start discussing the fact that these laws save lives, and there’s no reason for them to be secondary offensive, particularly seat belts, which I’m very passionate about,” he said.
“Studies show that Virginia has the lowest rate of seat belt usage in the United States. And I would like to say that we can turn that around and change it, but they save lives, they make sense. And I think that they need to be primary offenses so that we can start to enforce these and help people save lives,” he added.
Green said he would introduce such legislation in the next session, “I think the utmost importance of what we do as delegates, legislators — keep the public safety and keep the public safe — and I will, next term, put in a bill to make seatbelt usage a primary offense.”
