Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among teens in the United States, Kevin Velzy, University Assistant Police Chief said.

These facts opened the fourth annual “Drive Safe, Live Safe” program in the Hewitt Ballroom on Monday evening with the fact that most of those crashes are due to excessive speed, influence of drugs and/or alcohol and failure to use seatbelts. The floor had setups from 15 different organizations in New York State, each dedicated to putting an end to drunk driving.

The event’s keynote presentation was given by Skaneateles mother Marianne Angelillo, who lost her son in a drunk driving crash almost 13 years ago.

Angelillo told the story of her son, Matt, who passed away at the age of 17 from a car accident involving him and two of his friends in the summer of 2004. She spoke about the details of the night she and her family’s lives changed forever, when Matt decided to get in a car with his friends who had been drinking. The driver and Steven Corsello were in his father’s Ferrari when he hit a minivan, causing the car to flip multiple times. He and the other passenger survived, Matt did not.

Angelillo is a professional videographer and shared a video she put together to show the magnitude of the impact Matt’s death had on the community. Filled with footage of Matt’s family home videos, his numerous accomplishments and childhood adventures with his friends, the visual collage was blended with TV reports that aired in the weeks following his death. It also contained clips from Corsello’s sentence hearing.

Speaking about the importance of educating young adults and teens on the dangers of drinking and driving, Angelillo made it a point for parents to get serious about talking to their children about the subject.

“The college age is a really good age to have this conversation at, it’s very critical,” Angelillo said. “When you drink, you don’t think,” Angelillo said multiple times throughout the night.

Angelillo then explained the 12-step program she put herself through for emotional recovery soon after Matt’s death. She spoke about her healing process and how she has learned to turn her grief into a message, aimed at preventing accidents like these in the future.

In addition to writing her own book, “Sharing My Stones,” she also volunteers at a local jail in Cayuga County, working with inmates suffering from addiction of any kind, teaching them how to “heal” their own lives.

In her closing statements, Angelillo told the audience that despite all she has been through, she is glad that she was able to give Matt’s life new meaning through his story and her book.

In addition to the multiple groups in attendance, there were a few people at the event who had experienced the loss of a loved one in a drunk driving crash as well. One of which was Oswego County STOP DWI Clerk Shelly Potter, who lost her husband in a drunk driving crash at the age of 23. Like Angelillo, she is now an advocate for DWI prevention, and has been doing her own presentations for almost 18 years. Giving some insight on the STOP DWI program, she detailed a specific event that the organization does at local high school proms to show them the real consequences of driving while intoxicated.

“We bring in two cars from junkyards and stuff, and we stage kids dead in the car,” Potter said. “The drama club students usually do it.”

Assisting in the program’s setup was Oswego State’s chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. President Will Corrigan explained his business with the event and what it means for his organization to be in support of such a movement.

“A lot of people think fraternities are only social and only revolve around alcohol,” Corrigan said. “We wanna show this community, not only just the people that showed up, but the school as a whole that we’re not about that, and we’ll come out and help whenever we can.”

Corrigan also offered up his best piece of advice to anyone thinking about driving after drinking.

“Don’t risk your life just to get home in a quicker way,” Corrigan said. “Call a cab, even if it’s a couple dollars.”