EVANGELINE PARISH, La. (KLFY) – As the midway point of the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers passes, Evangeline Parish Shariff Charles Guillory spreads the message of safe driving.

The 100 deadliest days for teen drivers spans from Memorial Day to Labor Day. On average, 2,081 teen drivers were involved in fatal crashes each year between 2010 and 2019, according to AAA. 30% of those, occurred within the 100 deadliest days.

“What we recommend parents do is, I know a lot of them have apps that can follow their children around, do that,” Guillory said. “It’s okay because you’re just trying to protect your child.”

Guillory also warned that distractions could be dangerous. “A lot of times they’re distracted. Could be a cell phone, they could have two or three of their friends in the car joking and laughing. So any type of distraction that takes your eyes away from the roadway is dangerous,” Guillory stated.

In general, traffic fatalities have surged between 2019 and 2021, and this year is no different.

According to Guillory, “there has been more accidents that do result in deaths and, in order to prevent that, highway safety is going to be the most important thing.”

“The main thing is the safety aspect, just get home alive. That’s all I want, for people to get home safely,” he added.

To spread the message of safe driving, law enforcement offices like the EPSO are promoting more “Click it or Ticket” campaigns, much like the one the ESPO had last weekend.

“It resulted in 106 violations. We did stop 57 vehicles and out of 57 vehicles, we wrote 75 violations for seatbelts. All that is part of safety. The Labor Day weekend is coming and that is a big weekend for a lot of accidents. Just be careful and drive safer, that’s all we ask for,” Guillory said.