Bangor - Over 50 young lives were cut short on Maine roads in 2011, a number way too high for Maine Secretary of State Charles Summers.

The tragedies have inspired Secretary Summers to tour the state and listen to Mainer's suggestions on how to improve the safety of young drivers.

Secretary Summers says education will be key in this process, "We began looking at our curriculm and really trying to determine when the last time it was updated and improved and that was in 1996."

Suggestions at the Bangor stop on the tour ranged from extending the time period before a new driver can have anyone in the car, which is currently 6 months, to uping the hours a person must behind the wheel before getting their license, something the Secretary agrees with, "There's a lot of suggestions to double that to 70 hrs with 10 hrs after dark, again all aimed at getting more practical experience behind the wheel"

And while a lot of suggestions were thrown around during the community conversation, perhaps the most moving part of the meeting was the stories of the families left behind the in the wake of a fatal accident.

Kendra Smith knows all to well the heartache, "It will happen to you. It's not everybody else's problems, its not your neighbors problem, your perfect child will make a mistake and we have to convince them that this vehicle is a loaded weapon."

Kendra Smith's son , Jeff Letellier, was just 17 when we was killed after the car he was riding in speed through a stop sign and was hit by a truck.

"It's not just the families that go through this. you've got to figure the EMT's that had to be at the scene with my son, the police officer that had to tell us that he passed away. I mean this is life altering."

But Smith has found a purpose in this life altering experience and is committed to saving another family from the pain of losing a child, "We feel that the only justice for my son at this point is to save another family from going through this."

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