On April 18, 2024, the Cheektowaga Central School District hosted a press conference to kick off this year's "No Empty Chair" Campaign. Each year, the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee partners with law enforcement and local schools to conduct an education and enforcement wave known as "No Empty Chair". This campaign raises awareness of highway dangers in the hope that there will be no empty chairs during prom and graduation season. 

During the press conference, select students heard from the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Mark Schroeder, Public Speaker and Advocate for Phone-Free Roads, Jacy Good, Cheektowaga Police Department Chief of Police, Brian Coons, and Cheektowaga Central School District Superintendent of Schools, Scott Zipp.

Before the start of the press conference, a Victim Advocate Speaker Presentation was given to all eleventh- and twelfth-grade students where they heard from Jacy Good and Steve Johnson on the importance of phone-free roads. During the presentation, Jacy shared her personal story about her college graduation day and the distracted driver vehicle crash that claimed the lives of both her parents and left her partially paralyzed just hours after she received her diploma.

For more information please visit Hang Up and Drive, It Can Wait, and the No Empty Chair Campaign.