— Lee Glamm used to stop his presentations about the importance of avoiding distractions while driving so he could ask teens to raise their hands if their parents ever sent texts while driving.

Glamm, who works for AAA Minnesota/Iowa, traveled around the state last year showing the dangers of texting while driving to about 2,000 high school students in groups of about 25 at a time. During those 80 or so presentations, he learned to stop asking that question.

“I was always disappointed by how many hands went up,” he said.

Glamm was in Mankato Thursday for Youth Jam 2011, an event hosted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving with help from AAA Minnesota/Iowa and the State Patrol.

The purpose of the event, which drew about 250 students from across the state, is to give students ideas about how they can deliver the message about avoiding distracted driving and other dangerous behaviors to their classmates. Most of the students attending were members of school groups such as Students Against Destructive Decisions, known as SADD.

As a former police officer and crash investigator in Wisconsin, Glamm has seen the damage caused by distracted drivers. He uses shock media, such as the video found at zerofatalities.com, to drive home his message, but that is only one of many tools. Interactive conversations, concentration games that are played while students attempt to compose text messages and a driving simulator also can be included in his presentations.

“I try to help people understand that texting and other distractions are taking brain energy away from driving,” he said. “It’s taking away concentration.

“It only takes one poor decision to make all the difference in the world.”

Students could choose from several breakout sessions during the all-day Youth Jam event. They could play traffic trivia with Sgt. Jacalyn Sticha of Mankato’s State Patrol headquarters, learn how to influence legislation from youth civics advocate Gina Nelson, or get tips about creating a peer prevention program from the Edina High School Sober Squad.

Started as an effort to end drunken driving, MADD has expanded its message for its youth programs, said Brenda Thomas, executive director of MADD Minnesota. The number one killer of people between the ages of 1 and 34 is traffic crashes. Distracted driving can be attributed to nearly a quarter of all crashes in both Blue Earth County and throughout the state.

Of the 13 fatal crashes in Blue Earth County from 2007-2009, four of them, or about 30 percent, involved distracted drivers, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Of the 1,031 injury crashes during the same time period, 338 of them, or about 32 percent, involved distracted drivers.

Teaming up with AAA, the State Patrol and other groups to offer Youth Jam at different locations throughout the state once or twice a year was an easy decision, Thomas said.

“We all have the same goal, which is to save the lives of teenagers,” she said.

Mario Torres, a member of Faribault High School’s Students Together Offering Peer Support, or STOPS, said the information he was gathering Thursday will help him help his friends. He knows people who drink and drive, text and drive and engage in other dangerous activities.

Torres, a junior, said he doesn’t go as far as to shut his cell phone off when he’s driving, but he does pull his car over if he needs to text someone. He’s never considered drinking and driving.

“Some people I know think it’s cool to do it, but it’s not because you could hurt or kill someone,” he said. “If they thought about the consequences, they wouldn’t do these things.”