PEKIN - Tazewell County Sheriff Bob Huston said he's alarmed, by what he sometimes finds after teens have gathered to mourn classmates who were killed in car accidents: beer cans.

Tazewell County has seen 15 teenagers die in car accidents since March 2005, and he and others want that trend to stop.

"We've seen the teens have impromptu wakes at the accident sites, we've seen empty alcohol containers and we've heard people say they are going to 'get wasted' in remembrance," he said. "If burying friends doesn't hit close to home with a dose of reality, we're not sure what will, but we are going to continue to try, and we don't have to do this alone."

Huston was among about 80 people who gathered Wednesday to launch a new teen-focused initiative to promote safe driving. People gathered at the Tazewell County Justice Center included Tazewell County Youth Board members, state and local police officers, government and school officials and health-care workers.

Deer Creek-Mackinaw High School junior Kayla Howe recalled that when the youth board was sitting down to discuss fatal accidents involving teenagers a few weeks ago, word came that the 15th teen had died.

"Why is this happening? We know there is a problem, so now we need to be effective in working on the problem," Howe told the crowd.

The group broke the issue into four components - enforcement, education, engineering and emergency medical services - and formed committees to address them.

"We hope to develop strategies to get the message out and use our youth board to help deliver that message," Huston said. "There has been an alarming spike in traffic deaths, namely the recent teen tragedies, and this is a cause for concern."

The youth board has already started preparing its own program, Decisions Driving, in which they will re-enact the drunken-driving experience by using go-carts and "fatal vision" goggles, which give the driver an impression of what it is like to drive under the influence, Howe said.

"We are really going to start putting together monthly projects that first focus on the county, but then, working with state troopers, we also want to go even more broad," said Howe.

Tazewell County sheriff's Lt. Dean Kennedy presented some ideas police officers have suggested. They included increasing the use of school resource police officers, having smaller agencies network with larger ones for help, using Illinois Department of Transportation grants for enforcement initiatives and having high-visibility patrol nights.

Other proposals included having liquor commissions require beer keg permits.

Kennedy also suggested having a Web site and 800 telephone number where teenagers and parents could report underage drinking.

He also talked about holding contests and sending out pamphlets with survivor stories and poems.

Teachers incorporating awareness into the classroom also is important, he said.

"Schools have been impacted greatly, and every situation has affected people in our community," said Rob Houchin, regional superintendent of schools for Tazewell County. "We are willing to do whatever it takes."

Engineering ideas outlined by Kennedy included having maps of crash locations, using crash data for analysis and upgrading signs and markings. Other devices that dramatize unsafe driving should be used more, he said.

Police already use the go-cart that simulates drunken driving and the seat-belt "convincer," to show young drivers what can happen to them.

Kennedy noted the number of teens killed in crashes is out of line for a county of Tazwell's size.

We are on par with Cook County, and that's not right," he said. "Causes are often speeding, alcohol, not wearing a seat belt and falling asleep at the wheel.

"I think speed and alcohol is often a common denominator," he said. "We need to work together as a community to prevent this from continuing to happen."