What should have been an exceptional football career came to an abrupt end in 2014 when Philip Lutzenkirchen was killed in a car accident in LaGrange.
The former Lassiter High and Auburn University sports star died after joining a group of friends who, after a day of drinking, rode in an SUV without seatbelts. The 23-year-old’s passing left his dad, Mike Lutzenkirchen, questioning everything.
“I yelled, I cried, and then I put down the words from my heart to describe Philip’s character,” said the Marietta resident. Not long after, his three daughters asked him what he was going to do with those words. The answer: establish a foundation dedicated to promoting safer driving habits.
Lutzenkirchen began giving talks to student athletes at high schools and colleges, and his efforts were highlighted on ESPN. “That gave legs to the foundation and made it recognizable,” he said. “From there, we got strong support from the Auburn family and Lassiter community.”
The Lutzie43 Foundation, named for his son’s nickname and jersey number, grew so quickly that in 2016 Lutzenkirchen left his job with IBM to manage it fulltime. Since then, he’s given more than 400 talks to high schools, college sports groups, fraternities and other organizations across the country about his son’s legacy: the importance of not being a distracted, super-speeding or aggressive driver. He’s organized workshops aimed at teen drivers to raise awareness about safe driving tactics. He’s also forged partnerships with several state Departments of Transportation and private companies to promote the foundation’s 43 Key concept, a checklist of 43 points any driver should consider before switching on the ignition.
“There are 43 steps to being distraction free, and we put them on a key on a lanyard,” he said. “No matter who you are, where you are or what you’re driving experience is, it’s important to have clear head, hands and eyes. In 43 key seconds, you can go through a safe-driving checklist.”
Lutzenkirchen said getting more people to take less than a minute to run through that checklist can have a significant impact on road fatalities like the one that involved his son.
“People should ask if they’re drug, alcohol, emotionally or even technologically impaired, and if they are, they need to step back and not drive,” he said.
The foundation has been working closely with transportation companies to get the 43 key points on decals plastered across the sides of vehicles.
“It’s mobile publicity, and we’re starting to have more of them around the metro area,” he said. “If we do this right, the 43 key second key can become the national image that will trigger us to be smarter and safer drivers.”
Information about the Lutzie43 Foundation is online at lutzie43.org.
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