Ferol Moorhead
D. Kalloch
English 101
9 September 13
Today’s Teen Drivers are Inexperienced. Motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of death for adolescents. While getting your permit to obtaining your driver’s license can be fun, it is recorded that the greatest lifetime chance of getting into an accident occurs in the first six months of receiving a driver’s license. Many teens dream of their first car, the excitement of owning something that allows them to have a source of freedom, and the pride of having something of their own. But teens can get carried away with those feelings. Not all teenage drivers are “bad” drivers. Although, little experience in the driver’s seat could potentially be dangerous, considering some first time drivers may tend to overlook the dangers of operating a vehicle. Teen drivers are more likely to be distracted by something inside or outside of the vehicle they are operating, overlook hazardous situations, or drive too fast for road conditions than any other age group. Studies show that the risk of teenagers dying in a car accident increases dramatically when there are other teens in the car, and plummets when there is an on looking adult. Parents being involved in their teens driving education could prevent an accident from happening later on. Jameson Smith, a graduate from T.L Hanna High School, has experienced involvement in a car accident. Jameson got his driver’s license four weeks prior to his accident. He had just finished his junior year and was on his way home, along with two friends who were in the car with him. As Jameson turned down his road, one of his friends told him to floor the gas pedal when they reached the steep, descending hill in the distance. As they approached the hill, Jameson proceeded to accelerate the car. By this time, the speedometer read 55mph. Jameson’s two friends continued encouraging him to speed up. As the car drove over the hill, the tires lifted off of the road. When the car landed back on the pavement it skid off the right side of the road. Frightened, Jameson overcorrected to try and regain control of the car, but flipped the vehicle. Luckily, Jameson and his two friends were not injured in the accident that day. Most teen accidents happen when there is more than one adolescent in the car; anything that keeps the driver’s attention off of the road is a hazard and can cause an accident. Speeding plays a big role in car accidents too. Most teen drivers speed because they are in a rush, do not think they will get caught, or do not think that anything bad will happen to them. Speeding is the third leading cause of fatal car accidents. The faster a person drives a car, the longer it takes to slow the car down. Last year, a friend I met in class died in a fatal car accident due to speeding. Lacee Dial, 17, was on her way to fill out paperwork for an internship at a veterinary hospital in Piedmont when she veered off of the road and flipped her truck into a telephone pole. Deputy Coroner Don McCown thinks Lacee may have been late, causing her to speed. "When you are trying to make up for time, it's not the time to do it in a vehicle," said McCown. "Being in a car going 70 to 80 mph would be the same thing as taking a loaded gun and aiming it at a crowd, you never know what will happen." Lacee was one of the three teenagers killed in a fatal car accident in September 2012. On September 8th in 2012, 17 year old James Moore of Walhalla died in a car accident in Iva when the teen driver ran off the road, hit a ditch, and then some trees before overturning his car. On September 7th in 2012, 15 year old Matthew "Jet" McClellion from T.L Hanna High School was killed while driving back from visiting his father's grave site. He lost control of the vehicle and tried to overcorrect, but the car flipped. I am sure none of these teenagers who have been killed intended on getting into an accident. Teenagers tend to not think
