I was reminded of my biggest fear in life by a Fox story on five young women who were killed in a car accident outside Fairport, NY near Rochester. That crash was sensational enough to make the national news, but at least one high school student dies in a car wreck every year in my home county in Kentucky. Four of my nieces and nephews in Morehead went through high school in the last ten years and their parents refrigerator was once filled with pictures from the funerals of their friends and acquaintances.
I haven't seen a lot of statistics but it seems like there's more teen deaths on highways now than there was in the early seventies. I only remember one teenager dying from a car accident in my home town of Waverly, NY during my three years of high school (her car fell down a steep embankment while she was approaching her parent's driveway). However, my mother claims that there's now a lot more driving deaths there now as well.
I blame it on better cars. Teen-age drivers aren't any dumber than they were when I was a teen driver. My friends and I were pretty dumb anyway. And the roads haven't changed much. Country roads and rural highways are still narrow and windy. However, the cars handle better than they used to and I believe that gives dumb teen-age drivers more wrong-headed confidence which unfortunately tends to get them killed.
Anyway, it's getting close to the day when it's my turn to worry. My oldest daughter will be thirteen on Aug. 1. That puts her three years away from her drivers license and I worry a lot more about her and her friends driving than I worry about drugs, alcohol, sex, or boys--or other girls for that matter.
There's not much I can do about it except talk to her about safe driving (which I do already). Otherwise, it's just one of those things you have to live with.
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2 comments:
Hi,
You are not alone as this is also my biggest and not-so-secret fear. My daughter is 16 already and I, like you, worried about this for several years. I, like you, worry more about her being killed in a car accident (with a teen behind the wheel, her or someone else) more than I worry about drugs, sex, alcohol, etc. The statistics are absolutely frightening and if you do some research (as I have done) they are very specific and even broken down by age (within the years of 13-19) and by time behind the wheel. 16 year olds who have driven less than 500 miles are at the highest risk of all and that risk increases exponentially with every passenger in the car. If all of the 16 year olds who died in a car accident in one week happened to be in the same community it would be considered an epidemic! My daughter thinks I'm crazy but I'm just trying to keep her alive against the odds. I rarely let her ride in a car with a teenager behind the wheel (and let me tell you this gets more and more difficult and causes more arguments as your child's friends begin to acquire driver's licenses and cars - you have to be firm and let them think they hate you, it will be worth it hopefully); she did not get her permit until she was almost 16 and we are still in the early stages of permit driving. The laws put in place are too lenient. It is up to the parents to police their own children and train them and guide them through this vulnerable period of time and hopefully come out on the other side with a child who is an experienced driver with respect for the responsibility of driving. I found some great information on a website today. Here is the link:
www.nsc.org
I heard about the wreck in NY also. That was absolutely horrible!
Good Luck and hang in there!
Thanks for that reply. I looked at the web site as well-both interesting and depressing. I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this. Where I would follow your advice is in restricting my kids from driving around a lot with other kids. That's tough in a Southern town where cruising is a major form of entertainment. But I don't let them watch tv either. So, I guess they'll have to live with it.
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