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Jun 27, 2007 10:25 pm US/Eastern
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Parents Who Lost Son In Crash Speak To Teens
WASHINGTON, PA (KDKA) ―
Gary Protzman finds it hard to even talk about his son Adam without breaking down in tears.
His son died in a car crash on New Year's Day 2002 along with three of his friends. Police say the boy who was driving was going too fast when their car went out of control on a rural road near Slippery Rock.
The Protzman's heard about the driving program at Consol Energy Park this week and came to speak to a group of teen drivers at the Driving Skills for Life Summer Camp who are learning the skills they need to stay safe behind the wheel.
It wasn't something the Protzman's thought about much before their son was killed.
"Him and the other three students were good kids. No trouble out of them when they were together you knew they were all OK," Sue Protzman, Adam's mother, said.
But in a split second, all four young people lost their lives because of a combination of speed and inexperience.
These are the kinds of issues Driving Skills for Life is designed to address by teaching teens speed management, hazard recognition and vehicle handling with the help of a special course and a special car that allows teens to safely learn how to handle a skid or a fishtail.
The Protzmans know only too well how important that is.
"When you lose control you don't know what that vehicle is going to do. You get out there and that vehicle is a weapon," Sue said.
The Protzmans say they're glad that someone is giving local kids the training they need to learn how to drive and maybe prevent another tragedy like the one that took their son.
"Life's too short these kids [have] got to realize that they're not invincible," she said. "And the pain you're going to put your parents through for the rest of their lives is what's gonna really hurt them more than anything," she adds.
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