Mar 1, 2006 8:10 pm US/Eastern
Accidents Highlight Need For Teen Driving Safety
by Mary Robb Jackson
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
Its been a tragic few days on area roadways.
A series of accident have seriously injured and even killed several local teens.
On Sunday, three teenagers in a pick-up truck were speeding up Lincoln Hill in Canton Township, Washington County.
The driver lost control, plowing into the woods, and flipping over...all three kids inside are badly hurt.
Then on Monday night, the driver of a car carrying four was hit broadside by an oncoming car in Brentwood.
Fifteen year-old Kelly Flannery and 18-year-old Steven Lammert were killed.
The driver and another passenger were hospitalized.
Experts say kids have to realize that they are not invinsible.
AAA's Bevi Norris says, "They (teen driver) take more risks. They have inexperience behind the wheel. They're distracted easily."
A recent study by the "AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety" finds that between 1995 and 2004, crashes involving 15, 16, and 17-year-old drivers claimed the lives of nearly 31,000 people nationwide.
In those crashes 36 percent of the teen drivers died.
The remaining fatalities, 64 percent, were teenage passengers, adult occupants of other vehicles, and pedestrians.
AAA says that by adding one teen passenger to the car you double the risk of a crash or a fatality.
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