According to Wilson Kehoe Winingham’s website over student driving, student drivers ages 16 to 19 are nearly three times more likely to get into a crash than drivers over the age of 20. The rate of teenage male drivers is three times higher in a crash or getting in an accident than that of teenage female drivers. The lack of paying attention is a significant cause of car accidents among teen drivers. The Wilson Kehoe Winingham website also states in 2020, 186 teen drivers died due to distracted driving.
I, personally, have experienced three accidents of my own. For one of my accidents, I underestimated the space to pull into my parking spot and hit the side of a parked car. The second accident I had was when I was distracted while calling a friend and hit the curb which caused the tire to pop and the rim to scratch. The third collision I experienced was backing out of my parking space, and as I turned to leave the parking space, someone backed into me.
Three Lewis Cass Students shared their experiences about their previous crashes. The first student interviewed was a junior, Jed Frey. Frey was at the Mary Max movie theater when he backed into another person’s car. After Frey hit the car, he waited until the owner came out of the movie. When Frey told the owners about the hit they told him he was fine and did not have to worry about it.
The second student interviewed was junior, Kaison Hipsher-Walker. His accident occurred on a Saturday morning after football practice. He also hit a car pulling into a parking spot. Hipsher-Walker’s accident was due to him underestimating the amount of space between him and the other car. He was lacking attention and felt he was sleep-deprived.
The last student interviewed was junior, James (Michael) Myers who flipped his car on a chip and seal road just two weeks ago. Myers stated, “I was behind a truck with a trailer, and it (the truck) had gravel falling out of it, so I was trying to get around it.” Myers continued, “As I was passing him he started to speed up, so I swerved back into the lane and I started to lose control of my car. As I over-corrected my car rolled and hit a power line post, which caused half of the city of Kokomo to lose power.” As a result of Myers’ accident, totaled his car and said the only reason he was alive today was because he was wearing his seat belt. Michael did not suffer any severe injuries, he just hurt his shoulder.
In conclusion, many drivers have crashed due to the lack of paying attention or not making sure they have enough room to pull into parking spaces. With these experiences, teen drivers should pay more attention when they are on the road, and put all distractions to the side until they are at their destination.
