One highlight of every teenager’s life is getting their license. No more do they have to depend on their parents for rides to and from where they want to go. They are given the new sense of freedom, to not rely on anyone for a ride, et al. But teenagers must be aware that the risk of getting into a crash is much higher in their first year of driving than any other year of their life according to car-accidents.com.
This statistic reflects the Massachusetts law for not being allowed to drive other people except family for the first six months of having your license.
33.9% of 16 year-olds were involved in a car accident, where as when a teenager is 17, the number drops to 18.4%; and some of the students at Dartmouth High School are more than familiar with one of the most fatal and dangerous situations - a car accident.
An DHS freshman said, “Of course I’ve been in a car crash, how do you think I got this scar?” The student then pointed to the faint yet still visible scar that dashes across the top of his eyebrow, “We were in Fall River when it happened, somewhere around Dick’s Sporting Goods, I remember. It was a couple of years ago and my brother, 17 at the time, was driving right after he smoked weed and he was really high. At one point he lost control of the car and hit someone and then crashed into a pole.”
The student said that they didn’t want to say any more to protect his brother’s identity and because it bothered them to talk about the crash. Then, during the next couple of months, the student said that there were many visits to the chiropractor as a result from the crash and a lawsuit from the other driver.
An anonymous freshman said that he had recently gotten into a dangerous crash the day before. “My friend was driving and we were going 85 MPH down a road with a speed limit of 25. I was joking around, egging [the driver] on to keep going faster and faster; we were just kids being stupid, we weren’t thinking. Then we saw a sharp turn coming straight up ahead and [the driver] couldn’t stop the car in time. We flipped over the rail and landed in the ocean, landing on the roof of the car.”
The student said that him and his friend was then approached by a park ranger who informed them that he had to inform the police of this accident. “After he said that and turned away, I booked it; ran in the opposite direction since [the driver] wasn’t old enough to be driving other people yet.”
“We weren’t under the influences of any kind of drug,” confirmed the student, “We were just being stupid.”
A former DHS student knows what it’s like to be in a car crash all too well; the student has been in a total of four car crashes. The worst accident that he said happened to them was a three-car pile-up on the highway. He said that he was speeding, roughly driving at 80 miles an hour while raining and began to hydroplane and could not press the brakes in time, causing the student to crash into the car in front of them, and that car into the one in front of it. The student was not fatally injured in this crash even though the car was totaled.
The other accidents that the student was a part of was a crash where he swerved off the road at night and smashed into a tree and another that was not the student’s fault where a truck coming in the opposite direction did not fully take a turn and cut across the road, smashing into the side of the student’s car. The majority of his accidents are a result of reckless driving and he was not under the influence of drugs while operating his vehicle.
According to Mass.gov, 33.9% of 16 year-olds, and 18.4% of 17 year-olds will get into a car crash and 4% of those crashes will end in death in the state of Massachusetts. Also, according to car-accidents.com, each year over 5,000 teenagers die from car crashes and over 400,000 will be seriously injured in the USA alone and that they are the result of 12% of all fatal car crashes.
The risk of being involved in a car accident is the highest for teenage drivers than it is for anybody else. For each mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are about four times more likely to be involved in a car accident.
This statistic reflects the Massachusetts law for not being allowed to drive other people except family for the first six months of having your license.
33.9% of 16 year-olds were involved in a car accident, where as when a teenager is 17, the number drops to 18.4%; and some of the students at Dartmouth High School are more than familiar with one of the most fatal and dangerous situations - a car accident.
An DHS freshman said, “Of course I’ve been in a car crash, how do you think I got this scar?” The student then pointed to the faint yet still visible scar that dashes across the top of his eyebrow, “We were in Fall River when it happened, somewhere around Dick’s Sporting Goods, I remember. It was a couple of years ago and my brother, 17 at the time, was driving right after he smoked weed and he was really high. At one point he lost control of the car and hit someone and then crashed into a pole.”
The student said that they didn’t want to say any more to protect his brother’s identity and because it bothered them to talk about the crash. Then, during the next couple of months, the student said that there were many visits to the chiropractor as a result from the crash and a lawsuit from the other driver.
An anonymous freshman said that he had recently gotten into a dangerous crash the day before. “My friend was driving and we were going 85 MPH down a road with a speed limit of 25. I was joking around, egging [the driver] on to keep going faster and faster; we were just kids being stupid, we weren’t thinking. Then we saw a sharp turn coming straight up ahead and [the driver] couldn’t stop the car in time. We flipped over the rail and landed in the ocean, landing on the roof of the car.”
The student said that him and his friend was then approached by a park ranger who informed them that he had to inform the police of this accident. “After he said that and turned away, I booked it; ran in the opposite direction since [the driver] wasn’t old enough to be driving other people yet.”
“We weren’t under the influences of any kind of drug,” confirmed the student, “We were just being stupid.”
A former DHS student knows what it’s like to be in a car crash all too well; the student has been in a total of four car crashes. The worst accident that he said happened to them was a three-car pile-up on the highway. He said that he was speeding, roughly driving at 80 miles an hour while raining and began to hydroplane and could not press the brakes in time, causing the student to crash into the car in front of them, and that car into the one in front of it. The student was not fatally injured in this crash even though the car was totaled.
The other accidents that the student was a part of was a crash where he swerved off the road at night and smashed into a tree and another that was not the student’s fault where a truck coming in the opposite direction did not fully take a turn and cut across the road, smashing into the side of the student’s car. The majority of his accidents are a result of reckless driving and he was not under the influence of drugs while operating his vehicle.
According to Mass.gov, 33.9% of 16 year-olds, and 18.4% of 17 year-olds will get into a car crash and 4% of those crashes will end in death in the state of Massachusetts. Also, according to car-accidents.com, each year over 5,000 teenagers die from car crashes and over 400,000 will be seriously injured in the USA alone and that they are the result of 12% of all fatal car crashes.
The risk of being involved in a car accident is the highest for teenage drivers than it is for anybody else. For each mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are about four times more likely to be involved in a car accident.
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