I-Team: High number of Wake County teen accidents gets state attention
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- North Carolina Department of Transportation Secretary Tony Tata said Tuesday he's saddened by the loss of three young lives and the students injured on Wake County roads in recent weeks and his office is looking into it.
On September 16, Laura Yost was critically injured when the car she was riding in made a left turn onto McCrimmon Parkway near Panther Creek High School in Cary, right into the path of an oncoming dump truck. Yost later died from her injuries and that driver, who is only 16 years old, has since been charged.
September 23, a man was charged with hit and run after 13-year-old Keith Jones Jr. was hit by a car and killed as he waited for his school bus along Edgemont Road near Wendell. The driver said he didn't stop because it was dark and he thought he'd hit a deer.
Monday morning, 15-year-old Braden Rock died when the car he was riding in headed to Heritage High School made a left turn in front of oncoming traffic and was hit.
Tuesday, a 16-year-old girl was charged with failure to stop for a school bus when her car hit 11-year-old Michael Burgess Jr. - a sixth grader at West Lake Middle School - as he ran to catch his bus in the Apex/Holly Springs area.
"Our traffic and safety inspection teams will work with local officials to review possible safety improvements at these accident locations," said Tata. "Our DMV team will also work closely with the Department of Public Instruction and driving schools to review drivers education and safety messages. One life lost is too many and we will do all we can to help prevent future tragedies throughout the state."
The crashes that took the lives of Yost and Rock were both situations where the drivers allegedly took left hand turns too close. Something experts say even experienced drivers attempt in heavy traffic.
"The tricky part about a left hand turn is you never have the right of way," said Brett Alexander, a driving instructor for Wake County schools. "Wait, it takes a split second out of your life just to let the next man go, wait."
Alexander has been teaching driver's education for 18 years and says, with another round of excited teenagers at the wheel, he's driving that lesson of patience.
"You have to yield and I think our young drivers may be taking that right of way. They're driving 3,000 pound projectiles and that's what we tell them, that car is a weapon," said Alexander.
"We want teens to focus on one thing and one thing only and that's to operate that motor vehicle," N.C. Highway Patrol Lt. Jeff Gordon told ABC11 Tuesday.
Gordon said there's a reason state law restricts teen drivers within the first six months of getting their license to have only one passenger under 21 years old in the car with them.
He said teens are just beginning to develop decision-making skills and recognizing hazards requires their full attention. He urged parents to think twice before allowing their children to ride along with other teens.
"As a parent, sit down with your teen," he said. "Take these two tragic situations that we just recently went through, sit down with them, talk about the necessities of driving safely."
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, teen drivers are six times more likely to have a serious incident where there is loud conversation in the vehicle and three times more likely when passengers are horsing around.
