A motorcycle collided with a parked car on CY outside NC on August 30, requiring law enforcement intervention and garnering the attention of students and staff who witnessed the accident.
“I guess from the appearance, there was probably not very safe driving. And that, in my opinion, contributed too,” said School Resource Officer Charlie Simons.
Simons recommended several basic driving tips to decrease the number of crashes: don’t speed, don’t text, and pay attention to the road. Officer Simons estimated he has responded to possibly 100 reported accidents in 2024. When asked about the causes of most accidents, Simons mentioned speed was often a factor. “A lot of the bad ones are from them speeding or driving recklessly.”
Reckless driving kills. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), “A total of 2,883 teenagers ages 13-19 died in motor vehicle crashes in 2022.” Most teen driving accidents do not result in death, but according to the IIHS, teens are more than four times more likely to be in an accident than someone older.
Some students choose not to park in the student parking lot because of how dangerous teen drivers are. “I personally don’t even park in the school parking lot because I think there’s so many people who don’t know how to drive. And it’s just not a situation I wanna put myself in,” said senior Thomas Walters.
