Again.
A car goes off the road and crashes. Friends and loved ones grieve. Families and futures are irreversibly altered.
We mourn with the community the deaths of Kassidy Clark, 16, Jenna Farley, 14, and Luther Stoudermire, 18. Jenna’s funeral was Jan. 19. Luther’s funeral was on Jan. 17.
How do we prevent teen deaths on our roads? Perhaps signage that reminds passersby that three people died there. Perhaps more emphasis in driver education about the dangers of reckless driving. Perhaps school presentations featuring families of those who have died, and/or the drivers whose recklessness caused those deaths.
We have a suggestion: Establish a program in Kitsap similar to the Partners for Safe Teen Driving program in Virginia. The program is a community health initiative aimed at reducing the incidences of teenage automobile crashes, injuries and fatalities in that state. It helps schools and communities develop and implement local Partners for Safe Teen Driving programs.
The program is law in four counties and four cities. Parents or guardians and their student drivers are required to attend a 90-minute traffic safety program as part of the in-classroom portion of the driver education curriculum. The purpose: to give parents what they need so they can guide their children through the first perilous years of driving.
According to the program website: At this meeting, parents receive information about Virginia’s graduated licensing procedures, current driving techniques, procedures for helping teach their children to drive, curfew restrictions, and more. This program requirement must be met before a student receives a Driver Education Certificate of Completion card.
In the six years the program has been mandatory in Prince William County, teen crash rates have been reduced from 17 to 2.19 percent. For information about the initiative, go to www.safeteendriving.org.
Whether more reminders, more signage, or more education would work, we can only hope. We do know this: If we are to come up with solutions, we must recognize that a family’s burden of a child lost is our burden, that each instance a teen dies in a vehicle crash is a shared failure.
The events of Jan. 11 – and, indeed, all crashes – should not be forgotten, but should spur us to community dialogue and action.
