Another teen-ager was killed over the weekend in an automobile accident, a headline that is becoming all-too-familiar in Ocean and Monmouth counties.
A 17-year old with a promising future died way too young and it has left her family and friends at Pinelands Regional High School in mourning just days before we celebrate Thanksgiving…a holiday that won’t be the same for those who knew Amanda Policastro.
It will also lead to renewed discussion about what to do about the problems of teen-age driving…problems that are leading to accidents and fatalities at a growing and alarming rate. I say this as a father of a daughter who turns 16 in just over a week and will obtain her driver’s permit. Of course I remember what an exciting thing it was to be able to get behind the wheel of a car…even if it was your father’s Ford Country Squire station wagon.
But times have changed dramatically and driving around our area today is not like it was in 1972 when I got my permit.
The roads are crowded and congested and challenging to even the most experienced and safest drivers….for 16 and 17 year olds just learning to drive it can be like an obstacle course. Young drivers make mistakes but the roadways today just don’t allow for that. Teen-agers have always been careless behind the wheel and often drive with a feeling of invincibility but that was true in my day. What is different is that too many new drivers have new cars given to them by parents who think they’re doing their children a favor. Instead of kids driving a vehicle more suited for their inexperience they are in ones which are too fast and provide too many distractions. Throw in things like talking or text messaging on cell phones and you have ingredients for disaster and the reality is the number of accidents will only increase in years to come.
While we all know there is a problem nobody has come up with solutions. For now the best you can do is talk to your teen-agers and then pray each time they leave they’ll return home safely. Sadly for some it’s too late for that.
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Perhaps parents should make sure that their young drivers OBEY THE LAW! If I am not mistaken, all of the accidents that involved these teen drives occurred when they either had too many riders in the car, had no seatbelts on or were speeding! While tragic, we do not need more laws governing what teen drivers may not do but do need to accept responsibility for obeying the laws that exist.
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