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Debate topic: Teen Drivers |
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September 22, 2001 Lori A. Carter.18-YEAR-OLD DIES IN HWY. 1 CRASH.September 22, 2001, © 2001- The Press Democrat, PAGE: B3 |
October 28, 2001 LORI A. CARTER and SAM KENNEDY. TEEN-AGER DEAD, 5 HURT IN TWO CAR CRASHES. October 28, 2001, © 2001- The Press Democrat, PAGE: B3 |
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October 30, 2001 MICHAEL COIT. TEEN DRIVERS WERE IN VIOLATION. October 30, 2001, © 2001- The Press Democrat, PAGE: B3 |
October 31, 2001 Chris Coursey. WHY PARENTS DON'T SLEEP VERY WELL. October 31, 2001, © 2001- The Press Democrat, PAGE: B1 |
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November 2, 2001 CHARLIE METCALF. TEEN DRIVERS. November 2, 2001, © 2001- The Press Democrat, PAGE: B6 |
November 8, 2001 MATTHEW MERNER. TEEN-AGE DRIVERS. November 8, 2001, © 2001- The Press Democrat, PAGE: B6 |
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November 22, 2001 LORI A. CARTER. TEEN DRIVER HITS TWO MEN, KILLS 1. November 22, 2001, © 2001- The Press Democrat, PAGE: B1 |
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Current Event:
Two allegedly intoxicated men waving down help after crashing their Chevrolet Blazer into a ditch Tuesday night were struck by a recently licensed teen-age driver, leaving one man dead and the other in critical condition. The crash brings the total number of traffic deaths in the California Highway Patrol's Santa Rosa area to 44 this year, far surpassing the total of 31 fatalities for all of last year. It was also the third fatal or serious accident in the past three weeks involving Sonoma County teen-agers driving with provisional licenses, Officer Shannon King said. Provisional licenses forbid young drivers from carrying passengers, which drivers were doing in all three cases. ``We are already over last year's total and we still have two major holidays to get through,'' she said. ``All fatalities are a tragedy, but they are so devastating when they didn't have to happen, when people didn't buckle up or when they were under the influence.'' Who was at fault in Tuesday's crash, on Green Valley Road east of Sullivan Road near Graton, was still being sorted out. The Sebastopol teen-ager, whose name was withheld pending further investigation, was not cited. The men in the Blazer were suspected of being intoxicated, King said, and were standing in the roadway when struck by the teen-ager's Honda Accord. Carlos Ortiz, 22, and Mateo Matia, 18, were rushed to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after the 9:50 p.m. crash. Ortiz died four hours later. Matia was in critical but stable condition late Wednesday. Crash investigators believe Ortiz and Matia were among five occupants of the Blazer. Two of them fled before investigators arrived, King said. Ortiz recently arrived in Sonoma County from his home is Oaxaca, Mexico, to work in the fields, Sonoma County Coroner's Detective Jim Arnold said. Matia's background was unknown. Both men were living in a tent in Graton, Arnold said. After the Blazer got stuck in the ditch, the men got out to wave down help, King said. A passing motorist stopped in the westbound lane and rolled down his window to speak with the men, who were standing in the eastbound lane. The teen-ager approached at about 50 mph from the opposite direction, King said. ``He (the motorist) was aware a car was coming and he tried to warn them,'' she said. ``But there was a language barrier and we think they were under the influence of alcohol, so it was either not connecting or they weren't moving fast enough.'' The oncoming car struck both men. The teen-ager told investigators he did not see the men until the impact. The youth had an underage passenger in his car, in violation of his provisional driver's license, King said. Drivers under age 18 are prohibited from having any passengers under the age of 25 during the first six months of having a license. Provisional license requirements are taught in driver's education classes, King said, and are meant to reduce distractions for new drivers. A more experienced driver, for example, might have noticed the car stopped in the oncoming lane Tuesday and slowed down as a precaution, she said. Also in the past three weeks, Chris Fisher, 17, was seriously injured Oct. 26 and Kristina Zielinski, 17, was killed the following day. Both Rohnert Park teens were passengers of young drivers. |
EDITOR: As a junior at Cardinal Newman High School, I, too, was shocked and saddened by the Oct. 26 accident involving three of my classmates. After reading your Oct. 30 article discussing how both Kyle Pitts and the Rancho Cotate girl were driving on provisional licenses and should not have been carrying passengers, I felt the need to express some of my views. Most new teen-age drivers pay little attention to the provisional license restriction against carrying passengers. It is enforced, at best, by vigilant parents, but often it has little effect on new drivers. I have trouble recalling any friends of mine who fully obeyed this restriction. Many would provide their friends with occasional rides, and some choose to completely disregard the restriction. This law, although well intentioned, has no teeth and seems uselss in its current form. My belief is that it should be removed. The other obvious solution is to modify it to provide more of a threat to teen-agers, through steeper fines and/or penalties. I know when I get my license in a few more months, complying with this restriction will not be a major consideration of mine. |
EDITOR: Thanks for Michael Coit's Oct. 30 article about the drivers who failed to obey the restrictions on their provisional licenses and the terrible consequences of their driving. It is so sad that one teen died and another is paralyzed as a result of avoidable actions. We wish full and speedy recovery to the injured. We have a teen who anticipates becoming a provisional driver shortly. We made the article in your paper required reading for our teen. Afterwards, my wife and I spoke with him about the important concepts brought forth in that article. We feel better about our teen driver after having that discussion. I do hope that others will take time to have similar conversations with their teens. The results of such efforts could save lives.
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If you're a parent of a teen-age driver, you've thought about it, you've dreaded it, you've probably lost sleep over it. ``It's a parent's worst nightmare, you can be sure,'' Rancho Cotate Principal Mitchell Carter said the other day. He was talking about the call that comes in the middle of the night, the one that informs a parent that his or her child has been in a wreck. A bad wreck. The call came early Saturday for the parents of one of Carter's students, 17-year-old Kristina Zielinski. She was killed just after midnight when the car in which she was riding left Highway 101 near Wilfred Avenue and slammed into a tree. The call came late Friday for the parents of Chris Fisher, 17, a student at Cardinal Newman High School. He was seriously injured -- possibly paralyzed -- when the car in which he was riding rolled into a ditch west of Petaluma. Four other teen-agers were injured in the two accidents. One, 17-year-old Lori Cates, remained hospitalized on Tuesday. It's one of the toughest things we do as parents, watching our sons and daughters get behind the wheel of a car or -- even harder -- watching them get into a car in which another teen is driving. Our stomachs churn; our throats constrict. We know there's danger there. At the same time, those cars represent an important step toward independence for our kids. It's part of the process of breaking away, of taking responsibility, of growing up. So we swallow hard, and we let them go. Statistics back up our fears. Teen-age drivers have an accident rate five times higher than experienced drivers. Their accidents are more likely to be caused by their own mistakes. They are more likely to involve speeding, they are more likely to involve only one car and they are more likely to involve a car carrying three or more occupants, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. State law recognizes the statistics by setting some special rules for teen-age drivers. Since 1998, new drivers younger than 18 receive ``provisional'' licenses, limiting their driving privileges. For the first 6 months, for example, new drivers cannot have teen-age passengers unless an adult over age 25 also is in the car. The new rules have helped reduce deaths and injuries of teen-age passengers by 40 percent in the past two years, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California. In this weekend's accidents, though, both drivers were in violation of the no-passenger rule, said CHP Officer Wayne Ziese. The penalty is listed as a $35 fine. But when a car is involved, teen-age mistakes can be much more costly. Dr. James Neel, a rehabilitation specialist in Santa Rosa, sees the results all the time in his practice. ``I see brain injuries, spinal cord injuries -- the kind of things that change a young person's life forever,'' Neel says. ``And a lot of times it's not because this person has done anything wrong, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.'' Neel says he ``constantly'' reminds his own kids that they need to drive safely, drive courteously, drive defensively. Just as other parents do. But he says he would ask parents to do one more thing, and consider the safety features of the cars their kids are driving, or riding in. ``Shoulder belts and air bags can have a substantial impact on the outcome of accidents,'' he says. Still, there's no guarantee. Zielin-ski, riding in the back seat of a 1994 Mazda Protege, wasn't wearing her seat belt when the car broadsided that tree, authorities said. Fisher, in a 1991 Acura Legend, was strapped in but still suffered a spinal injury. Both were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Which is why so many parents don't sleep until they hear the key hit the lock on the front door. Contact Chris Coursey at 521-5223 or ccoursey@pressdemocrat.com Keywords: ACCIDENT VEHICLE DEATH SAFETY FAMILY
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The teen-age girl killed in a Rohnert Park auto accident Saturday and the teen-age boy paralyzed in a Petaluma wreck Friday should not have been passengers in either car, CHP officials said Monday. The drivers of the two cars had provisional licenses requiring that for the first six months they can't have passengers under age 20 unless supervised by an adult over 25. There were two teen-age passengers in each vehicle, CHP Officer Wayne Ziese said. The driver of the vehicle in which Kristina Zielinski, 17, of Rohnert Park, died also should not have been driving past midnight, which is another provisional license restriction, Ziese said. CHP investigators will determine if the drivers will receive infractions for violating the provisional license requirements. The drivers also might face more serious charges because of the death and serious injuries involved, Ziese said. No alcohol was involved in either accident, he said. Zielinski was killed when the car she was riding in went off Highway 101 near the Wilfred Avenue exit in Rohnert Park and hit a redwood tree at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday. She died at the scene. The other passenger in the car, Lori Cates, 17, remained in critical condition Monday at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The driver, Rene Peirano, 16, of Santa Rosa, was in stable condition at Memorial. Ziese said none of the girls wore a seat belt. Zielinski was a student at Rancho Cotate High School. She was known to everyone at school as Kelzi, Principal Dennis Crandall said. Some of the girls' friends have placed flowers and memorials at the crash site. Grief counselors were on campus Monday, and after school about 200 students gathered to share thoughts. Crandall said many students took advantage of the opportunity to speak with chaplains from the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, Youth and Family Counseling and other agencies. ``It's a parents' worst nightmare, you can be sure,'' Crandall said. The other accident occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Friday when a car driven by Kyle Preston Pitts of Petaluma went off Chileno Valley Road near Petaluma and rolled over in a ditch. Chris Fisher, 17, of Rohnert Park was paralyzed when his spinal cord was severed. Fisher, a Cardinal Newman High School student, was in critical condition Monday at Memorial Hospital. Both Pitts and his other passenger, John Netter of Rohnert Park, were treated at Petaluma Valley Hospital and released. Ziese said each of the boys wore a seat belt. Teen-agers have been required to get provisional driver's licenses since July 1998. Driver trainees must have a learner's permit for six months before being able to get a license at age 16. To get a license, trainees must accrue 50 hours of behind-the-wheel experience supervised by an adult, with 10 of those at night. The license is a one-year provisional license, requiring that unless supervised by an adult over 25, for the first six months a teen can't have passengers under age 20 and for the first year can't drive between midnight and 5 a.m. Penalties include community service, $35 for the first offense and $50 for additional violations. The restrictions are removed after a year only if the teen-ager receives no tickets.
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A Rancho Cotate High School student was killed and five other teen-agers were injured in separate auto accidents, the CHP said Saturday. Kristina Zielinski, 17, of Rohnert Park was killed when a car she was riding in careened off Highway 101 south of Santa Rosa and hit a tree. CHP officers said Zielinski suffered head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Another passenger, 17-year-old Lori Cates, was in critical condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with head and internal injuries. The driver, Rene Peirano, 16, of Santa Rosa, was listed in stable condition at Memorial Hospital. CHP officers said the girls were returning from a party in Santa Rosa when their car went out of control and skidded off the highway at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday. They were traveling about 65 mph, investigators said. Zielenski wasn't wearing a seat belt, according to Sonoma County coroner's Detective Jim Cheney. In another accident about three hours earlier, a 17-year-old Rohnert Park boy was paralyzed and two other teens suffered minor injuries. Chris Fisher, a student at Cardinal Newman High School, was a passenger in a car that went off Chileno Valley Road near Petaluma and rolled over in a ditch. CHP officers said his spinal cord was severed. Fisher was taken by helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. He was listed in guarded condition in the intensive care unit. The driver, Kyle Preston Pitts of Petaluma, and John Netter of Rohnert Park, another passenger, were treated at Petaluma Valley Hospital for minor injuries and released. CHP officers said Pitts' car, a 1991 Acura Legend, was traveling well over the 55-mph speed limit when it went out of control on a curve. |
An 18-year-old Bodega Bay man was killed and his 15-year-old passenger seriously injured after the driver lost control of his car early Friday morning, the CHP reported. Michael James Burke died when his 1994 BMW, headed north on Highway 1 north of Bay Hill Road, ran off the roadway and struck a tree, the CHP said. He died at the scene of the 12:20 a.m. crash. Passenger Derek Durfee of Bodega Bay was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. He suffered severe chest injuries, a broken arm and a collapsed lung, CHP Officer Wayne Ziese said. Ziese said officers suspect Burke had been drinking. Both victims were wearing seat belts, the CHP said. |
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