TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – Nearly one-third of all impaired-driving fatalities happen between Memorial Day and Labor Day, prompting East Texas safety advocates to launch a campaign targeting the summer’s deadliest period for teen drivers.
Bishop Gorman senior Sylvie Geer took a defensive driving course where she heard firsthand accounts from crash victims and studied real crash data. The experience earned her the Linda Thomas Memorial Safe Driving Scholarship and inspired her to pursue civil engineering in the fall.
“They don’t realize that even that split second of being distracted can have consequences that impact the rest of their lives,” Geer said.
Summer driving risks
About 30 percent of all teen driver deaths happen between Memorial Day and Labor Day, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). Kathy Davidson with Mothers Against Drunk Driving is part of Texas’s Safe Summer campaign, targeting the deadliest holidays for teen drivers: Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.
“Unfortunately, during the summer, teens are less supervised and they have more freedom. And the data shows us that those crashes do go up. We call it the 100 Deadliest Days of Summer,” Davidson said.
AAA reports an average of eight people are killed every day in teen-involved crashes during the summer, compared to seven the rest of the year. Distractions, speeding, impaired driving and not wearing seatbelts remain the leading factors in deadly teen crashes.
Teen drivers are nearly three times more likely than drivers 20 and older to be killed in a crash.
Prevention through conversation
Davidson said parents can make a difference but it takes more than one conversation.
“Just having that conversation where it’s not judgmental. And then don’t just do it one time,” Davidson said.
Geer is now sharing what she learned with other young drivers in East Texas.
“We don’t know when we’ll be in an accident or impacted by safe or distracted driving. And it’s very important to recognize the impacts that other drivers will have on us when we’re on the road,” Geer said.
Advocates say planning ahead, whether that means designating a driver or using a ride share, can prevent tragedies before they happen.
AAA Texas offers a free parent-teen driving agreement to help families set rules before tragedy does.
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