From the logging roads of the Pacific Northwest to the farm nation of the Nice Plains and past, it isn’t unusual for folks in rural elements of the U.S. to study to drive after they’re younger, typically even earlier than they attain their teenagers.
However the information {that a} 13-year-old was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that blew a tire and struck a van on a darkish, two-lane street in West Texas on Tuesday night time, killing 9 folks — together with six members of a New Mexico school’s golf groups and their coach — put a renewed give attention to the apply.
At a information convention in Odessa, Texas, on Thursday, Nationwide Transportation Security Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg mentioned the risks of underage driving put it on the company’s “most-wanted checklist.”
Together with drunk and distracted driving, Landsberg mentioned “youthful driving” and extreme velocity on rural roads are among the many issues that make freeway driving essentially the most harmful type of transit in america.
“Each two days we’re killing the equal of a Boeing 737 crashing,” he mentioned, referring to freeway fatalities from a number of causes. “It’s lengthy overdue that we begin to do one thing about it.”
LEGAL DRIVING AGE VARIES BY STATE
Money Hogen, a 60-year-old who runs a kitchen and ironmongery shop in Pierre, South Dakota, recalled studying to drive a Ford Bronco “as quickly as my toes hit the pedals” – in all probability round age 10. He’d drive the two-track roads throughout his household’s ranch in western South Dakota to restore barbed-wire fences or for different duties.
However his father at all times careworn security round autos and instructed tales of horrific tragedies to drive dwelling the hazard.
“Certainly not would I be out on a public street with out my learner’s allow,” he mentioned.
Whereas it is authorized for folks of any age to drive on non-public property, corresponding to farms or ranches, public roads the place others are in danger is one other matter, mentioned William Van Tassel, the supervisor of driver coaching packages for AAA’s nationwide workplace.
Each U.S. state has some sort of graduated driver’s licensing program, by which teenagers as younger as 14 can start taking driver’s schooling courses or start driving with an teacher or guardian, he mentioned. Finally they achieve extra independence, being allowed to drive on their very own or at night time, till they’ve full privileges.
“Definitely in rural areas there is a common development of decrease minimal driving ages,” Van Tassel mentioned. “We see a number of teen drivers have driving expertise by the point they arrive to a proper driver’s schooling course as a result of they have been driving vans or tractors or different autos on the farm. However relating to public roads, the legal guidelines are fairly clear: You may’t be on the market till you are legally eligible.”
In keeping with Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration information, there have been 47 deadly crashes and 1,057 harm crashes in 2020 involving drivers 13 or youthful.
In 2019, the fatality charge per 100 million automobile miles traveled was 1.9 instances greater in rural areas than in city areas.
PERMIAN BASIN SEES HEAVY TRAFFIC ON RURAL ROADS
The reason for Tuesday’s crash in Andrews County, Texas, close to the New Mexico border, wasn’t clear, however federal authorities mentioned Thursday that the 13-year-old was driving a Dodge pickup on a street with a 75 mph velocity restrict when its entrance left tire, a spare, blew out.
The truck veered throughout the middle line into an oncoming transit van carrying the golf workforce from the College of the Southwest, in Hobbs, New Mexico. The boy and a person within the truck with him had been killed, together with members of the golf groups and their coach.
Whereas the realm is rural, the encircling oil fields of the Permian Basin that crosses from West Texas into New Mexico imply the visitors may be something however, native residents mentioned.
Gib Stevens, 57, of Hobbs, leads trucking operations for an oilfield servicing firm. He mentioned he himself began driving vans at age 12 on dairy farms and quiet farm roads, however he mentioned the street the place the accident occurred was clearly unsafe.
“For a 13-year-old to be driving that street, that was dumb,” Stevens mentioned. “These roads are all oil visitors.”
‘WORST CASE SCENARIO’ IN TEXAS CRASH
In Texas, one should be 14 to start classroom instruction for a learner’s license and 15 to obtain that provisional license to drive with an teacher or licensed grownup within the automobile. Division of Public Security Sgt. Victor Taylor mentioned it could be unlawful for a 13-year-old to drive on public roads.
Van Tassel famous that the crash concerned a number of threat components apart from the youth of the driving force: It occurred at night time and on a street with a excessive velocity restrict when the spare blew.
Additional, teenage boys are certainly one of “essentially the most harmful segments” of the driving inhabitants throughout the nation, mentioned Cathy Chase, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Advocates for Freeway and Auto Security.
“It is a worst case situation, on high of a worst case situation, on high of a worst case situation,” Chase mentioned.
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Johnson reported from Seattle. AP writers Jake Bleiberg in Dallas and Cedar Attanasio in Hobbs, New Mexico, contributed.