Speed is major factor in deaths of young drivers in car crashes

By Connie Skipitares
Mercury News

Article Launched: 11/25/2007 01:38:09 AM PST

Vicky Mlyniec's heart broke all over again when she heard the news three weeks ago that two brothers in her Santa Cruz Mountains community had died at the hands of a speeding driver.

The crash forced her to relive the painful night in August when her own son, 18-year-old Nate Mlyniec, who was about to enter the University of California-Davis and dreamed of becoming a chef, died when his speeding car slammed into a tree on his way home.

"It hit us like a ton of bricks," Mlyniec said of the Nov. 3 deaths of the two brothers. "It took us right back to Nate's accident. It's a nightmare that continues for us as I'm sure it does for the other families."

The deaths of brothers Tyler Barclay, 18, and Shane Barclay, 22, only 2 1/2 months after Nate's fatal crash, shook the tightknit mountain community above Los Gatos, where all the young men grew up. Nate and Tyler had attended Los Gatos High School.

Four other South Bay deaths in July caused by a 19-year-old who was speeding on a narrow country road in Almaden Valley also shattered that community of neighbors, friends and school classmates.

None of the three recent crashes involved drinking or drugs.

"The No. 1 reason teenagers die is car crashes," said Gayle Shank, a Los Gatos High School driver's education teacher. "And the major reason is they're going too fast."

Deaths caused by speeding teens happen at a far greater rate than those caused by intoxicated teens. And a

much larger number of speeding drivers are male than female.

In 2005, the latest figures available, 38 percent of 15- to 20-year-old male drivers involved in fatal crashes were speeding, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Twenty-four percent of young male drivers in fatal accidents had been under the influence, with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or higher. The .08 level is the legal limit for adults.

However, there's some encouraging news: Overall, the teenage death rate from car crashes has gone down over the past three decades - 47 percent among males and 19 percent among females, thanks to school and law enforcement programs and restrictions on teen driving in the first year of licensing.

But it doesn't feel that way to an educator like Shank. "When this happens in your community among your students, it feels overwhelming. It feels like it's everywhere," she said.

What is it that fuels an adolescent boy's need for speed?

"They think they're invincible," said Sgt. Les Bishop of the California Highway Patrol. "They think 'nothing's going to happen to me.' It's just how teenagers look at life at their age."

Inexperienced drivers

Lack of driving experience also is a key factor in teen crashes. Teen drivers are involved in more fatal crashes and crashes causing serious injuries in the first year of becoming licensed that any older driving group, Bishop said. The difference between the skills and maturity of a 16-year-old - when full licensing can occur - and a 17-year-old driver is fairly dramatic, he added.

Teen drivers are more likely to underestimate hazardous situations and not be able to recognize them because of their inexperience as drivers, Bishop said.

He also blames our "daredevil" society that feeds on Hollywood action movies with extreme stunts. "It gives kids a sense of adventure that's unreal."

A powerful lesson for many teens is a two-day program sponsored by the CHP called "Every 15 Minutes," he said. Although the program emphasizes the harm of drinking and driving, its lesson is also about any high-risk behavior that results in death, including speeding and reckless driving.

The event involves students staging a fatal collision, mock arrests and a mock funeral of one of their own classmates.

"I'll hear kids say 'I never thought about it that way,' like it really sunk in for them," Bishop said. "And there's always some who say 'that's never going to happen to me.' "

But those pronouncements are often short-lived.

"Some kids may get the message and they can carry it for several months," Shank said. "But some never learn the lesson."

She recalled the 2002 death of 18-year-old Los Gatos High student Eric Quesada, a passenger in a car that crashed that was driven by a 16-year-old friend who had been drinking. Quesada's death shattered the high school community, where he was a popular senior. That crash also occurred on a narrow rural road - Hicks Road in Los Gatos.

"There was such a huge upset here at school," Shank said. "Everybody felt it. A lot of kids said they wouldn't drink at parties anymore.

But a week after Quesada's death, students talked about attending parties where there was drinking, she said.

Teen programs

Short memories about such tragedies may end up being the case with the recent teen deaths. But school officials continue to host programs that target risky teen behavior. Last week, Los Gatos High students participated in such a program, facing a real life example of dangerous behavior with the deaths of Tyler and Shane Barclay.

The 17-year-old driver of the car in which the brothers died was injured in the crash, but is expected to recover. He is the cousin - and best friend - of the two who perished. In the Almaden tragedy in July, 19-year-old Erik Satterstrom and his 18-year-old friend Max Harding died when Satterstrom drove his Nissan 350Z down two-lane Graystone Lane, losing control and slamming into Paul and Uma Batra, a couple on a stroll.

Vicky Mlyniec has a hard time accepting that her son, a responsible teenager, did something so foolhardy. His friends said he was the last person they could see speeding.

According to a CHP report, her son drove down a straight portion of two-lane Summit Road at about 70 miles per hour, well above the 35 mph speed limit. It was 2 a.m. and no one else was on the road near his home, a road he felt comfortable driving.

The teenager apparently hit his brakes for some reason. His car swerved, he lost control and slammed into a tree.

"You look at the road, it's a straight road, and it's hard to just go 35," the mother said. "Even adults will go faster."

Still, she said, Nate's speed "was indefensible. . . . It doesn't matter if you are habitually risky or do this one time, like Nate did. Once is all it takes. There are no second chances. "

Mlyniec and her husband can hardly bear to drive past the site of the crash. They take back roads to avoid passing the tree.

Shank said one way to reduce teen driver fatalities might be delaying licensing until teens turn 17, rather than 16, because of the extra year of maturity.

Bishop said a lot of discussion about risky driving should happen at home between teens and their parents. While that is useful, Bishop asked: "Is that going to change a teenager? Probably not. There's still some who are going to go out and do whatever they're going to do, no matter what the consequences."