Posted on 06/30/2009 8:04:56 AM PDT by CedarDave
Owens was not wearing a seat belt, according to Santa Fe County Under-sheriff Robert Garcia. He said the Subaru passengers killed in the accident were all wearing seat belts.
Garcia said Koffman was driving with a provisional license, meaning she was not supposed to be on the road after midnight, nor was she technically allowed to drive with more than one person under the age of 18 in her car.
One thing to be learned in defensive driving classes is if there is a driver coming at you in your lane, do not try to go left to avoid him as he might swerve back into his own lane and you hit head-on. Instead, always drive to the right onto and beyond the right shoulder if necessary to avoid a collision. Good advice especially in NM where except in the mountains the land beyond the shoulder is usually open land.
I screwed up one time in the car when I was 16 and my parents took away my driving privileges for 6 months.
I was told next time, it would be until I moved out.
I was out past curfew and got a police escort home. They didn’t like being woken up by flashing lights and a stern warning.
Needless to say, I was on the straight and narrow from then on out.
Our curfew was 11:00 PM but they selectively enforced it, I could tell you a lot of crazy stories about running from the cops though, on foot, not in a vehicle.
I don’t know about you but I had a lot of driving time out on country roads from the time I was around 8 yrs old.
My kids started out even earlier and had their own hunk of junk to drive around the farm when they were 7 and 9. When most kids were riding their bikes my sons were backing up trailers, driving tractors and doing all kinds of things with vehicles. The youngest is 36 and neither has ever had a car accident.
Around here the kids take a classroom course then they can apply for their learner’s permit and as soon as they are old enough, get their license, that is not enough experience behind the wheel, IMO. Then you add alcohol to that inexperience, it is a tragedy waiting to happen.
My brother was killed in a drunk driving accident when he was 17, my parents never recovered from that.
RIP.
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