Irvine, CA- An elderly couple in Irvine were stuck and killed Tuesday by a teen driver who stuck them as they walked around their neighborhood.
The crash took place just after 7:30 a.m. on Eastwood near the Venta Spur Trail, the OC Register reported. According to police, as the 17 year-old boy was driving to school when he left the road, drove on the sidewalk and ran into a group of shrubs. He then struck the couple, a 65 year-old man and 61 year-old woman and stopped after he hit a retaining wall.
The man, who was later identified as Richard Crowell, survived the initial strike, but was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital 30 minutes later.
Sharon Crowell, Richard’s wife, was found beneath debris from the crash, but she was already deceased when emergency crews located her.
Police have not yet determined what caused the boy to run off the road. They are currently investigating the cause and have not filed charges.
This is just one incident that demonstrates the dangers teen drivers face when they get behind the wheel. A few incidents which happened this week bolster recent statistics that show teen drivers are at increased risk of becoming the victims of a fatal accident or causing one.
Earlier this month in Placer County, California, two teens were killed when the SUV they were traveling in overturned on a rural highway. A 17 year-old boy and a 13 year old girl were thrown from the vehicle and died on the scene. There were a total of six passengers in the SUV. Though they were only traveling at 45 mph it proved to be too fast for the winding road and an inexperienced driver.
In Ohio, an SUV carrying 8 teens, plunged of a road and flipped over landing in a nearby pond. Only two of the teens involved in the accident survived. Aside from having more passengers than, the SUV could safely accommodate police said the driver was speeding.
Also this week, was an accident in Texas and Illinois that killed several teenagers. In the Texas accident five teens were killed after they ran a stop sign and crashed into a fuel tanker. The tanker caught on fire engulfing the teens and their vehicle in flames.
The tanker driver survived, but has third degree burn over 65 percent of him body.
In the Illinois accident, the driver hit a patch of ice in the roadway, lost control, crashed through the guardrail on a bridge and plunged into a creek. Police recovered four bodies.
Teen drivers are inexperienced; safe driving takes skill and practice. Distractions from passengers, cell phones and car stereos can have lethal consequences for teen drivers.
This cluster of teen driving deaths bolsters recent statistics from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association which showed that nationwide traffic deaths among teens increased by 19 percent in the first six months of 2012, after years of decline. Although some states saw an increase, California was one of the few states where there was a decline in teen deaths due to a traffic collision.
