All I can say is, ‘Wow.? (Well, that ain’t true. If that is all I had to say on the subject I am about to elaborate on, it would be a very short column, indeed.)
Holy cow! I saw some of the worst driving ever last week. Moreover, it was reckless and dangerous driving I saw whilst motoring west on Clarkston Road, from Josyln in Orion Township to M-15 in Clarkston. It was so bad I felt obliged to follow the aggressive driver, snap a picture of the back of his car, post it on Facebook and contacted the Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe.
Wrote I on the social networking website, Facebook: ‘So does anybody know this car and the douchebag driver/kid. Followed him and his buds from Orion to Clarkston on Clarkston Road this morning, just before 9. He passed a car on the shoulder of Clarkston Road (right side) on the curve by Eston Road (near where the deer are fenced in). He then passed a car where there is road work up by Clintonwood Park, double lines, traffic. Expensive car for someone so immature. I keep thinking he will kill himself, or somebody else. Circulate this picture between Orion and Clarkston . . . maybe his folks will find out.?
That post was shared a walloping 3,458 times! Within a couple of hours McCabe emailed me with an update from the Orion Substation Commander Dan Toth.
‘Everyone, I just spoke with the father who is very responsive to the concerns and he had already seen the FaceBook posts. He has already taken the vehicle from the son and he sounds like he is all over parental control of the 16-year-old. The vehicle actually has electronics which allows him to see all driving data like a fed-ex truck,? wrote Toth.
Most of the folks who commented on the original post were positive in their commentaries — they were glad I got involved. Some said they had seen the same car doing similar maneuvers on other local roads. Some readers thought I had gone to far, that I should have only contacted the police and not publicly embarrassed the 16-year-old.
I see their point, and once the father was contacted and talked to, I did take the post down. What do you think?
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I hopped on the old information highway and found myself reading information from the Centers for Disease Control. Here’s what I found.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers. How big is the problem? According the CDC, ‘In 2011, about 2,650 teens in the United States, aged 16?19, were killed and almost 292,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes. That means that seven teens (aged 16 to 19) died every day from motor vehicle injuries.?
Further more, ‘Young people ages 15-24 represent only 14% of the U.S. population. However, they account for 30% ($19 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males and 28% ($7 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females.?
Who is most at risk? The CDC site reports, ‘The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are nearly three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash.
Among teen drivers, those at especially high risk for motor vehicle crashes are: Males: In 2011, the motor vehicle death rate for male drivers and passengers ages 16 to 19 was almost two times that of their female counterparts.
And, finally from the CDC, what factors put teen drivers at risk?
n Teens are more likely than older drivers to underestimate dangerous situations or not be able to recognize hazardous situations.
n Teens are more likely to speed and allow shorter headways (the distance from the front of one vehicle to the front of the next). The presence of male teenage passengers increases the likelihood of this risky driving behavior.
n Among male drivers between 15 and 20 years of age who were involved in fatal crashes in 2012, 37% were speeding at the time of the crash and 25% had been drinking.
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Let me know your thoughts with an e-mail to Don@ShermanPublications.org