By Scott North
Herald Writer
It’s one of the toughest parts of John Lovick’s job.
More times than he’d like to remember during his 26-year career, the Washington State Patrol trooper has found himself pulling into somebody’s driveway bearing devastating news of the death of a teen-age son or daughter in a traffic accident.
"For me, it is something that I can never prepare for," Lovick said Tuesday. "It is probably the most heart-wrenching thing I have had to do in my life."
That’s why Lovick, a Democratic state legislator from Mill Creek, said he jumped at the chance last year to help push a new law designed to put the brakes on teen wrecks. Washington in July joined 33 other states in restricting how and when new drivers under 18 may operate motor vehicles.
So far, more than 1,100 of the new intermediate driver’s licenses have been issued to teens in Snohomish County, out of about 14,000 statewide, said Mark Varadian, a spokesman for the state Department of Licensing.
The new licenses ban late-night driving by 16- and 17-year-olds, and restrict young drivers from giving rides to most teen-age passengers, including an outright ban during the first six months.
It is too soon to tell what impact the new licenses will have, although states that have enacted similar restrictions report sharp drops in teen car crashes, Varadian said.
The new restrictions are designed to give young motorists "a little more time to learn the art of driving," Varadian said. "No matter how many hours you have in driver’s ed, it is sure different when you are out on the road."
New figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show 16-year-old boys remain the most risky drivers on the road, with 16-year-old girls trailing not far behind.
For every 1,000 licensed 16-year-old girls, 175 got in car accidents in 2000, according to federal accident data. That’s up 9 percent from 1990, when 160 girls crashed per 1,000 drivers.
Accidents for 16-year-old boys decreased slightly during the same period, from 216 to 210 per 1,000 drivers.
Susan Ferguson, senior vice president of research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said Monday that boys are crashing less because of safer vehicle designs and less drunken driving.
"While women would have experienced those improvements as well, they are crashing more because they are driving more miles,” she said.
Traffic accidents were the leading cause of death for drivers 16 to 19 years old in 2000, occurring at a rate four times that of motorists 25 through 69 years old, federal officials say.
Tracy McMillan, Snohomish County DUI Task Force coordinator, has no difficulty matching local names and faces to those statistics. Most of the deadly driving by young people occurs when alcohol is mixed with motor vehicle use.
"Intermediate driver licensing is going to help," she said, but it is only one piece of the puzzle.
The Snohomish County medical examiner reports that since 1995, 47 people under age 20 died in motor vehicle accidents here. Autopsies turned up alcohol in roughly one third of those victims. In 2001, there were six fatalities involving young people, evenly split between males and females. Alcohol was present in half the cases.
McMillan said the connection between booze and bad driving can’t be overstated and is a problem that cuts across generations.
In 1999, the county logged 48 traffic fatalities, more than half of which were alcohol-related, she said. In 2000, alcohol was a factor in 43 percent of traffic fatalities statewide, she said.
"We still have a huge problem, and Snohomish County is no different from the rest of Washington," McMillan said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431
or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
