more Johnston County teens - so sad

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8995473

 

And the beat goes on....... :cry:

 

Yes, this *is* really sad. A few stupid decisions, and one life is lost while the others will be wracked with guilt forever, and one will spend time in prison.

Wasted Youth.

 

Johnston Country ranks as one of the highest in teen deaths and accidents. This really needs to be addressed.

Sherry

 

It is being addressed and has been addressed by law enforcement, groups/clubs in the schools, mock accident scenes (one recently at Clayton High), in driver's ed, and on and on. No amount of addressing will stop a teen or anyone bent on making poor decisions whether that be as a driver or a passenger who chooses to ride with that driver. I have seen the best of parents lose a child to one bad decision. The sheer number of teen drivers in Johnston County has gone up dramatically over the last decade or so (just think of how many more high schools we have) and with it the number of fatal crashes. Unfortunately, the message is not being taken to heart, but it IS out there. Prayers for the families of these kids. I have two teen drivers myself and we talk about this all the time.

 

+1

 

I'm glad to know that your family talks about it as does mine. I know teens who have raced one another on those roads and the parents laugh. I know teens who get in their car and parents text them thus causing an accident recently. Parents are the role models and not all take it as serious as they should. Even after speeding tickets and accidents they buy a kid another car. First line of defense on this is the parent and I don't care how many high schools, high schoolers, etc. are on the roads this must be addressed in Johnston County. Time after time we have lost great kids.

Sherry

 

We are on the same page...I am sorry if it sounded as if I disagreed with you as that was not my intent. I think the county schools, law enforcement, etc are addressing it, but as is the case with many other issues concerning teens, it falls on ears that only hear what they want to hear when parental support is absent, or worse as in the case of laughing, replacing cars, and boys will be boys attitude. I don't have the answer there. I have tried for 20 years to get some parents to give a damn about their child's education to no avail in a lot of cases. You would think they would value their child's life and the lives of others more, but those parents think it won't happen to their kid, not their family. I wish I knew the answer.

 

Me too and I am in total agreement.

Sherry

 

Adult driving.

To some extent it takes a community to raise children. All the adults need to learn to set the example. This morning alone I was passed by a car that used the center lane for that purpose on Cleveland school Rd. . Some one just made in Uturn in front of Waffle house on 42. My two Teenage drivers think that once one gets their license that the drivers handbook gets thrown out the window. I would think that most every adult in Johnston has kids, are related to kids, know someone who has kids or knows kids, that either drive or will be driving one day. Those adults that don't obey traffic laws and don't show common courtesy and respect for others let kids think that they can do what they want behind the wheel.
I don't want my kids to be next. I show every article to my boys and discuss every time this happens. I would think every adult wouldn't want a kid they are connected with to be next.
The most disturbing thing to me is knowing a parent must bury a child. My heart goes out to them. It just shouldn't happen.

 

I agree 100%. Just last week I had a guy almost side swipe me in front of Walmart just so he could get one car ahead of me. Totally stupid move on his part. Then yesterday we had a guy pull out of BoJangles and cross 42 right in front of us. If my husband had not slammed on brakes we would have creamed him.

Parents and fellow adults - we need to be setting better examples for our children and other young drivers!!!!

 

I agree! I see more stupid adult drivers than I do teens, esp on the beltline and 40. Do all states require driver's ed to get a license? Cause sometimes I think maybe it's people who've moved here - and seriously were not taught properly how to drive in traffic :banghead:

 

Part of the problem in JoCo are the many back, curvy, unlit roads. These accidents involving teens usually take place on those roads, not the major roads and intersections.

 

And this one is particularly bad, the curve kinda banks the wrong way. People FLY down that road during the day. : (

 

And the lack of a shoulder on rural roads. Many have dropoffs just off the white line, which can cause an overcorrection as is the case in a lot of the wrecks. It is scary when you run off the road for whatever reason, but Johnston County roads leave little room for error.

This program is good and free. I believe JCC has something similar.

http://www.putonthebrakes.com/

 

I'd like parents to teach your kids to clean off the windshield when it has snow or ice on it! I got behind some retarded *** kid this morning driving about 30 mph in a 55 because he was struggling to see. He was looking over the top of the snow that had settled on his windshield, like the top 5 inches of windshield was clear across. Seriously?? When I could finally pass this driver, it looked like a teenage boy, also on the phone I might add. He'd deserve to wreck, but unfortunately he'd probably kill someone else and walk away with a few scratches.

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

Yesterday driving to the Food Lion on 210, I also saw someone driving their car in the same condition, windshield not cleaned off at all... morons, maybe they were related??

 

You hit the nail on the head - widen the pavement by a foot on each side and we will see a decline in accidents.

Last fall they finally did a do a little improvement by paving the shoulder of several corners around the county. It's a start, but not enough. There is no room for error.

Tha being said, nothing good is going to come from a 17 year old drinking and driving.

 

A majority of these accidents also involve high speeds..which makes shoulder widths a lil more irrelevant, certainly when going 20+ over speed limit.

 

True. I was referring more to inexperience with how to safely return to the roadway after a runoff, but speed certainly is a factor in most teen crashes.

 

My daughter is in driver's ed right now. She's pretty much scared straight, she's actually terrified of driving. They had to watch so many videos, have so many guest speakers tell them about the majority of the accidents that happen in JoCo. She was actually scared to start her driving test today.