• End of school year teenage driving End of school year teenage driving The tragic death of a Kaua‘i teenager on the rural road to Wailua Falls last weekend marked for Hawai‘i the sad beginning of a season when the
• End of school year teenage driving
End of school year teenage driving
The tragic death of a Kaua‘i teenager on the rural road to Wailua Falls last weekend marked for Hawai‘i the sad beginning of a season when the odds go up that a high school-age driver will be in a serious car wreck.
The death was almost matched by another car wreck that’s been reported to The Garden Island. This time a young driver flipped his car, but walked away while coming close to endangering
Local high schools are to be commended for their “grad night” parties, where high school graduates are chaperoned and literally locked up in a hotel ballroom for the evening. This provides a safe social setting for what may be the biggest night of their lives for some graduates, while also keeping young drivers off the road.
A memorial is still maintained on a Kaua‘i road that recalls the lives, and deaths, of students killed in a crash during a “convoy” of young drivers cruising at graduation time several years ago. This event brought a focus to this problem, and is a lasting memory that still affects Island youth.
With high school graduation ceremonies at public and private schools just weeks away it is time to again state the obvious: parents need to forewarn their teenagers who are planning to celebrate and party following graduation ceremonies about the dangers of drinking and driving, and about racing on public roads.
A few words of caution and caring, asking questions of teenagers n graduating or not n about post-ceremony plans, providing a safe alternative for graduates and their friends are all simple ways to forego a tragedy that could have been avoided.
