Teen Driver’s Death Teaches Tragic but Important Lesson

Driving is a privilege that carries with it responsibilities that few teenagers ever fully comprehend until, of course, it’s too late.

I remember very well the day I received my first license after passing a battery of ridiculously easy tests--one question asked if I was required by law to stop at a cattle crossing, where the only cow in my hometown is the fiberglass one on top of Nick’s Western Barbecue--and taking my father’s car for a little celebratory spin.

I swung by some friends’ houses to pick them up, then headed to a coastal highway that shoots through a stretch of empty swampland south of my hometown in eastern Florida.

With no cars on the road, I edged the needle of the speedometer up, past the 45 mph speed limit and up to around 90 mph.

I turned down a deserted dirt road more than a dozen miles from anywhere to spin “doughnuts,” whereupon I immediately sank the rear tires into about a foot of gravelly sand.

I called my father to come and extricate the car; naturally, he was angry, but didn’t say anything until we got home.

He gave me a lecture and then banished me from using his car until I “grew up a little.”

It wasn’t until a year later that I understood what he meant.

A friend whom I’d grown up with was killed after he lost control of his car doing pretty much the same thing I was on that lonely stretch of highway.

At the time of his death, we played on the same baseball team. He was a pitcher with a stellar ERA and a wicked drop curve. I was the catcher. And we were a team within a team.

I still think of Adam from time to time and wonder what his life would have been like if he had understood on that Friday night back in June 1987 what I do now.

But he taught me a lesson: Speed is no friend of a driver.

Dear Street Smart:

In the early evening of Feb. 5, I was out in the front of my home with my son when we heard tires screech and then a loud crash.

Immediately, we jumped into the car and drove around the corner of Radcliffe Street and Pederson Road in Thousand Oaks and came upon a horrible scene.

There was a vehicle that had been cut in half after it struck a tree.

The handful of people there had a look of horror, and very quickly we learned that one person was dead.

Reports were that the driver was traveling 80 mph in a 40-mph zone.

Waiting anxiously for an ambulance to arrive and help another person who was still alive in the car, I was struck by one thing: that my son, who is a couple of months shy of getting his license, was able to witness the result of reckless driving.

I had the urge to call every one of my son’s friends so they could see the horrible lesson.

When the emergency crew finished cutting away the car and caring for the injured survivor, there in plain view lay the poor dead boy.

I thought then as I do now, how incredibly sad that a young man at such an age had to die so needlessly.

To all parents who have kids who drive, this is our greatest fear.

I prayed then that his death would not be in vain and that it would serve as a lesson for teen drivers in our community that speed kills.

Ron Leavitt

Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

I hope your son learned something from that night, and it would be hard to imagine that he hadn’t.

Death is a difficult thing to witness, but that can often be the most impressionable learning tool.

I can only imagine how nerve-racking it must be to have a child out on the roads, particularly in Southern California where drivers have a level of ferocity uncommon to other areas.

So I’m sure you have taken the time, as all parents should, to show your child how to drive and be responsible while guiding a vehicle hurtling through this county’s sometimes wily roads.

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Dear Street Smart:

I would like to know why there are no temporary cement barriers in the center medians of the 118 and 23 freeways.

Is the cost or priority factor the reason these freeways pose a tragic accident waiting to happen?

I’ve noticed many barriers sitting for a year or more north of the 118 Freeway between Madera Road and Collins Drive.

Is Caltrans waiting for a lawsuit before putting them up?

Larry Rovetti

Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

According to Caltrans spokeswoman Pat Reid, who checked with the experts, the cement barriers north of California 118 between Madera Road and Collins Drive are in storage and are for temporary use only.

They will, however, be installed along the 118 Freeway near Tapo Canyon Road until a metal, three-beam barrier is installed sometime in the next several years.

Caltrans has strict guidelines for determining when it is beneficial to install median barriers.

Three key factors are considered when deciding whether to erect a median: median width, traffic volume and history of accidents where cars cross the median into oncoming traffic.

Most of California 23 has a median that is 82 to 94 feet wide and does not have an accident history indicating a problem with cars crossing into traffic traveling the opposite direction.

Engineers have determined that it is best not to have any barrier at this time, but will continue monitoring the area in the event the traffic justifies a barrier.

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Peeved? Baffled? Miffed? Or merely just perplexed? Street Smart answers your most probing questions about the joys and horrors of driving around Ventura County. Write to: Street Smart, c/o Coll Metcalfe, Los Angeles Times, 1445 Los Angeles Ave., Suite 208, Simi Valley 93065, or call the Sound Off line at 653-7546. Include a simple sketch if needed to help explain. In every case include your full name, address and both day and evening phone numbers. Street Smart cannot answer anonymous queries and might edit your letter or phone message due to space constraints.