There are many important birthdays in every teenager’s life, the age of 13 when they begin the teen years, the age of 18 when according to the law they are no longer a child but an adult, and the one arguably talked about the most, 16 this is the year a teenager begins their driving career.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration automobile accidents remain the number one cause of deaths at the adolescent stage in America. The fatal crashes from drivers between ages sixteen and nineteen are four times greater than amount of fatal crashes from drivers from twenty-five to seventy. With the knowledge of these statistics, students at Davis High School are more cautious about driving. Sophomore driver Conner Simonson said, “it definitely keeps me aware. I drive more defensively knowing that.”

Arguably the center of unsafe driving is the parking lots at Davis High. A constant threat is ignoring stop signs and one way streets, using knees to drive, not paying attention to the road, and swerving barely missing an oncoming car.

Senior Christian Michelson said, “I’m surprised I haven’t heard of any crashes in the parking lot. I have to walk out there sometimes to my house, and I’m scared for my life sometimes. It’s very hectic out there”. This insanity of driving not only affects the students at Davis but the teachers as well. Football Coach Preston Parrish said that a teenager’s driving can be described as “awful” and that at this age the brain “is not developed enough to actually drive on a consistent basis with a rational decision. It’s like suicide.”