Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Parts of the Western New York community were rocked over the last week with a pair of deadly fatal car accidents involving teenagers.
Back on March 2, two 19-year-old women were killed after an overnight crash in Lancaster when the vehicle they were in struck a tree and started on fire. Then on Monday, a pair of 17-year-old seniors from Williamsville South High School were killed when their car crossed into the oncoming lane, exited the roadway, overturned and then struck a tree.
Car crashes continue to be the leading cause of death for teenagers who range from ages 16 to 19, with most cases happening while away from school.
"The 100 deadliest days take place over the summer when school lets out. It's usually Memorial Day to Labor Day, and teen crashes typically increase," said Elizabeth Carey from AAA on Wednesday with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski on WBEN. "Unfortunately, a lot of times we see these crashes in springtime too."
Sadly, there are several different factors that could lead to tragedy whenever a teenager, or anyone for that matter, gets behind the wheel of a vehicle. It could be speed, it could be failing to wear a seatbelt, or it could come down to distracted driving with cell phones or having other people in the car.
Carey says it's important for young drivers, as well as the parents, to realize the potential dangers on the road and how to avoid the potential for a tragic event from occurring.
"You have to keep reminding the kids, we can't go back in time and change this, unfortunately," she said. "But maybe we can learn from it and prevent some other tragedies. Just constantly explaining to the kids to use [Monday's accident] as an example."
"We try to instill as much as we can with the students and with the parents that this is an ongoing process," added Andy Streit from Stevens Driving School while speaking on WBEN. "I mean, it's quite literally for the rest of your life, as long as you're driving, you need to understand the concepts and principles that go into driving. So it's something that we try to get them to carry through, but you only see them for seven weeks, 10 weeks, 20 weeks and then they're off and we have to hope for the best."
While working with students at Stevens, Streit tries his best to correlate what a teenager may be learning in high school with the lessons of driving on the road. This hopefully will help the students then better understand why it's important to heed the lessons and apply them on the road.
"We basically tell them that the instruction we give on whatever principle it might be - as much as we hate to use it as an example, but physics is involved in everything in life," Streit said. "The physics of driving and the weight shifts and everything else that goes into it during right turns, left turns. We try to get the parents to kind of emphasize that as the homework when the kids are working in-between lessons with us."
Although technology is often a source of distracted driving for many teens and other young adults, Streit says it can be helpful in some instances. He encourages that with the new inventions and technological advancements in vehicles, if student drivers want to learn how to utilize those luxuries during lessons, let the instructor know.
"If you're going to use something and you want to know how to use it, let us know. If you're going to use your music from your phone, you want to put it on your radio, let us know and we'll teach you how to use it so it's done safely," Streit explained. "[With the] GPS, turn the volume up, let her tell you where to go instead of you staring at a screen with a little purple line on it. We try to get people to use as many of the advantageous things in the vehicle that are newer to the newer models."
Listen to more of Streit's conversation during "A New Morning" below:
