27 teen drivers died in 2003

Stephen Curran

Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

Clark County saw a jump last year in the number of teenagers killed while behind the wheel, even as an annual study found a decrease in the number of young drivers killed nationwide.

Nevada also saw a slight increase in the number of teen drivers killed last year, according to the report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Twenty-seven drivers ages 15 through 19 died on Nevada roads in 2003, up from 25 the year before. Nationwide, 3,657 young drivers died, a 4.4 percent decrease from the 3,838 total in 2002.

Eighteen of those 27 teen drivers were killed on Clark County roads, according to the federal database. In 2002, 13 teen drivers died on Clark County roads.

Car crashes continue to be the leading cause of death for Americans between 15 and 20 years old, according to the agency.

Erin Breen, director of the Safe Community Partnership, a group that has lobbied the state Legislature for changes in driver's licensing policy, said she has not seen the study but that Nevada's higher rates likely stem from ineffective driver education.

Of Clark County's 28 high schools, only seven offer driver education programs, she said. The programs range from in-person training to distance and Internet classes.

"We teach kids how to pass a driving test, but very often they don't know how to drive," Breen said. "It happens over and over again."

Current laws prohibit young Clark County drivers, who can legally get their license at just under 16 years old, from carrying non-family members for the first 90 days after they receive their license.

Jim Dunning, whose 15-year-old son Travis died in November 2003 after the car he was riding in hit a brick wall, took the last ride of his life with a 16-year-old who drove while drunk.

Now Dunning, like Breen, is lobbying for the the 2005 Legislature to approve tighter regulations.

Nevada's numbers did not surprise Dunning, he said, as states with stricter laws have all reported decreases in past years.

"The statistics prove it," Dunning said. "This graduated licensing law has to be passed."

Breen's group wants to extend the amount of time required for a learner's permit from three to six months, during which time the new drivers must drive accident-free.

"It doesn't just have to do with your age, it's just that you're a novice driver," she said.

The Nevada death toll in the federal report released last week also is in step with previous reports by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which ranks Nevada seventh in the number of overall traffic fatalities regardless of age, based on miles driven.

The federal agency used mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

In addition to the the drivers who died, 26 passengers riding with young drivers died in Nevada last year, up from 22 the year before.

All told, 368 people died traffic in Nevada in 2003, down from 381 in 2002, according to the state Department of Public Safety. But of last year's total 223 came from Clark County, 10 more than the year before.