EXPLAINER: Driver in West Texas crash was 13; is that legal?

ANDREWS COUNTY, Texas — From the logging roads of the Pacific Northwest to the farm nation of the Nice Plains and past, it is not unusual for individuals in rural elements of the U.S. to study to drive after they’re younger, typically even earlier than they attain their teenagers.

However the information {that a} 13-year-old was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that blew a tire and struck a van on a darkish, two-lane street in West Texas on Tuesday evening, killing 9 individuals — together with six members of a New Mexico faculty’s golf groups and their coach — put a renewed deal with the apply.

At a information convention in Odessa, Texas, on Thursday, Nationwide Transportation Security Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg mentioned the hazards of underage driving put it on the company’s “most-wanted checklist.”

NTSB: 13-year-old was driving truck that struck van in West Texas, killing 9

Together with drunk and distracted driving, Landsberg mentioned “youthful driving” and extreme pace on rural roads are among the many issues that make freeway driving probably the most harmful type of transit in the USA.

“Each two days we’re killing the equal of a Boeing 737 crashing,” he mentioned, referring to freeway fatalities from a number of causes. “It’s lengthy overdue that we begin to do one thing about it.”

9 killed, together with 6 faculty college students, in West Texas collision

Money Hogen, a 60-year-old who runs a kitchen and ironmongery store in Pierre, South Dakota, recalled studying to drive a Ford Bronco “as quickly as my toes hit the pedals” – most likely round age 10. He’d drive the two-track roads throughout his household’s ranch in western South Dakota to restore barbed-wire fences or for different duties.

However his father at all times pressured security round autos and informed tales of horrific tragedies to drive residence the hazard.

“In no way would I be out on a public street with out my learner’s allow,” he mentioned.

Whereas it is authorized for individuals of any age to drive on non-public property, resembling farms or ranches, public roads the place others are in danger is one other matter, mentioned William Van Tassel, the supervisor of driver coaching applications for AAA’s nationwide workplace.

Each U.S. state has some kind of graduated driver’s licensing program, by which teenagers as younger as 14 can start taking driver’s training courses or start driving with an teacher or guardian, he mentioned. Finally they acquire extra independence, being allowed to drive on their very own or at evening, till they’ve full privileges.

“Actually in rural areas there is a basic pattern of decrease minimal driving ages,” Van Tassel mentioned. “We see plenty of teen drivers have driving expertise by the point they arrive to a proper driver’s training course as a result of they have been driving vehicles or tractors or different autos on the farm. However in the case of public roads, the legal guidelines are fairly clear: You may’t be on the market till you are legally eligible.”

In accordance with Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration information, there have been 47 deadly crashes and 1,057 harm crashes in 2020 involving drivers 13 or youthful.

In 2019, the fatality price per 100 million car miles traveled was 1.9 occasions greater in rural areas than in city areas.

The reason for Tuesday’s crash in Andrews County, Texas, close to the New Mexico border, wasn’t clear, however federal authorities mentioned Thursday that the 13-year-old was driving a Dodge pickup on a street with a 75 mph pace restrict when its entrance left tire, a spare, blew out.

The truck veered throughout the middle line into an oncoming transit van carrying the golf crew from the College of the Southwest, in Hobbs, New Mexico. The boy and a person within the truck with him have been killed, together with members of the golf groups and their coach.

Whereas the world is rural, the encircling oil fields of the Permian Basin that crosses from West Texas into New Mexico imply the visitors will be something however, native residents mentioned.

Gib Stevens, 57, of Hobbs, leads trucking operations for an oilfield servicing firm. He mentioned he himself began driving vehicles at age 12 on dairy farms and quiet farm roads, however he mentioned the street the place the accident occurred was clearly unsafe.

“For a 13-year-old to be driving that street, that was dumb,” Stevens mentioned. “These roads are all oil visitors.”

In Texas, one should be 14 to start classroom instruction for a learner’s license and 15 to obtain that provisional license to drive with an teacher or licensed grownup within the car. Division of Public Security Sgt. Victor Taylor mentioned it might be unlawful for a 13-year-old to drive on public roads.

Van Tassel famous that the crash concerned a number of threat elements in addition to the youth of the driving force: It occurred at evening and on a street with a excessive pace restrict when the spare blew.

Additional, teenage boys are one in all “probably the most harmful segments” of the driving inhabitants throughout the nation, mentioned Cathy Chase, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Advocates for Freeway and Auto Security.

“It is a worst case situation, on prime of a worst case situation, on prime of a worst case situation,” Chase mentioned.

Johnson reported from Seattle. AP writers Jake Bleiberg in Dallas and Cedar Attanasio in Hobbs, New Mexico, contributed.