- BEN JENNINGS/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Riverbend students reflect on making roads safer

Date published: 6/26/2007

BY STEPHANIE BOSCOVITCH

Now that it's summer, teenagers are on the roads more often than usual. Car radios are blaring, sunroofs are open, and everyone is ready to party.

But in light of the recent automobile-related deaths of Riverbend High School students Brandon Bates and Hunter Garner, some may wonder what it will take for teenagers to start making better decisions when getting behind the wheel of a car.

Realizing how big a responsibility driving is seemed to be the highest concern for students.

"My feelings on the whole issue are that when you step into the car, you have to be aware of the dangers that you could possibly be getting yourself into," said Devin Millhorn, a rising junior at Riverbend.

"You can't have the mind-set that it's never going to happen to you, because you don't know that."

While the loss of two friends and classmates is making many adolescent drivers at Riverbend realize that driving is a responsibility, not a privilege, some people think that the effect of this tragedy won't last long.

"It will for a while. But the sad truth is that, over time, it will wear off," said Riverbend English teacher Renee DeCoskey.

"Sadly, they won't be the last [students] in an accident. When it wears off and the kids aren't so newly affected by it, we'll be back to square one."

However, some, like Alan Shackelford, a rising senior at Riverbend, say otherwise: "I think that the past accidents have opened the eyes of many teenagers to drive more responsibly. It has helped many teens realize that the decisions they make while driving could not just affect them, but all the people that they care about as well."

It's scary to think that the people sitting next to us in biology class are the ones who might be racing down the road past our mothers' cars. Teens have to realize that if an accident were to occur, not only would it affect the driver and the people they hit, but all those who care for them.

Date published: 6/26/2007