Heading back to school after an off-campus lunch in January 2015, junior Kailas Shekar steered his car, with the radio blasting and focused on getting back on time. His six friends ― two of whom were crammed in the trunk ― gorged on Taco Bell nachos as Shekar wove through traffic.
As he approached the intersection between Saratoga Sunnyvale Road and Herriman Avenue, he focused only on the green light ahead, never slowing down from 40 mph in a 25 mph zone. With one hand on the wheel, he hastily swerved to the left, veering out of control. Muffled shouts filled Shekar’s ears as his car flipped onto its side, just a few feet away from campus.
“I was speeding because I thought it was pretty fun to do so, and it's exhilarating, [and] you feel good,” Shekar said.
Yet this brief moment of exhilaration came at a high price. His friend junior Samet Ghirnikar, who sat in the backseat, suffered a concussion, while juniors Kedar Tallak and Kurt Bench, who were in the trunk, sustained cuts and bruises around their bodies.
They were lucky to have come away so lightly, and it was an eye-opening, life-changing moment for Shekar.
“A lot of teens take [driving laws] for granted. I know I took them for granted,” Shekar said.
Teens, of course, aren’t always so lucky when it comes to driving. In 2000, two Saratoga High girls — the driver, Eleanor Patrick, 16, and a passenger, Nicola Rooke, 15 — were killed when the Volkswagen Beetle they were riding in crashed into a power pole on Fruitvale Avenue. At the time, officers said the accident was caused by a loss in control of the wheel while speeding. Now, a bench near the track is dedicated to the girls, also acting as a reminder of the constant dangers when teens are behind the wheel.
In California, drivers within their first 12 months of licensure are not allowed to transport passengers under the age of 20. All passengers in a vehicle are also required to wear seat belts, and the number of passengers in any vehicle must not exceed the number of available seat belts.
Over 240,000 teens were injured and over 2,163 died due to various teen driving accidents in the U.S. in 2013, according to the Center of Disease Control. Of these drivers, 56 percent of them were not wearing a seat belt.
In this accident, Shekar broke three laws; he exceeded the given speed limit, overloaded his car, which had a five-person carrying capacity and only had his license for two months.
Shekar is currently on driving probation for one year, and his parents enforced their own restrictions on him, including not being allowed to drive for the rest of high school. Since then, he has learned to have greater respect for these laws that keep people, drivers and pedestrians alike, safe.
Even with the knowledge of accidents like Shekar’s, many students, who have not been cited or been involved in a scarring accident, still take driving laws lightly.
One upperclassman who spoke to The Falcon under the condition of anonymity said these laws are not very important to him.
“I chose to take friends off before [having my license for a year] because I wanted to feel like an adult in front of them,” he said. “After getting my license, I just decided to go because this specific law isn’t really enforced and nobody really ever gets caught for breaking it.”
He also said he frequently speeds and knows of many people who do the same because none of them have gotten caught before.
Sheriff’s deputy Chad Garton, the school’s resource officer, said that while there has been an increase in citations written to teenagers for violating their provisional license agreements, there has also been a decrease in speeding violations.
“[Teens] think it is cool [to ignore these laws], and they are unaware of what they are doing [due to a] lack of experience,” Garton said. “[But] these laws are in place in order to save lives.”
Although there are still students who continue to test the rules of the road, Ghirnikar, a passenger in Shekar’s car, advised his peers to follow driving laws. He reminds other teen drivers that even though one person cannot control the road entirely, people have to do their part in keeping themselves and the people around them safe.
Ghirnikar, now a licensed driver, realizes that it is impossible to tell if he is about to get in a car for the last time.
“Honestly, I don’t remember much about the accident anymore,” Ghirnikar said. “I was so freaked out at the time, and it has definitely driven me away from the appeal of breaking these laws.”
