Recent student driving accidents, speeding reports raise safety concerns

A junior’s Tesla was totaled after a crash into a house’s yard on Herriman Avenue in late January.

Roughly 230,000 teens in the U.S. ages 13 to 19 were injured or killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2020, with the most at-risk group being teen drivers aged 16 to 19.

The issue of driving safety has received attention recently as the result of an increase in student-involved accidents and reports of excessive speeding. One such accident was a crash on Jan. 31 that occurred during lunch involving a junior boy and his friends. (The Falcon chose not to identify him because of his age.)

The junior said he lost control of his Tesla when he went too fast around the bend on Herriman Avenue and crashed into a nearby home’s yard, narrowly avoiding a house’s frame. 

“I was rushing to get back to school and, with pressure from other passengers in the car, I decided to floor it,” the student told The Falcon.

His car ran into a pine tree and uprooted a fire hydrant, but none of the passengers in the car were harmed.

Assistant principal Brian Thompson sent an email to students recently about unsafe driving and cautioned them to change their behavior. “I see a lot of students driving fast and making turns that aren’t safe,” he said. “I’m out there watching students leave campus and I see a lot of unsafe driving very often.”

With these accidents happening among teen drivers, there are concerns among adults about safe driving. However, sophomore Dylan Wilson has a different perspective on the concerns toward student drivers at the school. 

“I have seen a few things here and there, but for the most part everyone is just taking their cars to get to their destination, and no one’s actively trying to be a bad driver,” Wilson said. 

Wilson believes concerns about student driving are largely based on the worst offenders, causing some to think that all student drivers will drive in unsafe ways.

“I think people should have trust in their students, peers and children,” Wilson said.

While drivers on campus are required to follow the laws and practice safe driving, some students are still prone to distractions and bend the rules especially when pressured to get to places on time. During morning and lunch times, many students speed down Saratoga-Sunnyvale, in some instances reaching speeds up to 80 mph, double the legal limit. 

As more students begin to get their driver’s licenses, the administration emphasizes the importance of following safe driving laws and taking the responsibility of driving a vehicle.

“Number one, always wear a seatbelt and just pay more attention when you’re driving on the road,” Thompson said. “I just wanted to take a moment to remind our student body to be safe for themselves and for other students as well as our community members because driving is a huge responsibility.”