Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
EXPLAINER: Driver in Texas Crash Was 13; Is That Legal?
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
March 18, 2022

Share

 

From the logging roads of the Pacific Northwest to the farm country of the Great Plains and beyond, it’s not uncommon for people in rural parts of the U.S. to learn to drive when they’re young, sometimes even before they reach their teens.

But the news that a 13-year-old was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that blew a tire and struck a van on a dark, two-lane road in West Texas on Tuesday night, killing nine people — including six members of a New Mexico college’s golf teams and their coach — put a renewed focus on the practice.

At a news conference in Odessa, Texas, on Thursday, National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said the dangers of underage driving put it on the agency’s “most-wanted list.” Investigators have not yet said why the teen was behind the wheel before the crash, which also killed him and his 38-year-old father in the truck.

Along with drunk and distracted driving, Landsberg said “youthful driving” and excessive speed on rural roads are among the problems that make highway driving the most dangerous form of transit in the United States.

“Every two days we are killing the equivalent of a Boeing 737 crashing,” he said, referring to highway fatalities from multiple causes. “It’s long overdue that we start to do something about it.”

LEGAL DRIVING AGE VARIES BY STATE

Cash Hogen, a 60-year-old who runs a kitchen and hardware store in Pierre, South Dakota, recalled learning to drive a Ford Bronco “as soon as my feet hit the pedals” — probably around age 10. He’d drive the two-track roads across his family’s ranch in western South Dakota to repair barbed-wire fences or for other tasks.

But his father always stressed safety around vehicles and told stories of horrific tragedies to drive home the danger.

“Under no circumstances would I be out on a public road without my learner’s permit,” he said.

While it’s legal for people of any age to drive on private property, such as farms or ranches, public roads where others are at risk is another matter, said William Van Tassel, the manager of driver training programs for AAA’s national office.

Every U.S. state has some type of graduated driver’s licensing program, by which teens as young as 14 can begin taking driver’s education classes or begin driving with an instructor or guardian, he said. Eventually they gain more independence, being allowed to drive on their own or at night, until they have full privileges.

“Certainly in rural areas there’s a general trend of lower minimum driving ages,” Van Tassel said. “We see a lot of teen drivers have driving experience by the time they come to a formal driver’s education course because they’ve been driving trucks or tractors or other vehicles on the farm. But when it comes to public roads, the laws are pretty clear: You can’t be out there until you’re legally eligible.”

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, there were 47 fatal crashes and 1,057 injury crashes in 2020 involving drivers 13 or younger.

In 2019, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was 1.9 times higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

PERMIAN BASIN SEES HEAVY TRAFFIC ON RURAL ROADS

The cause of Tuesday’s crash in Andrews County, Texas, near the New Mexico border, wasn’t clear, but federal authorities said Thursday that the 13-year-old was driving a Dodge pickup on a road with a 75 mph speed limit when its front left tire, a spare, blew out.

The truck veered across the center line into an oncoming transit van carrying the golf team from the University of the Southwest, in Hobbs, New Mexico. The boy and his father were killed, along with members of the golf teams and their coach.

Investigators have not yet determined why the boy was behind the wheel, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Steven Blanco said Friday.

While the area is rural, the surrounding oil fields of the Permian Basin that crosses from West Texas into New Mexico mean the traffic can be anything but, local residents said.

Gib Stevens, 57, of Hobbs, leads trucking operations for an oilfield servicing company. He said he himself started driving trucks at age 12 on dairy farms and quiet farm roads, but he said the road where the accident happened was clearly unsafe.

“For a 13-year-old to be driving that road, that was dumb,” Stevens said. “These roads are all oil traffic.”

‘WORST-CASE SCENARIO’ IN TEXAS CRASH

In Texas, one must be 14 to begin classroom instruction for a learner’s license and 15 to receive that provisional license to drive with an instructor or licensed adult in the vehicle. Department of Public Safety Sgt. Victor Taylor said it would be illegal for a 13-year-old to drive on public roads.

Van Tassel noted that the crash involved several risk factors besides the youth of the driver: It happened at night and on a road with a high speed limit when the spare blew.

Further, teenage boys are one of “the most dangerous segments” of the driving population across the country, said Cathy Chase, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

“This is a worst-case scenario, on top of a worst-case scenario, on top of a worst-case scenario,” Chase said.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Arrested in Fatal DUI Crash on Trimmer Springs Road

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 41 People in Gaza, Medics Say

DON'T MISS

Manhunt for Gunman Who Shot Two Minnesota Lawmakers Enters Second Day

DON'T MISS

Israel and Iran Bombard Each Other, Trump Says He Can ‘Easily’ End Conflict

DON'T MISS

Trump Vetoed an Israeli Plan to Kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, US Officials Say

DON'T MISS

Newsom Wanted To Fast-Track the Delta Tunnel Project. The Legislature Slowed the Flow

DON'T MISS

Five Weeknight Dishes: Seven Ingredients or Fewer, Because Summer

DON'T MISS

Big Fresno Fair Unveils Second Wave of 2025 Concert Acts

DON'T MISS

Israel Says Attacks on Iran Are Nothing Compared With What Is Coming

DON'T MISS

Military Parade Barrels Through Nation’s Capital With Tanks, Troops and 21-Gun Salute

UP NEXT

Israeli Military Kills 41 People in Gaza, Medics Say

UP NEXT

Manhunt for Gunman Who Shot Two Minnesota Lawmakers Enters Second Day

UP NEXT

Israel and Iran Bombard Each Other, Trump Says He Can ‘Easily’ End Conflict

UP NEXT

Trump Vetoed an Israeli Plan to Kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, US Officials Say

UP NEXT

Newsom Wanted To Fast-Track the Delta Tunnel Project. The Legislature Slowed the Flow

UP NEXT

Five Weeknight Dishes: Seven Ingredients or Fewer, Because Summer

UP NEXT

Big Fresno Fair Unveils Second Wave of 2025 Concert Acts

UP NEXT

Israel Says Attacks on Iran Are Nothing Compared With What Is Coming

UP NEXT

Military Parade Barrels Through Nation’s Capital With Tanks, Troops and 21-Gun Salute

UP NEXT

Authorities Still Searching for Suspect in Shooting of 2 Minnesota State Lawmakers

Israel and Iran Bombard Each Other, Trump Says He Can ‘Easily’ End Conflict

18 hours ago

Trump Vetoed an Israeli Plan to Kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, US Officials Say

18 hours ago

Newsom Wanted To Fast-Track the Delta Tunnel Project. The Legislature Slowed the Flow

20 hours ago

Five Weeknight Dishes: Seven Ingredients or Fewer, Because Summer

22 hours ago

Big Fresno Fair Unveils Second Wave of 2025 Concert Acts

22 hours ago

Israel Says Attacks on Iran Are Nothing Compared With What Is Coming

1 day ago

Military Parade Barrels Through Nation’s Capital With Tanks, Troops and 21-Gun Salute

1 day ago

Authorities Still Searching for Suspect in Shooting of 2 Minnesota State Lawmakers

1 day ago

Caitlin Clark Returns and Leads Fever to Upset Win Over Unbeaten Liberty

1 day ago

Iran Fires Another Round of Missiles at Israel, and Explosions Are Heard in Tehran

1 day ago

Fresno Man Arrested in Fatal DUI Crash on Trimmer Springs Road

A man is dead and three others are injured following a rollover crash Saturday evening on Trimmer Springs Road that investigators say was ca...

16 hours ago

16 hours ago

Fresno Man Arrested in Fatal DUI Crash on Trimmer Springs Road

Mourners pray during the funeral of a Palestinian killed in what the Gaza health ministry says was Israeli fire near a distribution center in Rafah, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
16 hours ago

Israeli Military Kills 41 People in Gaza, Medics Say

Bullet holes mark the front door of Minnesota state Senator John Hoffman, who was shot alongside his wife, Yvette, in what is believed to be an attack by 57-year-old suspect Vance Luther Boelter, who is also the lead suspect in the shooting deaths of senior Democratic state assemblywoman Melissa Hortman and her husband, Marc, in Champlin, Minnesota, U.S., June 14, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Evans
18 hours ago

Manhunt for Gunman Who Shot Two Minnesota Lawmakers Enters Second Day

Israelis take shelter at the side of a highway as siren sounds following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in central Israel June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
18 hours ago

Israel and Iran Bombard Each Other, Trump Says He Can ‘Easily’ End Conflict

President Donald Trump speaks as he attends a military parade to commemorate the U.S. Army's 250th Birthday, on the day of his 79th birthday, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 14, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
18 hours ago

Trump Vetoed an Israeli Plan to Kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, US Officials Say

20 hours ago

Newsom Wanted To Fast-Track the Delta Tunnel Project. The Legislature Slowed the Flow

22 hours ago

Five Weeknight Dishes: Seven Ingredients or Fewer, Because Summer

22 hours ago

Big Fresno Fair Unveils Second Wave of 2025 Concert Acts

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend