Logan Dotson 1997-2015
It happened again this week. We lost another teen driver.
I read the news on TV each evening. People often tell me, “We have a tape of you on the news, and we’ve watched it over and over.” I always say thank you, and then they say, “Our son died in a car accident, and you said your thoughts were with the family.”
This week it was Dade County High School. An 11th grader named Logan Dotson lost his life on his way to school. The principal, Josh Ingle, had to handle the duties that every principal dreads: telling the students that they’ve lost a friend. He must tell the teachers that a young man they were interacting with just hours before won’t be coming back to class.
Mr. Ingle struggled to talk about Logan when he was being interviewed on-camera. He was into mischief, Mr. Ingle said, nothing serious, just the stuff that high school boys do. He loved the outdoors. His Facebook page reflects that love, with photos and comments about racing and hunting. The recent rain has caused many accidents, and may have played a role in Logan’s accident that Wednesday morning on Burkhalter Gap Road on Lookout Mountain.
I have not seen or heard any evidence to indicate that Logan was at fault.
I am here to let you know, teen driver, that there are a few basic things you can do to reduce the chances of this happening to you.
When your parents and grandparents were learning to drive, we had distractions too. Just not nearly as many as you do. We had a radio, and usually a tape player. And sometimes we had too many other kids riding with us, but that was about it. In 2015 you have a phone, which is distracting enough. You can also text, tweet, take photos, look at photos, read other people’s texts and tweets, find your favorite song or video, and even play games, while you’re in that fast car, or big truck.
On the news 10 years ago, I read the name of a 17-year-old girl who died in a car accident, and that’s when I first heard the term “texting while driving.” Since then, distracted driving accidents have become a too-frequent occurrence.
Many teens who survive crashes say that after after their first year or two of driving, their confidence went up, way up. “I’ve gone a whole year without anything happening, there’s nothing to this!” Frankly, when you’re 17, a year is a long time. If you’ve driven 365 days without being in a wreck, you often think, what could possibly go wrong?
That’s when police say most kids get in trouble. You take more chances, you get a little careless, you start feeling bulletproof. You sent a text yesterday when traffic was a little slow, so you’re even better at it today. You can send a text without even looking at the keyboard, and it’ll just take a second to read the reply. You all know what happens next. You spend more and more time focusing on your device, which equals less time focusing on the road, and that’s when you collide with someone else who may be doing the same thing.
Although there are many arguments against even allowing 16-year-olds to drive, I’m not going there. I’ve never been a fan of age dictating who’s mature enough to drive. I’ve known 14 and 15-year-olds who were safe drivers, and I know people in their twenties who are downright reckless. We make it pretty easy to get a driver’s license. Most people ace the written test the first or second time, and the driving test basically consists of making a few right turns. Due to funding cuts, most schools don’t offer the free driver education course that was available to me in rural Alabama in the 1970s. It boggles my mind to say that, but it’s true. These days, we’re not real choosy when it comes to putting drivers on the highway.
All we can ask you to do, is be smart. We know that the leading cause of teen deaths is highway accidents. And of those, we know the main reasons are distractions (from devices to too many teen passengers), alcohol and drugs, speeding/recklessness, failure to use seat belts or headlights, following too closely, drowsiness, and of course inexperience.
You’re not invincible. But, you are loved. Your family needs you. Your friends would rather have lunch with you, instead of placing a cross on the side of the road.
I’d rather not read your name on the news unless you catch a big fish, earn a scholarship or win the lottery.
If this open letter has gotten through to just one young person, if it has convinced you to drive a little safer, all I can say is thank you.
(From David Carroll’s ChattanoogaRadioTV.com)
Friends of Logan Dotson