Notice - This site is
no longer actively updated. The site will be left online as a infomational
site for Missouri teen drivers, and as a memorial to the victims who lost
their lives during the three year period of 2006-2008. Please remember to
drive like your life depends on it .... because it does.
Every year, approximately 250 people will lose their life in a Missouri traffic
accident involving a teen driver, ranking it the 10th deadliest state in
the United States. In 2005, teenage drivers, between the age of 16 to 20,
made up approximately 7% of Missouri drivers, but were driving in nearly
28% of all traffic crashes involving injury, and 22% of all fatal crashes).
AAA says a teen is killed or injured in a Missouri car accident every 43
minutes². (This web site uses the age of 20 and under to define a
teen driver -
MHP figures for 2005 )
This website was created to give Missouri teenagers a place to learn from
the mistakes, or misfortunes of other
teens.
It is a place where you can remember friends that have been lost in car crashes,
and a place where lost friends can reach out to you. As it grows, and more
Missouri families and law enforcement agencies contribute, this site may
shock you, or make you cry, but hopefully, it will get your attention.
This little waystation on the internet highway is called Operation Stop for
Missouri teen drivers. The goal is to stop you from making that one mistake
that could prove deadly. You have a long and wonderful life to look forward
too. Some of you are dying to drive. We'd like to share with you on how to
keep from driving to die!!
Teens, aged 15 to 20 years of age, make
up nearly 9% of all Missouri drivers,
but are involved in
23%
of fatal traffic crashes. (updated for 2006 -
source)
While Missouri led the nation in 2006 in reducing the
number of fatal crashes, the percentile of teen drivers increased, as did
the percentage of fatal crashes involving a teen driver.
If you watch no other video's on this website, please
watch "In the
Blink of an Eye" and
"Teen Drinking
and Driving". California tells the story of three teens on their site
- 16 year old
Annie
Vano, 19 year old
Trevor
Gilbert, and 17 year old
Joel
Davis. Watch these short video's about these three teens. You may not
have known them personally, but you do know teens just like them. As with
all films posted on this site, if you are a family member who has suffered
a tragedy recently, these videos may be too difficult to watch. Family members
are asked to read this
explanation
about the site.
Per mile driven, 16 to 19 year old teen drivers are
4X more
likely to crash than older drivers . (CDC)
Mother of three, 36 year old Debra Moseley was
on her way to work westbound on a rural Missouri road one Monday morning
in March of 2005. Eastbound, on the same road, was 19 year old Richard Maberry.
Suddenly blinded by the rising sun, Richard's car crossed the centerline
and struck Debra nearly head-on. Both were killed. A few months later,
Richard's first child was born.
The morning after leading her varsity basketball
team to a one point victory, 17 year old Ava sports star Mandy Marlene Hampton
died, when the car she was driving, left the road and struck a pole.
Amongst the hundreds that attended her funeral, sat the entire Seymour Tigers
girls basketball team. It was this team, that Mandy's 15 points that night,
had helped defeat.
Click to watch
2006
Missouri Statistics On average....
A teen was killed in a traffic crash every 2 days.
Every 88 minutes a
teen driver was involved in an injury crash.
Every 38.5
hours a teen driver was involved in a fatal crash Source
Last December, professor Peter Wooley wrote an article
in the Washington Post, stating that the number of people killed in US car
crashes is a "non-story every year, going back decades". He went on to claim
these tragedies are "absent from the agenda of most public officials and
largely ignored by the public." A few months later, Ted Koppel, on NPR radio,
commented, "Apparently, 43,000 deaths a year is a price we are prepared to
pay for the benefits that motorcycles, cars, trucks and buses provide." While
both of these writers were making a point, the question begs to be asked.
Have we, as a society, really grown so apathetic toward the fact that 120
of our fellow Americans will be killed in crashes on our roads every
single day, or have we surrendered ourself to the inevitable fact that, according
to the National Safety Council, each of us has a one in 84 chance of dying
in an automobile crash during our lifetime? The answers are not easy, but
we must address the problem? Has death by car crash become a new fact of
life?
Unlike most teen safety driving sites, this site has nothing to
sell, doesn't market any company or service, asks for no donations, nor accepts
them.
The only motivation for this site is to potentially save a young life
from a senseless tragedy.
It is a place where you can remember friends that have been lost in car crashes,
and a place where lost friends can reach out to you. As it grows, and more
Missouri families and law enforcement agencies contribute, this site may
shock you, or make you cry, but hopefully, it will get your attention.
Mother of three, 36 year old Debra Moseley was
on her way to work westbound on a rural Missouri road one Monday morning
in March of 2005. Eastbound, on the same road, was 19 year old Richard Maberry.
Suddenly blinded by the rising sun, Richard's car crossed the centerline
and struck Debra nearly head-on. Both were killed. A few months later,
Richard's first child was born.
The morning after leading her varsity basketball
team to a one point victory, 17 year old Ava sports star Mandy Marlene Hampton
died, when the car she was driving, left the road and struck a pole. 
