Ohio’s worst motor vehicle accident in more than three years and, reportedly, the deadliest car accident in Trumbull County in its history, continues to be investigated in the wake of what transpired near Warren early last Sunday morning.
It is of course difficult to report such a story, but the details concerning the crash are duly passed along to readers to accurately reflect the news and to underscore the tragic reminder that car accidents continue to be the leading cause of death for young people in the United States.
The accident occurred after an SUV veered across a road, crashed though a guardrail on the left side and flipped into a pond. The vehicle submerged. Tragically, six teenagers — all Warren residents and friends — died in the crash. Two others survived, managing to exit the car.
Sadly, another deadly accident involving teens occurred the same day in Texas, when a teen driver in an SUV ran through a stop sign and was hit broadside by a gas tanker truck. All five occupants in the SUV died. The truck driver was airlifted to a local hospital.
Ohio safety officials say that, in the Warren accident, the SUV was speeding and that, apparently, none of the eight occupants (the SUV had a five-seat limit) was wearing a seat belt.
The two crashes highlight the sad and close nexus between motor vehicle accidents and teens as a driving demographic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about 25 percent of all persons in the country aged 15 to 24 who died in 2010 were fatally injured in motor vehicle wrecks.
Source: CNN, “6 teens killed, 2 injured when overcrowded SUV flips into pond,” Holly Yan and Mark Morgenstein,” March 11, 2013