Diggin It
Super Star Member
"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.” "
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"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 a man in the truck with him were killed, along with members of the golf teams and their coach."
Aside from any other aspects of this, a 75MPH speed limit on a two lane road is completely and totally unacceptable. The state is at least partially responsible here.
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.” "
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"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 a man in the truck with him were killed, along with members of the golf teams and their coach."
Aside from any other aspects of this, a 75MPH speed limit on a two lane road is completely and totally unacceptable. The state is at least partially responsible here.