NORFOLK, Va. — We’re about halfway through the 100 Deadliest Days for Teen Drivers. With school out for summer, a lot of young adults are out on road trips and at parties, which could make for some distracted drivers.
“There’s no reason to be an unsafe driver by way of impairment in this day and age, you’ve got tons of options available to you,” said Mike Goodove, President of the Southside Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.).
News 3 has talked with Goodove many times in the past. As a lawyer, he specializes in automobile negligence cases. For some, It’s just a job, but for Goodove, it’s personal.
“When I was in law school my younger brother was struck and killed by a drunk driver,” he told News 3.
Goodove’s brother, Jeffrey, was in college at the time.
Watch related: 100 deadly days of summer: Teen driving deaths
“He was headed back from the library with some friends in a vehicle and a drunk driver with underage people in the car who were also drunk ran into him and killed him, and severely injured others in the car,” Goodove said.
Since we are at this halfway point for the 100 deadly days for young drivers, here are some of the numbers. For Memorial Day up until this halfway point, there have been around 4500 crashes in Virginia involving a teen driver.
“There have been 8 fatalities. Half of those, 4 fatalities, were actually teens themselves,” said RYAN ADCOCK with AAA Tidewater.
In the full 100 days in 2023, there were just over 9700 crashes involving teen drivers. So if the crash rate continues at the same pace, the full number for the 100 days in 2024 should be lower.
Some more good news? In the city of Virginia Beach, crashes involving alcohol are down year to year. The bad news? News 3 recently received the drug-related crash stats from things like Marijuana in the same city, those are up 15%.
“The thought is that because you don’t have the specific testing that you can beat a charge like that and I’m not seeing that in courts,” said Goodove when talking about teens driving under the influence of things like marijuana.
Watch related story: Teens watch car crash demos, visit morgue to learn about distracted driving
So if you’re a young person and want to have fun this summer, Adcock asks that you drive and carpool responsibly.
“In general just taking it easy, not getting ahead of yourself, and not putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation.,” said Adcock.
Goodove agrees and adds that young people already have the tools to drive responsibly.
“We have the tools to prevent this. And the tools are drive safe, slow it down, and pay attention. Because you’re putting not only your life in danger but other people’s lives in danger,” he said.
News 3 will continue to follow through on the topic of safe driving with an update on how the numbers pan out at the end of the 100 days.
