Indiana Injury Lawyer Blog

A Northern Indiana community is mourning the death of two teenagers in a tragic Car Crash. The Indianapolis Auto Accident Lawyers can, unfortunately, report 17 year old Aubrey Whistler and 18 year old Leanna Martin both died in Sunday's auto collision in Carroll County, Indiana. Both girls were from Logansport, Indiana. The Car Accident happened on Indiana State Road 25.

Carroll County Sheriff's Department officers say Martin was the driver of the vehicle. Apparently, her car veered across the center line and into traffic going the opposite direction. 43 year old Jeffrey Wittig from Granger, Indiana was driving a vehicle in that oncoming traffic. Indiana investigators say he attempted to prevent a crash with Martin's oncoming car by heading to the right side of the road. However, Martin's vehicle went up in flames. She reportedly died at the scene while Whistler later died at a local Indianapolis hospital. Wittig was hurt in the Auto Accident and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Unfortunately, teenagers are involved in many fatal Car Accidents and vehicle crashes with injuries every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compiled some chilling statistics. For example, the CDC found auto crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in our country. That makes up more than one in three deaths in this age group. While two female teens were involved in Sunday's fatal car crash, male teens are often the ones who find themselves in such accidents. According to the CDC, from 2000-2006, 12,479 males aged 15-19 were killed in motor vehicle accidents. However, their female counterparts were involved in about half as many deadly vehicle crashes. In those years, 6,597 females aged 15-19 died in auto collisions.

So what can be done to protect our nation's teenagers on the road? The CDC suggests the key to teen auto safety lies with parents. Auto Safety experts say the first step is for parents to talk with their teen drivers about driving safely. Parents should also prolong their teenager's supervised driving period and establish the rules of the road. Additionally, auto safety experts recommend parents and their teen drivers sign an agreement about how the teenagers will act behind the wheel. And the CDC urges parents to make sure they enforce the rules in this agreement.

While protecting our young drivers on the road is extremely important, the Indiana Auto Accident Attorneys at Crossen Kooi know auto safety must be stressed no matter what the age of the drivers. Despite the high death rate for teen drivers, they are actually not the age group with the most fatalities in vehicle crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found the 25-34 year old age group had the most vehicle crash fatalities in 2009 with 5,689.