The Texas car crash near the New Mexico border involving a pickup truck and a van that killed nine people on Tuesday, March 15, including members of the University of the Southwest golf team, was caused by a 13-year-old at the wheel.
Vice-Chairman Bruce Landsberg of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has spoken against the prevalent yet dangerous practice in America's rural towns like West Texas. In a press conference in Odessa, Landsberg said that "youthful driving" is still a rampant problem in America's rural highway.
"Every two days we are killing the equivalent of a Boeing 737 crashing," the vice-chairman said, per U.S. News. "It's long overdue that we start to do something about it."
13-Year-Old's Remains on the Driver's Seat
NTSB, an independent organization investigating crashes, was immediately on the scene with the Texas Department of Public Safety. The investigators determined that the unnamed 13-year-old was the person behind the wheel as his remains were found on the driver's seat.
The child died along with the pickup truck's passenger, Henrich Siemen, 38. On the other hand, seven passengers of the van that collided with the truck also died on the scene. The authorities identified the fatalities as Tyler James, 26, the golf team's coach, Laci Stone, 18, Tiago Sousa, 18, Travis Garcia, 19, Mauricio Sanchez, 19, Karisa Raines, 21, and Jackson Zinn, 22, per Today.
Two other passengers are still in critical condition at the hospital: Hayden Underhill, 20, and Dayton Price, 19. The investigators have no update on their current status.
According to Lansberg, many of the passengers in the van appeared to have not worn their seatbelts. The NTSB head said that this was a "high-speed, head-on collision," and they have thousands of photos from the scene, as taken by the first responders.
The NTSB will release its preliminary report in a few weeks, but the full report will not come out in at least 12 to 18 months.
Texas Age Requirement for Driving
Per NTSB's data, at least 47 car crash deaths and 1,057 car crash injuries in 2020 were due to drivers below 13 years old. However, in rural America, young drivers are expected to take the wheel at an early age to help with running the farm or ranches.
Texas local Gib Stevens, 57, told Los Angeles Times that he learned to drive trucks on the quiet roads of Texas at 12 years old to help in a dairy farm. However, he believes that it was not a bright move to let the 13-year-old drive on a busy road frequented by the hundreds of oil trucks traveling through Texas as road conditions are unsafe.
Department of Public Safety Sgt. Victor Taylor said it's still illegal for kids 13 and below to be at the wheel in Texas. The state's age requirement is 14 years old for classroom instruction to receive their learner's license. Then at 15, they can apply for a provisional license to drive with a licensed adult or an instructor.
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