EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Teens need to think twice before getting behind the wheel during the busy summer driving season, according to the West Texas Driving Academy and the Texas Department of Transportation, El Paso District.
Summer is when drinking-and-driving numbers rise, according to both organizations.
According to the Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth the three deadliest months of the year are June, July, and August.
Aolani Fierro, a driving instructor with West Texas Driving Academy, said when teens take driver education courses that them better navigate a potential life-or-death situation.
“It’s an investment, but it is something that could save your grandchild, your son, your daughter, because even you driving to the mailbox, you could get into a car accident. And even just a student knowing and learning how to stop correctly at a stop sign could save them,” Fierro said.
Fierro said teens who are aged 15 and 16 enroll in these courses and can greatly benefit from them.
“So we have this statistic where a student gets a license and there’s a big percentage that two months after they get a license, a lot of the students get into a car accident unexperienced,” Fierro said.
Jennifer Wright, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Transportation in El Paso, told KTSM that drivers need to think before getting behind the wheel.
“A sober driver is not the person who’s had the least to drink. It’s the person who’s had nothing at all to drink,” Wright said.
Fierro said teens can get carried away with the excitement of being a new driver.
“The inexperience that they’re so excited of being in high school, having a new group of friends, trying to fit in peer pressure, that they start mixing alcohol and making bad decisions when they’re under the influence,” Fierro said.
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