Teen drivers are an oxymoron!

Teen and drivers should never have been words that made sense together. My youngest son is now driving and I am probably more nervous with him than I ever was with his two older brothers. Could it have something to do with being 50 now?

It probably has more to do with the trauma his oldest brother, Ben, put his family through over 5 years ago. Ben really didn't do anything different than most of us have to admit to trying behind the wheel of a car at his age. He just had the accident. Racing with a friend and causing serious injuries to one of the other boys in the car landed him two years in a Georgia Correctional Facility. It also nearly cost him his life as well. 2 punctured lungs, laceration to his spleen, and 7 broken ribs were just the worst of his injuries. Being airlifted to an Atlanta trauma center, ICU, hospitalized for two weeks, pneumonia...it took him about 4 months to recover.

Ben has been out of prison for nearly two years now, but his life is still not easy. He is continually monitored by the Parole Office and will be for another year or so. Then he will have 5 years of probation. He still has a couple of years to go before he can get his license back. In the State of Georgia, serious injury by vehicle also means you lose your license for 5 years. He cannot leave the State of Georgia without permission. He will never own a firearm, which doesn't make sense considering a car accident somehow doesn't equate with crimes by guns. He also lost his right to vote for 10 years. Ben will be around 31 years old before he will ever vote for the first time.

Before you feel that somehow the punishment seems a little harsh for the crime since he did not intentionally set out to harm anyone, you should know that the 16 year old boy that was in the car with him that day never made a full recovery. He suffered a serious head injury that has handicapped him for life. While Ben continues to trudge through these legal and emotional difficulties, eventually I have faith that he will persevere.

So if your kids haven't started driving yet and I've scared you to death even thinking about it now, take every opportunity to talk to your kids about driving safely. Get educated and educate them. The risk for being involved in a car accident is the highest for ages 16 - 19. Ben was only two months past his 20th birthday when it happened to him. While over 5,000 teens will die this year from car accidents, over 400,000 will suffer serious injury as Ben and one of his passengers did. Share Ben's story with your children and teach them that there is no such thing as a car "accident" when people are injured, just different levels of criminal charges.

Drive safely!