Teens have highest rate of motor vehicle accidents

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Karen Cooley shares the story of her son Nick's death with the hope that people will wear seat belts and discuss becoming donors.

DRAPER — Corporal Ron Jackson of the Draper City Police Department dreads having to knock on a door to tell a family, "I am sorry your child has been critically injured in an accident, or worse, your child is not coming home."

Karen Cooley, the mother of three sons, received one of those calls. With sad emotions still surfacing, Cooley shared her story with parents and teens attending Healthy Lifestyles Awareness Night at Juan Diego Catholic High School Jan. 31. Her youngest son, Colby, is a sophomore at Juan Diego.

Cooley said seven years ago she joined the worst club in the world – the club of parents who have lost teens in motor vehicle accidents. Her oldest son, Nick, 17, was killed when the jeep he was driving rolled Nov. 18, 1999. He was not wearing a seat belt, was going about 75 mph, and it was very dark when he swerved to miss a deer that ran out in front of him. He probably would have survived if he had been wearing a seat belt because the roll bar was still intact.

"Two of Nick’s friends, who attended his funeral, were killed two months later in an automobile accident because they were not wearing seat belts," said Cooley. "I spoke with some of the policemen at the two boys’ vigil, and I asked them how I could help make a difference. We have to do something to make these kids wear their seat belts."

Cooley said the police officers asked her to speak to students and parents at schools, conferences, and conventions to share her story. She also began talking to legislators about passing a seat belt law. One month ago the seat belt law was amended and called Nick’s Law.

"It is my hope that instead of the police coming to your door or calling you to tell you that it is your child, your child comes home and says he or she got a ticket for not wearing his or her seat belt.

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers, and 16-year-olds have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age. A 16-year old driver is three times more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident than the average of all drivers.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 5,900 teens died in car accidents in 2006. In 2005, 3,467 drivers age 15 to 20 died in car accidents. Drivers age 15 to 20 accounted for 12.6 percent of all the drivers involved in fatal crashes and 16 percent of all the drivers involved in police-reported accidents in 2005. More than half, 56 percent, of young drivers use cell phones while driving, 69 percent said they speed to keep up with traffic, and 64 percent said they speed to go through yellow lights. In 2005, 23 percent of teen drivers killed were intoxicated, according to the NHTSA, and 47 percent said their passengers sometimes distract them.

"On Nov. 18, 1999, I was at a football game with my middle son, Chris," said Cooley. "I had a bad feeling in my stomach and my intuition told me something was wrong. I wanted to go home. So we did. I checked on Colby and my husband, and I thought Nick was on his way to a rodeo and he would call me when he got to St. George, and everything would be fine.

"At 10:50 p.m., the phone rang and I got the news that Nick had been in an accident, he had not regained consciousness, and they were life flighting him to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City," said Cooley. "I was out the door and on the freeway by 11:05 p.m. I called a few family members on the way and asked them to meet me at the hospital. We waited for several hours for Nick to get there because there had been some complications. I kept going outside to listen for the sound of the helicopter."

A social worker met the family and said Nick was on his way. She asked them if they wanted something to drink. Cooley thought, "I had been to the hospital before with my kids for stitches and broken bones and nobody ever offered me a drink. Nick must be really bad.

"While we were waiting, we all sat and talked about Nick and all the things he loved, and the funny things he had done," said Cooley. "I am not sure if in our hearts we all knew it was the end. At about 1 a.m. the blue lights in the hospital starting flashing and I heard them say over the intercom, ‘Code blue to Emergency,’ and they repeated it over and over again. I ran over to the double doors to look through the windows as they wheeled Nick past me. I remember the look on Nick’s face, and I knew that he had either left already or he was going.

"My brother told me I had to be strong," said Cooley. "He said, ‘Nick needs you, and Colby and Chris need you.’ "Finally the social worker and two doctors came out and handed me a plastic bag with Nick’s belongings. I held on to that plastic bag all night long and for weeks. I still have it. The stuff in that bag is like gold to me. It is little pieces of Nick.

"They sat us down and told us Nick would not survive, and I knew there was nothing I could do to change it," said Cooley. "I remember my dad saying we need to pray for Nick, and we did. He also said if Nick is meant to survive, he will be strong. But if he isn’t, let him go in peace.

"They finally let us see Nick," said Cooley. "Nick looked just fine. He looked like he was asleep. For the first time, I realized Nick looked like a man. He had grown up before I even realized it. You cannot imagine all the things that cross your mind in that amount of time. All the things you wish you had done, and wish you had said. I realized for the first time Nick had done something I could not fix. That is my job, I am the mom. I still to this day have the hardest time with that. We talked with Nick, and we begged him to stay. As we did, a tear rolled out of Nick’s eye and down his cheek. I had such hope in those few minutes that he heard us and he was going to stay with us."

Nick had told his mother he wanted to be an organ donor, so they began to prepare him for that procedure. The family made their choices on what they wanted to donate, and the staff started calling people to let them know organs and tissues were available.

"Nick was a really nice and good person who did a lot of things to help people," said Cooley. "He would give away the shirt off his back and the last dollar in his pocket to someone who needed it more than him.

"Nov. 19, 1999, at 6:22 a.m., Nick slowly and peacefully slipped away from us," said Cooley. "At that moment, I knew my life had been changed forever."