Teen Drivers Collide Head On With Reality
June 17, 2003 -- -- Just over a year ago, Ashley Biersach and four friends were racing back to Las Vegas High School after an off-campus lunch — a high-speed dash that ended in tragedy.
The unlicensed driver of the car was going too fast, and the vehicle slammed into a light pole, police said. Biersach, who was trapped in the back seat, survived.
"I couldn't feel anything but pain," the 17-year-old recalled. "I was bleeding. I was screaming. I couldn't stop screaming. And I looked around me and I just, I saw horror, I saw my best friend in the front seat dead."
The collision tore the car in half, killing one girl instantly. The driver died several days later. Biersach lost two good friends that day and the force of the crash crushed nearly every bone in her back, waist and legs. She spent close to three months in the hospital, where doctors had to amputate her right leg below the knee.
Before the accident, Biersach said she felt invincible. Afterward, she wasn't sure she could go on.
"I would cry and beg my mom, 'Please just let me die,' " she said. "'I don't want to live anymore.' But after a while, I kind of realized that I could do things for people. I could save lives and that made me want to live."
A Dream to Save Lives
Biersach now travels around the country with an organization called Driver's Edge, telling her story to other teens and finding a renewed sense of purpose. Biersach rolls up to the podium in a wheelchair.
"I had a dream once and when this car accident happened that dream was shattered," she told a group of students. "So my dream now is to save lives and help teenagers like you."
Professional race car driver Jeff Payne started Driver's Edge a year ago. The program has already taught 3,000 teens skills they can't possibly learn in a classroom. In addition to the reality tale from Biersach, the program actually puts teens on a racetrack and teaches them what it feels like to lose control of a car.
"Driver's education only teaches you the basic fundamentals of how to drive a vehicle," Payne said. "It doesn't prepare you for all the hazards you face in everyday life."
Car accidents are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds in the United States, according the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2001, there were 3,608 drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 who were killed an additional 337,000 were injured.
The goal of Driver's Edge is to cut down on teen car accidents, the kind that can start with something as simple as a wrong turn or an obstacle in the road that causes the car to get dangerously out of control.
Getting a Grip on the Wheel
Summer South, a student taking Driver's Edge lessons, ran over nine cones on the racetrack, which is designed to teach teens how to handle a car in an emergency.
"Right when I went into those turns, right when I had to do the scariest parts like turning the wheels — I got so scared and I felt like I just wanted to just let go of the wheel," South said.
Fortunately for South, the barriers she struck were harmless rubber cones, and a professional race car driver was sitting next to her, teaching the teen lifesaving skills that helped her maintain control of the car.
"Teens feel invincible," said Omar Garcia, another Driver's Edge student. "I guess they don't see the danger in driving. They don't see the reality in driving."
The course tries to hammer home that being behind the wheel requires concentration
"The one thing we want kids to walk away from the program is with which is the simplest thing of all — is to use their eyes and look where you want to go," Payne said. "Anticipate what is happening instead of reacting to what has already happened. "
Biersach says she is living proof of what happens when things go wrong behind the wheel.
"Remember my face the next time you get into a car," she tells students. "And please think twice before you do something stupid."