Days after the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration published statistics that show an increase in fatalities among young drivers, Laura Lynam, a senior at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria Va., was killed when the SUV in which she was a passenger rolled over on the way to a crew regatta.
The NHTSA published statistics Friday indicating that between 1993 and 2003 there was a 5 percent increase in fatal accidents involving young drivers. The report found that motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for young people in America.
NHTSA spokesperson Ellen Martin said accidents like Lynam's are not uncommon, particularly in cases involving younger drivers and SUVs.
Lynam's death is the fifteenth since the weekend of Sep. 24 in a recent spate of eight accidents involving young people in the D.C. metro area. That weekend three separate accidents involving teenagers resulted in five fatalities, Montgomery County Police spokesperson Lucille Baur said.
"When you have so many occurring in such a short amount of time it brings media attention to the problem," Baur said.
Baur cites an increase of 28 to 439 collisions involving drivers under the age of 21 in her jurisdiction from the same time last year.
The NHTSA report found that there were 174 deaths in Virginia last year that involved drivers age 15-21. Fifty of these were either pedestrians or in other vehicles. Nationally there were 7,884 accidents last year involving young drivers.
Lynam is the third T.C. Williams rower to die in the past year. University student John Steve Catilo, a rising fourth-year, drowned in the Potomac River in June while coaching crew.
"It's certainly a terrible tragedy that T.C. Williams, particularly the rowing team, has had to endure," said Barbara Hunter, a spokesperson for the City of Alexandria Public Schools. "It's hard to make sense of these incidents, particularly when they are so close together and they are a close-knit community and they are supporting one another."
In Lynam's case, the SUV rolled over after the driver swerved to avoid another car midway through an attempt to change lanes. The five other passengers were treated for minor injuries and released later that day.
Virginia State Police Sgt. Wallace L. Bouldin said police are unsure as to the exact cause of the accident.
Driver inexperience with a large SUV, the driver's overcompensation or the distractions of the other passengers may have caused the accident. The driver may be charged with reckless driving and having too many juveniles in the car at one time. The reckless driving charge carries a penalty of up to $2,500 and 12 months in jail, but Bouldin said he does not anticipate the Commonwealth's attorney will call for jail time in this case.
Garret Buxton, a first-year College student and crew team member, knew Lynam from two seasons of fall rowing. He said she looked up to her older brother, who is a rower at Yale University, where Lynam was preparing to apply for early decision.
"Everybody liked her, that's for sure," Buxton said. "She is an aspiring rower and would have done very well wherever she had gone."
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