A 19 year old driver died and two teen passengers were injured in a car accident in New York City. The accident occurred Tuesday afternoon around 4:30 pm. 19 year old Claudio Poggy was speeding in a Mercedes. Two of his friends aged 16 and 19 year-old were on board. According to witnesses, he was drag racing. As he was speeding north on Kings Highway, Brooklyn, the driver lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree at the intersection with avenue D. The impact was so brutal that the driver died at the scene of the accident. The 16 year old passenger suffered critical injury and the 19 year old one minor injuries. Investigators found that the speedometer was stuck on 130 mph on the unregistered Mercedes.
Male teen driver with teen passengers is a deadly combination
The risk of car accidents is higher among 16 to 19 year-old drivers than among any other age group. Car accidents are indeed the leading cause of death for American teens. According to statistics 6 teenagers die and hundreds of them are injured every day in car accidents in the US. The risk of dying in car accidents is two times higher for male drivers than for female drivers. When another teen is on board with a teen driver, the risk of a fatal crash doubles and increases further when more teen passengers are in the car.
Compared to experienced drivers, young drivers often underestimate the dangers on the road or are unable to recognize hazardous situations. Speeding is a factor in one third of the fatal crashes involving a male teenage driver. Teen male drivers are also 6 times more likely to perform an illegal maneuver and twice more likely to drive aggressively when peers are on board. Alcohol is also often an issue when teens are driving together. Investigators will have to determine if this was the case in Tuesday’s accident.
Read more about the crash in the NY Daily News