Crash leads to lunchtime driving ban at Mendocino High School

Mendocino High School students are banned until at least Thanksgiving from driving during their school lunch breaks following a crash involving two students last week.

The ban is one of many implemented across the country in response to teen car accidents. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for teens.

Mendocino High School’s ban was triggered by an Oct. 21 noontime crash. A 17-year-old boy was speeding in a red Audi wagon on Heeser Drive, skirting Mendocino Headlands State Park, when he lost control of the car, plowing into a trailer attached to a parked car, said Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ed O’Brien.

The impact “peeled the engine compartment right off,” he said. Crushed metal was shoved into the passenger compartment, just inches from the teens’ faces, O’Brien said.

Principal Tobin Hahn said he already was concerned about student and public safety, and had received multiple complaints from area businesses and residents about student driving when the crash occurred.

Hahn said there have been other accidents involving students during the school day. There also have been reports of serious crashes outside of school hours, he said.

Students will continue to be allowed to leave campus on foot.

O’Brien said students often race from Mendocino to Fort Bragg on their 40-minute lunch breaks to grab fast food not available in their historic town. He said people who walk along the headlands during their lunch breaks from work complain about students speeding on Heeser Drive, which forms a race track-type loop.

Hahn met with parents Tuesday and students Thursday to discuss the problem of reckless student driving and possible solutions.

Next week he plans to hold meetings with parents, students and public safety officials.

“I’m hoping not only to create safer behavior but also build respect between the school and the community,” he said.

Parents overwhelmingly have been supportive of the ban, and while some students understand, he said, others are upset or conflicted.

In some classes, teachers and students will be studying the problem and working on solutions, he said.

Driving bans have been implemented at schools across the country in response to dangerous driving incidents. Student vehicle accidents on Long Island in 2008 prompted a state assemblyman to propose legislation that would prohibit students statewide from driving during lunch breaks.

In 2014, 2,270 U.S. teens from ages 16 to 19 were killed and 221,313 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In California that year, 220 teens died.

In addition to driving bans, school officials across the nation have prohibited students from leaving campus altogether to keep them safe. Closing campuses also has been utilized in efforts to reduce truancy and promote good nutrition.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 707-462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.