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SALT LAKE CITY — Losing a child or a grandchild is something no family wants to experience. The overwhelming impacts leave emotional scars that last a lifetime.
Kelli Stuart lost her 16-year-old son, Tyler, last year and continues to cope with a profound sense of tragedy day after day. He was traveling in a truck on I-15 with two friends when the driver overcorrected and lost control. The truck rolled down an embankment in Box Elder County.
None of the teens were wearing a seat belt. Tyler and another passenger, 16-year old Amanda Brown, were both ejected, and the 18-year-old driver suffered a broken back. Tyler died instantly, while Amanda died a few days later from complications of severe head trauma sustained in the June 2013 crash.
Stuart, an emergency room nurse by profession, has seen firsthand the devastating effects of severe injuries suffered by unrestrained passengers in vehicle crashes.
Though Stuart said she always taught her kids to wear their seat belts, apparently her son and his friends chose not to do so, which resulted in fatal consequences.
“Tyler thought he was invincible, (but) obviously he wasn’t,” she said Monday. “All teens should know that you’re not invincible and it doesn’t hurt to put the seat belt on. Put it on and be safe and you’ll walk away. If you don’t, you’ll be in the graveyard with my Tyler.”
Stuart joined other parents and relatives Monday at a news conference in Salt Lake City to share their stories of families who lost a child on Utah roads due to a motor vehicle incident in 2013.
Utah Highway Safety Office data shows that 23 teen drivers were involved in fatal crashes last year, killing more than two dozen people, including six of the teenage drivers. Statistics also indicate that teen drivers are 1.3 times more likely to have a contributing factor, such as speeding, in a fatal crash than drivers of other ages.
In the case of the crash that killed Tyler Stuart and Amanda Brown, UHP Lt. Lee Perry — who was among the first emergency responders on the scene — said that tragedy could likely have been avoided if the driver and passengers were properly restrained.
All teens should know that you're not invincible and it doesn't hurt to put the seat belt on. Put it on and be safe and you'll walk away. If you don't, you'll be in the graveyard with my Tyler.
–Kelli Stuart, mother
“If you look at the vehicle, it’s a survivable crash,” he said. “It rolled (and) landed on its wheels. The driver’s compartment was intact. The only reason these kids are dead is because they fell out of the vehicle when it rolled.”
Had they not been ejected and landed on the cement roadway, “these kids would have been alive today,” he said.
As a parent of teenage drivers himself, Perry said wearing seat belts and paying proper attention to driving will help prevent similar unnecessary tragedies.
Joycelyn Weese, of South Ogden, also carries the pain of a mother losing her son. Her son Devereaux, nicknamed Dev, was killed in an auto-pedestrian crash when the 18-year old crossed the street on his bicycle. The driver, 38, was distracted by a cellphone.
“My son lost his life because someone thought their phone was more important than paying attention to the road," she said. “No life is worth a phone call or a text.”
While Devereaux Weese’s case was one of distracted driving, vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of death for teens across the United States, UHP officials said. Last year, 18 families were devastated to learn that their teenager had been killed in a motor vehicle incident on Utah roads, according to the Utah Department of Transportation.
“We miss her and love her so much,” said Melissa Brown, mother of Amanda Brown. “This is a sad tragedy that changed three families’ lives forever. As parents, the most important thing we can do is to talk to our teens about wearing their seat belts.”
Teens have the lowest seat belt usage rate of any age group. In 2013, nearly 75 percent of all teens killed on Utah roads were not restrained, according to UDOT data.
“The simple decision to choose to wear your seat belt every time you are in a vehicle can and does save lives,” said UDOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras.
“If I could change a single behavior of every Utahn, it would be to make sure they are always buckled up, no matter what.”
