Girl, 15, Dies in Charles Crash

All but one of the teenage drivers involved in fatal accidents on suburban Maryland roads in the past month had valid licenses and were driving in daylight. Yet some combination of speed, failure to use seat belts, distractions in the car, bad weather and inexperience appears to have played a role in 11 deaths, police say.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Traffic safety experts say some or all of those factors are present in nearly all crashes involving teenagers, a pattern that results in thousands of deaths each year. Teenagers are three times more likely than adults to die in car crashes, according to AAA.

For the past eight years, all Maryland teenagers have learned to drive based on the same state-mandated curriculum, whether they are likely to be driving on the Capital Beltway, the congested streets of Baltimore or the winding country roads of Waldorf. That ensures a basic level of quality of instruction, teachers say, but it leaves little room for customization based on the local terrain.

"It's much more dangerous somewhere like Charles," Widmyer said. "And when we only have six hours in the car with them, I'm not sure how much you can get across."

No matter what they might be taught, though, many teenagers drive too fast.

"What teenager doesn't speed?" asked Feeney, Weir's teammate. "These back roads are not much to be speeding on."

With Feeney was Randy Johnson, a senior at Thomas Stone. He said that he was a passenger in a car that went off the same road three years ago. Johnson said he was knocked out briefly but walked away from the crash.

Johnson said the only time he drives fast is in his pickup dragster at a sanctioned raceway. "I'd rather do it somewhere that's straight than speed down" a rural, winding road, he said.

Weir played guitar in the school jazz band and was known to many as "Steph." She posted A's and B's in her first quarter this year and was taking Advanced Placement U.S. History, the only AP class sophomores can take, said Martin, the principal. The rest of her courses were honors classes.

She excelled in field hockey, playing as a freshman, and was the most valuable player for offense on her team this year, said her field hockey coach, Melissa Hatch.

"She loved life," Hatch said.

Staff writer Jeff Nelson contributed to this report.