Tragedy disrupted what is supposed to be a cheerful holiday season for the family and friends of two HBCU students who died in separate car accidents. The deaths have drawn attention to the dangers of the unsafe practices of drowsy driving, not wearing a seat belt and driving while impaired.

The Famuan

Antoine Gordon

On January 6, Antoine Gordon, 18, of Florida A&M University was killed when the driver of a car he was riding in fell asleep and, when nudged by a passenger, lost control of the car, veered off the road into a ravine and crashed into three trees, according to a report from the Florida Highway Patrol.

Gordon was asleep and not wearing a seat belt in the back seat of the car and died on impact. The driver, Carlos Wilkins, 18, and passenger, Cornell Wedge, 19, both of FAMU, were injured in the accident.

Wilkins told The Famuan, Florida A&M's student newspaper, that he wished he had heeded a cautionary phone call from Gordon's mother, advising the trio, who were driving from the D.C. area back to campus, to take a break after she sensed that they were tired.

Racquel Fiddis, a 19-year-old sophomore psychology student at Bowie State University, told Black College Wire she worked with Gordon at Dunkin Donuts and had known him for two years.

"He was a really funny person. If you would try to argue with him, he definitely had to have the last word. He wasn't going to let you win," she said.

Fiddis said she was at work when she found out Gordon had died and was devastated and immediately went home. "Tomorrow isn't promised. That's what I've taken away from that. I had just seen him a week before he left for school," she added.

Though she was already a cautious driver, Fiddis said Gordon's death has affected her view of her own safety on the road.

"I am kind of nervous, still, and scared," she said, adding that since the crash wasn't a result of reckless driving, she hasn't felt the need to be overly cautious.

But two factors in the crash -- Wilkins' driving while drowsy and Gordon's not wearing a seat belt -- are factors in many crashes and fatalities nationwide. In April 2006, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released a collaborative research report citing driver inattention as the leading factor in crashes and near-crashes.

Drowsiness, cell phone use, applying make up and reading were among the types of inattention observed in "The 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study." For over a year, drivers in 100 cars were monitored by video and sensor devices. The study found that drowsiness increases a driver's risk of being involved in a crash or near-crash by a factor of four.

As for seat belt use, young male drivers are the least likely group to use seat belts, said Elly Martin, a spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Martin said the NHTSA studies seat belt use by observing drivers at intersections to see how many are wearing their seat belts.

"Seat belts won't always save you, but it often will. If you're in a rollover crash, you are much more likely to die if you are unbelted. The likelihood is that you'll be thrown out of the window or the door and the vehicle will roll over you because you are not restrained," she said.

Ray Tyler/Campus Echo

La'Reshia Hart

Martin said driving while impaired or under the influence of alcohol is also a significant factor in crashes, especially during the holiday season.

Authorities said driver impairment may have been a factor in a crash that killed La'Reshia Hart, 20, of North Carolina Central University in early December.

According to the NCCU student newspaper, the Campus Echo, the elementary education sophomore student was riding on the back seat passenger side of a vehicle with three friends, when a pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction hit the car as it made a left turn into a club.

Hart was killed on impact and the other three passengers, Brittany Marshall, Makeema Thomas-Pettaway and Whitley Grant, all 19-year-old students at NCCU, were injured.

The truck driver, John Henry Goodfellow, was cited for driving while impaired with a blood alcohol level of .13, but authorities said he was going the posted speed limit and was not at fault in the crash.

According to the NHTSA, in 2006 13, 470 people died in crashes involving a driver or motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol level of .08 or above.

Shauntel Lowe is a recent graduate of UCLA and a regular contributor to Black College Wire.

Posted Jan. 15, 2008