A preventable tragedy

Parents in Camarillo and Newbury Park are mourning the tragic death of a junior at Newbury Park High School and praying for the recovery of a Camarillo teen who was critically injured in a senseless car wreck that police say involved alcohol and speed.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Cody James Murphy, 17. He allegedly lost control of his vehicle on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on Tuesday night. The car he was driving left the road and hit a mountain. The crash took his life, left a teenage girl in the hospital and caused serious injuries to two others. There were five teens in the car at the time of the accident.

No matter how hard they try, police officers and school officials can't convince every teenager about the dangers of alcohol and other drugs, particularly when somebody gets into the driver's seat of a vehicle.

This same terrible story gets told and retold, here and everywhere else across America.

The deadly combination of alcohol and motor vehicles is as old as the Ford Model T, and it won't go away in the foreseeable future.

Many teenagers believe they are invincible. Others apparently just think, "It'll never happen to me."

The young don't accept their own mortality. Some car wrecks don't involve an impaired motorist, just somebody driving too fast. It's a tragedy whenever somebody is killed in a car crash, but when it involves a driver under the influence, it's all the more frustrating.

Now would be a good time for every family to discuss the dangers of drinking and driving. All of us- adults included- need to remind ourselves that drinking alcohol or taking drugs before getting behind the wheel is the equivalent of Russian roulette.