Only days before a crash south of Omaha claimed the lives of four teen-age girls and left another girl hospitalized, a new study ranked Nebraska among the most dangerous states in the nation when it comes to teen driving.

And it’s not the only nationwide review, which claims lax safety related laws for teens behind the wheel in Nebraska.

As the investigation into the deadly one-car fiery crash along this hilly stretch of road at 11 o’clock at night in Sarpy County continues investigators have released few details.

But they have made one thing clear.

“We believe speed was a factor. Past that, I can tell you that in every accident case, especially fatal accidents, we turn over every stone to try and figure out what may have happened,” said Sarpy County Sheriff Jeff Davis.

Authorities have confirmed that five teens, four 16-year-olds and one 15 year old were in the car, when it crashed.

The driver identified as 16 year old Abigail Barth.

Those ages are the kinds of numbers that at least two recent national safety studies find dangerous.

One of their main complaints regarding Nebraska: Lax restrictions when it comes to how many passengers can be in a car with a 16-year-old driver.

You see in Nebraska 16-year-olds can drive under what’s known as a Provisional Operator’s Permit.

And according to the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles “During the first six months of the (Provisional Operator’s Permit) POP, the holder can only operate a motor vehicle with no more than one passenger who is not an immediate family member and who is under nineteen years of age.”

After six months though, those passenger restrictions go away.

And the Sarpy County Sheriff’s tells News Channel Nebraska, Abigail Barth, “was outside of the 6 month period, this component of the law is not an issue in this particular case.” In other words Abigail Barth did not break the number of passengers’ law.

But according to the annual safety report from Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Nebraska needs, “Stronger Passenger Restrictions.”

A second study from CarInsurance.com notes that of the ten safest teen-driving states nine are stricter than Nebraska when it comes to limiting the number of passengers until the driver is older than 16.

In New York, Delaware, Massachusetts, and California the driver must be 17 to have a carload of friends.

In New Jersey, Rhode Island, Colorado and Washington D.C. you have to be 18.

For the last several years the Nebraska lawmakers have been urged to toughen teen-driving laws.

According to Rose White with AAA Nebraska, when it comes to cell phones, seat belts, passenger restrictions and nighttime driving restrictions they, “…are enforced as weak secondary measures.”

She adds that AAA Nebraska is “…not aware of any attempts to change the passenger restriction from 6 months to a full year or longer.”

Gretna School Superintendent Kevin Riley has noted the school district and town’s difficulty dealing with the tragic, deadly crash.

“These are good girls. They are smart girls; they are the closest of friends. They come from good families, families that monitor their behavior closely. If you’ve ever had a 15 or 16-year-old daughter you know you can’t lock them in their room. You know you can’t protect them from everything.” And sometimes when kids get together accidents happen, mistakes are made.”

According to records from the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, teenagers make up seven percent of all licensed drivers in the state.

At the same time though they were involved in:

  • 21 percent of all crashes
  • 23 percent of crashes involving cell phones
  • 37 percent of crashes that involved speeding. 

“Sometimes when kids get together accidents happen, mistakes are made,” says Superintendent Riley.

And according to those national teen-driving safety studies, the state of Nebraska has arguably made its share of mistakes by not extending those passenger restrictions from six months to a year or longer.