Crash Survivor Tells His Story to Reach Teens Across Colorado

DENVER -- After 22 surgeries, two stints on life support and six weeks in a coma, Tyler Presnell is in Colorado to share his story with teenagers to keep them from making the same mistake he did.

Presnell was invited by the Colorado Department of Transportation, AAA Colorado and the state’s Regional Emergency and Trauma Advisory Councils (RETACS) to talk to teens about being safe drivers and responsible passengers, as well as empowering them to make choices that could save their lives. Presnell’s Colorado tour goes through 18 communities, stopping at 23 high schools to reach 15,000 students throughout the month of April.

Presnell, now 27, took the brunt of a 70-mph crash into a telephone pole when he was 14 years old, living in Washington state.  The teen driver he was with had just gotten his license.  Presnell nearly lost his life, but now travels around the county speaking about the collision that changed him both physically and emotionally. He describes the challenges of his lifelong recovery and what it's like to live each day with over 80 percent of his short-term memory gone.

“I don’t remember very much of my life,” said Presnell. “If I had a chance to do over, I would have spoken up about my fear and found another ride home. Since I can’t change what happened, I can only hope that my story inspires someone else to think twice before jumping into the car of a newly licensed teen driver.”

In Colorado, it is against the law for teen drivers to have any passengers under age 21 for the first six months of their license, and then only one passenger under 21 for the second six months. The passenger restrictions are part of Colorado’s Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) laws that were designed to help teens gradually develop important driving skills without distractions. The laws also include a ban on cell phones, as well as a nighttime driving restriction after midnight, and every passenger must wear seat belts. Since the first Colorado GDL laws went into effect in 1999, the number of teens killed in traffic crashes in Colorado has dropped nearly 60 percent.

“AAA has worked for more than 75 years to help families develop their teens into safe, responsible drivers,” said Tony DeNovellis, president of AAA Colorado.  “Many crashes are 100 percent preventable.  That’s why understanding the facts and risks associated with driving is so important to teens.”

“We’ve seen a considerable decline in the number of teen fatalities in Colorado, but tragically there were still 40 young people killed last year,” said Darrell Lingk, director of the Office of Transportation Safety at CDOT.  “We believe Tyler can reach students in a way that we can’t, and perhaps save more lives. We can share the alarming facts and statistics with teens, but Tyler has the ability to help them really see the reality of their risks and the choices they have to make as new drivers or passengers.”

To encourage safe driving and promote the information and resources on state’s teen driving website, all Colorado teens age 15-19 are invited to give some safe driving advice by filling out a short survey at www.coteendriver.com/iPad.  A winner will be chosen in May to receive an Apple iPad donated by Huddle and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

For more information on Colorado teen driving safety and laws, please visit www.COteendriver.com or visit  Keys2Drive (www.teendriving.aaa.com/CO/), a AAA website to help parents and teens through the learning-to-drive process.

Tyler Presnell Teen Driving Safety Tour Schedule

This tour is not open to the public

Members of the media must confirm their attendance in advance