A Year Has Passed ... Did Novato Learn from Isaac Brott's Death?

The death of young , one year ago today, shook up the Novato community. For some, it seems like yesterday. Maybe others have blocked it out of their memories.

Brott was with a group of three other boys cutting class and taking a joyride in a BMW. There was alcohol in the car, and there was too much speed as they tried to negotiate a bend on Novato Boulevard on the western outskirts of town. The car slammed into an eastbound tractor-trailer hauling cattle, and Brott was killed.

The driver of the car, a 16-year-old boy from Novato High, later admitted to charges in Marin County juvenile court including vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing great bodily injury, DUI with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or more and driving without a license. The teen, whose name was withheld because of his age, pleaded guilty to all the charges.

The incident took place five years after two Novato boys were killed in an alcohol-related crash on Indian Valley Road. The mothers of those boys of Isaac Brott last year and questioned what it will take to get teens to have a good time together without putting their lives in danger.

Has a year changed anything in Novato? After the crash, that only kids themselves could reverse the tide of alcohol-related peer pressures; having adults force it was going to backfire. So, has there been a reversing of the tide? Are fewer teens partaking? Share your thoughts on this by adding a comment below.