Crime & Safety
3 Teens Injured, 1 Seriously, in Novato Boulevard Crash
One 16-year-old sustained head injuries when a pickup truck overturned with five teens in it; driver, 16, was violating first-year driver rules, CHP says.
Three Novato teens were injured Friday when a pickup truck overturned on a rural stretch of Novato Boulevard west of the city limits, the California Highway Patrol said Saturday morning.
The 16-year-old driver, a provisional licensee, was driving illegally with other passengers who were not family members, according to CHP Sgt. Marcus Bartholomew. There were five teens in the 1999 Toyota extended-cab pickup, one more than the number of seatbelts in the truck, he said.
Alcohol or drugs did not appear to be a factor in the crash, Bartholomew said.
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At 7:35 p.m., the driver steered the truck off eastbound Novato Boulevard, just south of Point Reyes Petaluma Road, for an unknown reason, the CHP said. The truck rolled, and three of the five were not wearing seatbelts.
One passenger, a 16-year-old, sustained major injuries to the face and scalp, Bartholomew said. Paramedics took three injured teens to Marin General Hospital and Kaiser hospital in Terra Linda; two others did not complain of injuries.
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The driver, who had a minor injury and was among those treated at a hospital, was in violation of passenger restriction provisions in the state vehicle code.
“This is a perfect example of why the provisional license law was enacted — to keep carloads of teens from getting into collisions and getting injured or killed at the hands of an inexperienced teen driver,” Bartholomew said in a release. "We frequently stop and cite Marin teens who are in violation and they are shocked when we issue them a ticket for disobeying the restrictions. They don’t think we actually enforce this law.
He said parents can help by making sure their kids are complying with the law for first-year drivers. Many parents knowingly let their kids drive in violation, he said.
“These kids got lucky," Bartholomew said. "With the amount of people packed into the truck and several not wearing seatbelts, this very easily could have ended up as a fatality collision.”
The crash is under investigation.
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