On a rainy morning in October, Margaux Stamm ’12 made a pit stop on her way to school at Starbuck’s Coffee. Unfortunately, upon her exit, she made the decision to turn left onto the Post Road.

The passenger side of her car was smashed in by a speeding car, which ricocheted and hit yet another car. Though Stamm’s car was wrecked, no one was hurt.

“It was a really big mess,” Stamm said.

Stamm’s incident is not unlike others among Staples’s young drivers, or among young drivers across the country, who, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have a higher risk for motor vehicle crashes than any other age group. Per mile driven, drivers aged 16-19 are four times more likely to crash than adult drivers. With Connecticut’s winter storm season imminent, Staples upperclassmen who are new to the roads are taking extra care to avoid extra scrapes.

Eliot Enriquez ’12 will be cautious with potentially slippery roads this winter because he is no stranger to car accidents. A mere week after he was granted a license, his car hydroplaned off the road and into a tree. While he escaped with only minor injuries, the police told him he was “lucky to be alive”.

“Teens need to understand that a simple mistake can have deadly consequences and that 2 ton blocks of metal should be driven responsibly,” Enriquez said.

Winter could prove a challenge for students new to driving, as this may be their first experience with snow. However, he suggested that by doubling (or even tripling) your following distance and slowing down you can avoid accidents.

Also, according to Valko, cruise control should not be used in slippery conditions, especially when the road is not completely frozen.

“The most dangerous condition is around freezing, due to the mixture of snow and ice,” he said.

Furthermore, Valko warned that 4-wheel drive is not as helpful as it may seem for driving on slushy roads. Having all 4 wheels moving will only help in speeding up, not turning or stopping, he said.

“New drivers don’t know the physical limits of their cars yet,” Valko said.

Among the many factors involved in teen driving accidents, Valko says, a lack of experience is the most to blame. He conceded that the only way to learn how to drive safely is to “get out and just do it.”

Now that Stamm has had her license for more a year, she realizes that her decision to take a left hand turn onto the Post Road was unwise, and so she is unafraid of continuing to drive.

Enriquez, who, with difficulty, was able to get behind the wheel again after his accident, has his own take on what causes teens to have accidents soon after they receive their license.

“Kids tend to abuse their freedom in the early months of driving, hence why there are so many accidents. Its not because they are incapable drivers,” Enriquez said.

Enriquez acknowledged the frequency and danger of these accidents.

“I see it happen to almost ever new driver. Kids just think that these accidents won’t happen to them, but it can happen to anyone at any time,” he said. “People need to be careful.”