Sixteen-year-old Eric Dunbar, of Cranberry, was one of the lucky ones. After totaling his father's car in mid-October, he and his two friends walked away without a scratch.

"I call it my $3,600 lesson," Dave Dunbar said. "His mother and I have since decided that we will take a harder look at how often the kids drive, who they drive with, and if they drive at all."

Dunbar considers it a contributing factor that there were other teens in the car, but he also blames himself. "We gave him too much responsibility too soon," he acknowledged, adding, "I don't think enough of [the other parents] are paying attention to my lesson and learning from it."

Cathy Cortazzo, of Cranberry, however, was paying attention to that accident and several others in the past few months. "Already this year, I know of three major accidents on the way to and from school," said the mother of four.

Cortazzo has already approached Seneca Valley's school board, asking that the district establish new rules that would prohibit students from carpooling on the theory that even one other teen in the car could be distracting to the driver. She's also suggested that only those students with after-school jobs be allowed to drive and that they be required to participate in driver education before being issued a parking permit.

The board briefly discussed the issue last week, but Cortazzo was disappointed with member Bob Hill's comments that the responsibility lies with the owners of the cars -- the parents.

"It is also the parents' responsibility to ensure that their children are not doing drugs, but you put a wonderful program in place to help deter that," she pointed out in an e-mail to the board.

Dunbar, on the other hand, believes enforcing the rules is up to parents, not the district.

"I do think that having more kids in the car is a problem, and that's why my son is now not allowed to ride with other kids," he said. "But if the board passes a policy that you can't have riders in the car, then the parents can use that as an excuse to blame the school [for saying no to the children].

"But when the kids want to go out on the weekend, then the rules won't apply, and who's going to be the bad guy to tell a student he can't have riders? It's up to the parents to take charge."

According to the state Department of Transportation, 3,827 drivers under the age of 20 were killed in car accidents in 2002, making motor vehicle crashes the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year-olds.

Finding ways to cut down those statistics is not on the minds of just parents in the Seneca Valley School District.

District Justice Wayne Seibel has proposed that Jackson police implement a safe driving program, similar to one already used by Shaler's police department. Tickets N' Stuff focuses on stricter law enforcement, rewards teen drivers for safe and courteous behavior, and forces those caught being careless to attend an eight-hour driving education class.

"There's been a lot going on throughout the county, which started because of the [teen] fatalities in Slippery Rock," Seibel said. He added that Shaler police Officer Carl Funtal, originator of Tickets N' Stuff, has been advising Seibel on how to implement the program.

"We're going to mimic what they have [in Shaler], but we're working at getting our own [program] presenters," Seibel said, noting that other local police chiefs are interested in the program.

"The majority of teens will have a crash within the first six months of getting a license," said Sandra Toy, coordinator of the Indiana Regional Highway Safety Project at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has been involved with teen safety issues and coordinates the Butler County Teen Driver Work Group.

She acknowledged that Seneca Valley has a theory-only class for students, but new drivers require 50 hours of behind-the-wheel practice to get their license, preferably with an professional instructor.

"It's costly, but parents should look at it as a worthwhile investment. Driver education is not mandatory in Pennsylvania, but this takes a village approach, and there should be some kind of professional training involved."