JOPLIN, MO : A crash that killed three people on Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Troopers investigating a crash that killed three people on Independence Day said the driver was drunk and only 17 years old.
The teenager was injured in the crash while his passenger and two people in another car died at the scene..Court records show the teenager from Neosho did not have a valid license last year. This year, he was charged with failing to wear a seat belt and having drug paraphernalia. Troopers said he was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash.

Troopers said a mother and daughter, as well as an 18-year-old man who was riding with the drunken driver, died in the crash.

So far this year, troopers said there have been six fatal car crashes this holiday weekend in southwest Missouri - compared to one last year.

“Awful. Some I don’t like being around,” said David Owens, who is a parts puller at a salvage yard.

Owens sees wrecked cars all too often. He doesn’t like to know what happened to people in these crashes.

“It’s best that way. Makes it harder for me to go get a part out of it,” Owens said. “Just knowing someone was badly hurt in one of them.”

You may think air bags will save you, but you still need to wear your seat belt.

“If you buckle up, you’re 42 percent more likely to survive that crash. Period,” said Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Pace.

Troopers said both the women who were killed on the Fourth of July were wearing seat belts. The 18-year-old man in the other car was not. The surviving driver also was not wearing a seat belt.

“It’s very frustrating. We can only do so much. It takes that decision on the driver, passenger, to make that right decision, wear that seat belt. Not get behind the wheel when they shouldn’t,” Pace said.

Owens does not drive without his seat belt.

“I wear my seat belt pretty much every time I leave any more, any time I go. Plus you can’t afford a ticket. They’ll pull you over just not seeing a seat belt on,” he said.

He hopes you will do the same.

“Buckle up and drive safe,” Owens said.

Troopers said the slowest speed someone who was not wearing a seat belt was killed at was 12 miles per hour.

Source :
3 died in drunken driving crash by teenager