Every year there are thousands of teenagers killed in car crashes. Hundreds of thousands are seriously injured. But that’s just a number, so I am writing this letter in hopes that it will make a difference.

Last week was my daughter’s birthday — or at least it would have been her birthday if she hadn’t died in a car crash almost 18 years ago. The night she died, she had kissed me goodnight, said, “I love you Daddy” and drove off to pick up her boyfriend to go bowling. She said she always wore her seat belt, but that evening she did not have it on.

She apparently was distracted with something she was doing in the car, which caused her to lose control. The car hit an embankment and rolled over. There is absolutely no doubt that she would have lived — and probably had no injuries — had she been wearing a seat belt. After 18 years, the heartache still exists — it will always exist.

On Christmas morning, after exchanging gifts with family, my wife and I take some homemade eggnog to the cemetery and pour it out. On her birthday we take a piece of birthday cake and a card. I often try to imagine what she would look like at age 36. What career path would she have taken? Who would she be married to? How many children would she have? What would their names be?

But those grandchildren will never exist. My wife and I have been robbed of those future memories because Diana didn’t buckle her seat belt, and allowed herself to be distracted for just a few seconds.

Too many teens think that they are expert drivers and that nothing can happen to them. They don’t think of the friends, parents, siblings and other people who will mourn their passing with an intense grief that will last the rest of their lives. They make foolish mistakes because they are young and inexperienced. Judgment comes with experience — most often through a frightening experience. Those who survive learn, but some do not survive.

Buckle up, pay attention and be careful out there. There are few things that are more sad than celebrating your child’s birthday at a cemetery. Please don’t put your parents through that. If this letter reaches just one teen driver, then it will have been worth it. I believe that, to make even a tiny difference is better than to make no difference at all.