Two-thousand-pound “toys” and carloads of kids just don’t mix.

Once gain we are reminded of just how dangerous the 2,000 pounds of metal that we take for granted can be. We also need to remember how distracting a group of our peers can be.

Six teenage girls left their school to go to lunch earlier this week. The car that they were using was designed for four passengers. There were six in the car. Only two of the six were wearing seat belts when the driver made a rolling stop at an intersection in Tishomingo, Okla.

The vehicle pulled into the path of a loaded tractor trailer. Six lives were suddenly and violently lost in a moment.

Nothing will bring them back to their grieving families. The community of 3,000 will never be the same.

Yet, we all know how easily this could have been avoided.

Teenagers hate rules. Teenage girls in particular are social beings and love to be in groups. The last rules they want imposed are ones restricting them from building group relationships, but parents, schools and even government need to assist these still-learning drivers from putting themselves and their friends into dangerous situations.

Our own daughters have acknowledged finding themselves in problem situations more often as the groups become larger. One friend in a car with an inexperienced driver is enough, if not too many.

Six teenagers in one car of any size can easily become the disaster that this is. We know rules imposed on this age group are likely to bring about pouting and even rebellion, but we would rather see parents deal with unhappy teens than burying the most precious possessions they could ever have.

If you have teenagers, we suggest sharing this story from Oklahoma as many times as possible.

We hope the drivers training people will give every kid a copy of the story and make them read it right there in front of them before they are allowed to start the car.

Coaches and teachers who have teens who are new behind-the-wheel or will soon be driving should save the articles and make it an annual ritual to remind them how fast, not their lives, but the lives of many families can be ruined or even ended in a flash.

Can you imagine burying six students from a school the size of Karns City all in one day? Losing one life is too many, but these preventable tragedies have to end.

— RV