Those killed are predominantly men 18 to 25, Defense officials said. In the Navy and Marine Corps, 36% of the accidents in 2002 involved excessive speed, 34% involved misuse or nonuse of seat belts, and 29% were alcohol-related, Naval Safety Center records show.
Army Rangers David M. Lye and Aaron Page were speeding in Lye's dark green Mustang on Feb. 17, 2002, in Olympia, Wash., when the car turned a corner, struck a curb, barreled into a utility pole and flipped over.
Page, 27, died of head injuries. Lye suffered a broken neck. His blood-alcohol level tested at more than twice the legal limit; Page's was also high.
Lye, 31 at the time and the father of four young daughters, was the chief warrant officer in an elite unit. He said he had no recall of the accident or the events preceding it. His attorney contended Page was driving, but the jury determined Lye was at the wheel. He was convicted of vehicular homicide, was sentenced to three years and is being discharged from the Army.
Speaking by phone from the minimum-security Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Littlerock, Wash., Lye said he had spent many hours pondering the instantaneous destruction of his exemplary 12-year career. "I was doing all these great things and moving up in the Army so fast that I felt indestructible." He said he thought, "Maybe I can cheat on the rules a bit here."
The Army is so concerned about deaths in private vehicles that it has developed a computerized program to assess the risks involved in each trip off base. A soldier provides his or her intended route, expected level of fatigue, weather forecasts and other factors. The computer then recommends which roads to take and provides guidance on conditions. The Army may impose a policy to only grant passes or leaves to those who score above a certain risk level.
But service personnel are also killed in military vehicle accidents. From 1988 to 1996, crashes in military vehicles were second only to aviation crashes as a cause of death while on duty, a 1998 GAO study found.
In Iraq, soldiers were killed when a Bradley fighting vehicle drove off a cliff, an armored personnel carrier rolled over and a Humvee crashed into another vehicle during a blinding sandstorm.
These accidents happened even though the Defense Department has an extensive traffic safety program.
It requires motorcycle safety training as well as driving instruction for those younger than 26 and those convicted of a serious moving violation. The courses are provided at no cost. Bases make rides or taxis available to anyone who has been drinking. And each military service has training programs for specialized military vehicles.
Nevertheless, the safety council's Angello said additional driver education might be needed, especially for young enlistees who have not received training in high school or who come from urban areas where mass transit is the primary means of transportation.
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Times news researcher Janet Lundblad in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
