See chart: Dying to Drive

By Andrea Jones
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Curtis Compton / Staff Law enforcement officials investigate the scene of a fatal teen accident Wednesday on Ram Drive near Newton High School. A Mercury Sable collided with a Chevy Xtreme pickup.

 A Newton High School student was killed and four of her classmates injured in a two-car collision Wednesday afternoon about a half mile from the school.

Police said the unidentified student died shortly after the 1:30 p.m. accident on Ram Drive. She was a passenger in a car driven by Jennifer Kitzero, 18.

Kitzero apparently lost control of her silver Mercury Sable on a curve on the street, crossed the median and slammed into a pickup driven by Louis Scott Strickland, 18, police said.

Georgia state Patrol spokesman Jim Schuler said police suspect speed was a factor in the crash.

The accident is the latest in a string of fatal wrecks in metro Atlanta in which teens died when their counterparts were at the wheel. At least 22 teens have been killed in such accidents over the past 12 months.

 The increasing number of deaths has led at least one state legislator to recommend changing the legal driving age for teens, and is forcing parents to rethink when to give their kids the keys to the family car.

Police did not release the identity of the student who was killed Wednesday pending notification of family. They said the student, a junior at the school, was sitting in the front passenger seat of the car. After the wreck, she was taken to Newton General Hospital, where she died.

Kitzero, a senior, was taken by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center with serious head injuries. She was in the intensive care unit late Wednesday. Her condition wasn't available.

Strickland and the passengers in the car's back seat -- Holly Rogers, 16, and Rebecca Hartley, 18 -- were all taken to Newton General. Schuler said Strickland and only one of the four girls was wearing a seat belt.

Counselors, clergy and psychologists will be at the school today to help students deal with the tragedy. "This is an extremely close-knit community," said Newton County Schools spokeswoman Jennifer Caracciolo. "This is just devastating for us."

Caracciolo said the girls were off campus without permission at the time of the accident. Strickland was apparently returning to school after finishing a work study program.

Neighbors said the curvy and heavily wooded road is a popular thoroughfare for students on their way to and from school. "Kids use this road like a racetrack," said Cindy Bryan, as she looked at the front yard littered with police cars and wreckage debris.

"It was just a matter of time before something like this happened."