Teens Lead Police on 100 MPH Chase in San Diego County

Two Los Angeles County juveniles are facing charges after a stolen car pursuit that topped 100 mph on Interstate 8 early Sunday, an incident that ended without injury but that safety officials say reflects a pattern responsible for thousands of teen deaths nationwide each year.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said the pursuit began around 1 a.m. after a sheriff’s helicopter picked up a license plate reader alert for a vehicle reported stolen out of the Redondo Beach area. Deputies tried to stop the car near Willows Road in the Alpine area, but the driver refused to yield and accelerated past 100 mph, leading officers on a chase along eastbound and then westbound Interstate 8. 

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The California Highway Patrol deployed spike strips near the Mollison Avenue exit in El Cajon, and the driver and a passenger abandoned the moving vehicle and ran. Both were caught and identified as juveniles from the Los Angeles area. They face charges of evading a peace officer with willful disregard for public safety, auto theft and possession of a stolen vehicle. The stolen car was recovered, and authorities said no one was hurt.

The speeds involved, more than 60 mph over the posted limit on parts of the freeway, mirror the conditions that regularly turn deadly on California roads when the driver behind the wheel is a teenager.

Teenage Speeding Habits in California

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for U.S. teenagers, and speed is consistently one of the biggest reasons why. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 2,320 people died in crashes involving a teen driver in 2024, and speeding was a factor in 33% of the fatal crashes involving drivers ages 15 to 18 that year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that the fatal crash rate for drivers ages 16 to 19 is nearly three times higher per mile driven than the rate for drivers 20 and older, and that teens are more likely than older drivers to speed and to follow other vehicles too closely.

A report from the Governors Highway Safety Association and the Ford Motor Company Fund found that speeding-related crashes accounted for 43% of teen driver and passenger fatalities between 2015 and 2019, compared with 30% among all other age groups, and that nearly 4,930 teens died in speeding-related crashes over that five-year span. The same analysis found that teen drivers killed in speeding crashes were disproportionately male, more likely to have lost control and rolled the vehicle, and less likely to have been wearing a seat belt. NHTSA data show a similar pattern: 51% of teen drivers killed in 2024 were unbuckled.

A separate survey of driving instructors by AAA identified speeding as one of the top three mistakes new teen drivers make, alongside poor visual scanning and distraction, and found that teen drivers were involved in nearly 14,000 fatal crashes over a five-year period, more than 4,200 of which involved speeding. The organization also found that when a teen driver causes a fatal crash, the people killed are more often someone other than the teen behind the wheel.

What Speeding Costs Under California Law

When a teenage driver’s speed causes a crash, California law offers injured victims and grieving families several paths to hold the driver, and often the driver’s parents, financially accountable. Under Civil Code section 1714, every driver owes others on the road a duty to exercise reasonable care, and a violation of the Vehicle Code’s speed laws can establish negligence per se under Evidence Code section 669, shifting the burden onto the driver to justify the violation.

California also imposes liability directly on parents. Vehicle Code sections 17707 and 17708 make the adult who signed a minor’s license application, or who gave the minor permission to drive, jointly and severally liable for damages the minor causes through negligent driving. Courts have also recognized negligent entrustment claims against parents who knew, or should have known, that handing a teen the keys created an unreasonable risk. When a crash proves fatal, surviving family members may pursue a wrongful death claim under Code of Civil Procedure sections 377.60 and 377.61.

When a Teen Driver’s Speed Causes a Crash

Speeding-related crashes involving teen drivers are among the most preventable, and most devastating, cases our firm handles. If you or a family member has been injured or lost a loved one in a crash caused by a speeding teen driver, you may have the right to pursue compensation for medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering from the driver and potentially the driver’s parents. 

California law generally gives injured parties two years from the date of a crash to file a personal injury claim under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Our attorneys handle these cases on a contingency-fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation.