Teen Pregnancy, Car Crashes, and Student-Teacher Relationships: 11 High School Themes We'll See on TV Forever (PHOTOS)

Teens are sucky drivers — and this can lead to accidents. Not only are they inexperienced, but they fiddle with the radios and text at the same time. Darn kids. TV exploits this fact of life to its fullest, occasionally introducing alcohol into the mix to highlight the dangers of drinking and driving — like with Marissa’s (Mischa Barton) classic death scene on The O.C.

Luckily, the worst thing that happens to Slater (Mario Lopez) when the Saved by the Bell crew drives drunk is a broken arm. Quinn (Dianna Agron) also survives a very serious texting-while-driving wreck at the end of a Season 3 episode of Glee.

But it’s not just the kids who are distracted drivers. Car crashes are also a great way to kill off older characters in an emotional way (see Dawson’s father on Dawson’s Creek).