LOCHBUIE - A crumpled garage door here is covered in felt-tip-enscribed memories of Kyle Walls, 15, the latest metro-area teen to die way too young in a car accident.

The Colorado State Patrol says the car in which Walls was riding Friday night hit a tree in Winifred Boucher's front yard, spun and crashed into the aluminum door of her two-car garage.

Boucher, shaken by the tragedy, decided to use it as a teaching moment. She put up a sign inviting Kyle's friends to write memorials to him. She even supplied felt-tip markers.

One message pleads with teens to not drink and drive.

Boucher also started a petition drive, urging the Lochbuie City Council and police to put in a speed bump on Locust Avenue to slow down traffic there.

"Now that a child is dead, maybe they'll do something," Boucher said Monday. "I know speed means nothing to teens joy riding, but if they had a speed-control device here, maybe that would have slowed them down enough that no one would have died."

The investigation found that Kyle and the 16-year-old driver jumped out of the car after it hit the tree and garage, and ran across Locust Avenue and into a field.

Kyle collapsed in the field and died a short time later.

Monday, a few of Kyle's fellow students from Weld Central High School stopped by at lunch time to write farewell notes to their friend. The words reflected the instant-messaging shorthand prevalent among teens, as well as the importance of religion in the lives of many rural Weld County young people.

"Kyle, we don't want you back cuz U R having the life, but I wish U were having the life down here," said one.

"Hey, bud. We will kick it again cuz I am gonna beat you at the football games at The New Beginning. Luv ya like a bro."

The State Patrol hasn't said whether the driver was drinking, but that didn't stop Kyle's friends from mentioning in their notes the dangers of mixing alcohol with getting behind the wheel.

"Kyle, we all gonna miss you but at least you are safer now! Well, at least you know what it is like 2 drink and drive. I don't think any little kids R gonna do this, cuz U taught them something."

Susan Zellner, of Lochbuie, who knew Kyle and knows his family, said, "He was a good kid. He wanted to go to college. He had a good head on his shoulders. And he would have given you the shirt of his back, if he decided you needed it more than he did."

Steve Jones, Weld Central High School principal, said teachers talked with students about Kyle's death during first period. In a few cases, that led to discussions about loss and emotions that lasted most of the period.

Counselors were available for both students and staff, said Jones, noting that -Kyle's death greatly affected not only his friends but the teachers who knew him well.

"Every so often we try to hammer home the message" of the dangers of high-speed driving or drinking and driving, Jones said.

Weld Central is in the rotation to get videos on drunk driving and a mock crash scene to display on campus. The mock crash scene comes only once every four years, and the last time was a year ago.

Meanwhile, students at Bear Creek High School in Lakewood are still mourning the death of 17-year-old Samara Stricklen, who died last Tuesday when a female teenage driver drifted over the center lane and crashed head-on with the car in which Stricklen was riding.

In both Samara's and Kyle's deaths, police suspect drinking was involved.

"Obviously, they didn't learn anything from last Tuesday," Boucher said. "When you're 16, you think you're immortal. I hope something good comes of this lesson, or of the petition. If I didn't do anything to make that happen, I couldn't live with myself."

scanlon@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-442-8729