I read an article on the internet about how this song was about a group of teens no older than 17 and were out driving and got in a wreck with a flatbed logging truck. Originally the song was released by Wayne Cochran & the C.C. Riders later covered by Frank J. Wilson and the Cavaliers only to be covered yet again by Pearl Jam. This part was copied and pasted from the site I read the article and respects to them.
~~~~~~~~"Sixteen-year-old Jeanette Clark was out on a date in Barnesville, Georgia on
December 22, 1962, the Saturday before Christmas. She was with a group
of friends in a 1954 Chevrolet. J. L. Hancock, also sixteen, was driving the
car in heavy traffic and while traveling on Highway 341, collided with a trailer
truck. Clark, Hancock, and another teenager were killed, and two other teens
in the car were seriously injured. Cochran dedicated the song to Clark.~~~~~~~~

If you wanna see the site the link is below