Educating our young

It's 1:30 a.m. and I sit here, not being able to sleep. Why? Sure, the Iraq conflict is part of it because of my useless government but the major part of it is the pain a few close neighbours / friends are going through right now. On Tuesday nite, 3 kids I have worked with by coaching them in baseball / soccer and other sports were dealt a deadly hand involving speed/horsepower/education.
In all told, 4 young adults were killed in a fiery crash that has also left 1 kid on life support with what seems to be no hope for him without major brain damage.
The 4 had been at a local rec centre to use the gym facilities to work out and have fun. Upon finishing their routine, they climbed into a 88 Mustang that had been modified with suspension kit, 18" tires and flowthrough exhaust. They were in a rush (we figure) to get home and and rest for school. Upon their haste, they took a shortcut down a hill with a 14% grade gaining speed by the foot. Upon reaching the bottom ofthis hill, the car bottomed out, the driver lost control and launched into the other lane sideways coming in contact with a 90 Camaro. The driver of the Camaro was killed instantly with the car bursting into flames. The Mustang was ripped in 2, sending 3 of the 4 kid out of the car, bouncing upto 110' along the asphalt. These 3 were believed killed instantly.

I know this kind of thread has been posted many times here on FM but I , like many others, never think that it may affect ourselves.
So how do we get the word out to the new drivers. The ones who have had a license for a short time and thus don't have the road savy. And as parents, I know it is hard to turn to your son/ daughter and tell them that you don't have faith in their driving ability to let them buy the car that will keep them up above the geeks in school. Yes, the peer pressure is high to stay in that upper "Cool Zone" but what pray tell is the cost.
I am just sick...because of this tragic loss in our comunity and that I had not educated the driver or his passengers on the importance and privilege of operating a motor vehicle.
I just hope, that when the whole story comes out, this highschool of 990+ kids learnes something their parents can't teach them.

_________________
There is NO substitution for Cubes
1954 Mercury Pick-up Blown 525 BBF

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Blown54 on 3/28/03 6:23am ]</font>

That stinks. you always read about it but never really think it will get that close to you.

It might be a good idea to take new drivers to a junkyard and walk around. Whenever I go to one I always kinda wonder if the driver and passengers made it out. Some have marks from the jaws of life and blood stains. I was just at my favorite one today, and noticed the windshilds that had been broken by peoples heads. Hadnt paid attention to that before.

Even better idea might be to have them talk to a local EMT. We had a slide show done by one in high school. He didnt leave anything out of the pictures. And he described each accident in detail to us. I remember one photo was of a mans forehead. You could read the make of car he was driving from the indentation left by the steering wheel. And they got WAY more graphic than that.
[addsig]

That is sad to hear and this kind of thing happens all the time. I was one of those kids where my father bought me a super nice car before i even had my license but what he did was instill the fear of god in me. He took me to the local drag strip at the age of 15 and let me run the car and this taught me alot.
To sum things up I believe it is up to the parents to teach there children responsibilty
and hope they have the common sense to use it.

Kids are gonna drive fast, its inevitable. Parents need to teach these kids exactly where this kind of stuff is ok. (I.E. The strip) Also a lot of parents need to know when enough is enough and punish the damn kids.

True Story:

I was dating a girl from the very rich part of Vegas. Dad had so much money that a few days before this girl and I broke up, he was talking about buying me a truck to drive his daughter around in as he didnt like my old Wagon. (damn I wish she coulda waited a week to break it off) Any how this girl had an older brother. His first car was a sweet Mustang GT. He wrapped it around a pole within a month. Car #2 was an F-150 4x4. He rolled that in the desert, hurt one of his buddies pretty bad in the process.

Now the parents are concerned. Cars just dont seem to be safe enough for JR. Also want something thats not gonna get hurt if he has an "accident" They bought him a hummer. A HUMMER!!! Cant get hurt in a hummer right? Right! But you can kill someone else. And he did. 2 of em. Ran right through a Hyundai while running a red light. He came out just fine.

When I have kids, they get 4cyl econo boxes. They'll learn real fast how to drive defensively. Driving itself is a risk, I'd rather put thme in a position where they are forced to learn how to be careful.
[addsig]

Sorry to hear the news...

Any car nowadays can go 120, yes "performance" rides are the most common to loose controll. I've personally "jumped railroad tracks" in a mini van as a passanger [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img] thank God I'm still here, craked the oil pan thrashed the van...kids will drive wild.

A great idea that some due...During high school a friend died DUI. They put his truck at the local parking lot were all us "cool" kids hungout on the weekends. I'll never forget that twisted piece of metal that use to be a ride I've riden in...Blood everywere AND thick not some small stain, I'm talking puddles. His truck was just the way he left it, beer cans some gym cloths, tapes, school parking permit, math book...They left the truck there the rest of the school year and all summer. It was a good idea...and the parties we had did tapper off. Granted most still were drinking but had sober drivers to get us around.

having a car comes with a price. and each to his own kids will do stupid things as will adults. I am only 20 but have had my mustang since i was 15, it was a car that i worked on until i could drive it then it became the car that i drove every day and night, but the fact that I built it made me learn to take care of and appreciate it and the same goes for one of my best friends from highschool whos first car was a 67 427 ss camaro. you have to know your kids before you allow them to have a fast/powerful car. I dont know if it has been said yet but driveing habits come from the people the kids ride with most, usely the parents. I have made a few passes down the track and i think it was a good thing for me. did it change the way i drove around town?? no i didnt but it did alow me to find the limits of my driveing ability and the limits of my car. a little common sense helps too.

Here is a pic of whats left of the mustang

[addsig]

When I got my license my dad wouldn't let me get a car with more than a small block. When I got a mustang with a 302 2 barrel he wouldn't let me put a 4 barrel on it for a year or two, until I was used to driving in something that looked fast but wasn't that fast. I later did add a 4 barrel, and yes i did speed with the 2 barrel, but after one trip at 120 next to my friends camaro in and out of trafic I lerned my lesson. Nothing happened but just going that fast in such a situation scared the stuff out of me.
Later my dad told me why he wouldn't let me get something really fast. He told me about His friend and His son and their father son project. A hot rod big block 69 camaro. The kid killed himself in it the first time he drove it.
He also said there was a big block 427 67 mustang fastback around town. The kid who owned it was showing off, getting on it hard out of the gas station onto the road, which must have had a silppery spot, and the car went sideways into the pole litterally breaking the car in half. The kid lived but had head injuries from where the roof crushed in, and he was never right after.
Between these stories, and my own dumb moves I learned.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2003-03-27 04:54, dragman64 wrote:
It might be a good idea to take new drivers to a junkyard and walk around. Whenever I go to one I always kinda wonder if the driver and passengers made it out. Some have marks from the jaws of life and blood stains. I was just at my favorite one today, and noticed the windshilds that had been broken by peoples heads. Hadnt paid attention to that before.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

I was visiting a yard with my father years ago when they bought in a S-10 pickup that had been stolen, and the man that stole it drove it into a concrete wall. The concrete wall didnt give. His head went through the windshield and instantly decapitated him. I will never forget seeing that truck--every time I climb into my mustang, either one of the Mavericks, or sometimes even my truck...that image comes to mind. It cured my "young" driving style. I agree, if some people could see that at a younger age, I think they'd remember it.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: mavman on 3/28/03 9:19am ]</font>

Seems some things have changed from my original post. Witnesses are now saying that the driver was passing a car going down the hill. Estimated speed of about 85mph. The car then bottomed out, spun and was hit by a Firebird (not Camaro). The Bird had a full cage, driver was wearing a harness, but when they collided, the fuel tank on the Mustang ruptured, ignited as it sprayed the Bird. The driver of the Bird was burned to death. If the car had not ignited, police believe he would have survived. All of the kids in the Mustang were not wearing seatbelts, but even if they were, they would all have been killed instantly. The last survivor of this crash was taken off life support this afternoon.
Since 6a.m. this morning, my wife has been crisis counselling at the school and I have been out at the memorial because I know a lot of the kids here, as I have watch many of them grow from crawling to being young adults.
I did get in some trouble today though, as I slapped a kid who came up to the site in his CRX and proceeded to do donuts in the middle of the road with people standing around
(F*#k'n Idiot!!)
[addsig]