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Learning to drive can be intimidating, and approaching driving with a cocky attitude can lead to bad times. Alas, far too many teenagers have an “I already figured it out” attitude to just about everything in life, leading them to make some foolhardy, and often deadly decisions. All too often we hear about teens texting and driving, street racing, or “ghost riding the whip” to their doom.
Fortunately for one California teen, his almost-tragedy was avoided when the Mustang he was driving plummeted 200 feet over a roadside cliff. His savior? A rollbar installed more for looks than racing prowess.
Thankfully, the roll bar was properly installed, likely saving the life of 17-year old Thomas Dwelley, reports Jalopnik. Supposedly, Thomas was simply out for a drive in Santa Barbara when he lost control of his 1995 Ford Mustang and went over a 200-foot cliff. The accident destroyed his Mustang and his iPhone, though not enough for the tracking to be turned off.
Thomas’s father called AT&T, who was able to locate the teenager. His father saw the skid marks, heard his son answering his calls, and crawled down the embankment to find this boy sitting on a rock. Thomas was missing for an entire day, and spent the night sleeping under a tree. Though he survived, mostly thanks to the roll bar, Thomas suffered a major head injury and required surgery to repair the damage.
Better surgery than a funeral though. As for the Mustang? Well, there isn’t much left to it, though Thomas reportedly has a more mature look at cars, saying they need to be “taken seriously.” Sound advice from this teenage survivor.
