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Why why why?? Just horrible. The driver was the only person with his seat belt on and why oh why did the parents allow the 16 year old to be responsible for driving the family to their destination? Were they tired also and decided to let the teenager take his driving shift early? Minus the driver, were they all asleep at that time? Questions questions and bad decisions.
I feel this terrible tragedy could have been avoided if the parents were in control. Regardless, may they all rest in peace.
What a horrible tragedy.
I drove with my son from IN to South FL in a Suburban. While I have learned how to safely keep myself awake for long periods of time on the road, my son is just learning. He offered to spot me some shut eye in North FL going across the panhandle. I agreed, but emphasized to him the need to awaken me immediately if he even started to feel drowsy. I explained there would be no shame in it, and don't try to compete with Dad to try and one up him. I even empathized that alerting me to him getting tired would show maturity and gain trust in future situations.
So off I went to sleep after about 10 minutes of monitoring him. I figured I might get about 3 hours. It turns out he awakened me within about 55 minutes to say he was sorry to wake me, but his eyelids were getting a little heavy. So I had him get off at the next exit, and when we switched back. I gave him a pat and told him he did the smart thing and showed maturity. He was out like a light within 5 minutes of us getting back on the expressway.
The reason I tell this story is because anyone, myself included can get bleary eyed, and need to get off the road. Younger kids are just learning to recognize when they have had enough, so they need encouragement to know their limitations. They also need responsible parents to make adult decisions regarding the family and other peoples safety. Sadly this tragedy could have been prevented had they been more responsible.
This of course is not even touching upon everyone failing to wear seatbelt, even while sleeping. Anyone in my vehicle wears their seatbelts, regardless of whether they want to or not.
It probably wasn't too bright for the 16 year old to be driving in this situation, but ultimately we wouldn't even have heard about this accident if everyone in the vehicle had been wearing a seatbelt. More than likely, with seatbelts zero or at most one would have died. As it is, this kid's life is ruined. Yes he made a mistake but I doubt he could have made his parents and siblings use a belt. The parents deserve the blame on this one.
99% of people do not use suvs for off roading. They are glorified mini vans. Anyone who wants to do offroading in majority of suvs has to do major chances to the suspension. Majority of suv's are pure "image". I need something to carry my kids, but don't want a minivan because I don't want people to think I'm a soccer mom, even though that's exactly what I am!
I don't agree about the laws portion, but I otherwise agree completely. It's so silly how many people buy SUVs simply because "I wouldn't be caught dead in a minivan" (poor choice of words in this case).
How ironic, then, that this happened this way. I've said it before--people act like SUVs are THE vehicle to buy in part because of crash protection, forgetting about the rollover and cornering factors. In this case it had deadly consequences.
I think it was a contributing factor, too. SUVs are much more rollover prone their cars or even minivans, although minivans would hardly be at the head of the stability class either I'd imagine, but the higher center of gravity of an SUV would make them especially rollover prone vs practically anything else. Yet, people flock to SUVs over minivans simply because of image. It's silly. It is their choice, but it's silly. If you are going to pack 8 people in a vehicle, yes, a minivan (or a full-sized van, if you can still find them) is much more suitable. So it's ugly--WHO CARES?? Why does looks matter on a vehicle so much to people? It's not a woman in a bikini. What does it matter, especially when you're now dead?
And yes, I'm not so sure I'm trusting a 16 year old in this situation. Maybe I would be, but I'm not sure. What sort of driving had he done before? Had he done enough to where this sort of thing wouldn't be much of a "promotion" for him, or had he only done simpler driving in less challenging conditions and asking this of him was premature? It sucks for him to have to live with this the rest of his life. What an awful burden that must be to carry.
Based on what I read in the article, I don't believe the 16yr. old should be charged. Mom and dad should not have let him drive, or they should have stayed awake to monitor his driving. He was 16.. How much driving experience could he have possibly had?? It's a senseless tragedy that possibly could have been avoided if they all wore their seat belts.
This poor kid is going to go through life knowing his actions caused the deaths of his family members. That's enough punishment for anyone. No need to punish him further.
While SUVs are more prone to rolling over, cars will easily roll over as well given the situation;
WRONG! SUVs are way more dangerous than cars, but this is a large family, so I am not sure what they could get in place and still all be okay? Not sure if a BMW 5 wagon would fit them. If they could fit, they would all be fine. SUVs are super dangerous if they get out of control at all. It is just simple physics and cannot be argued against. Think of it this way. The bottom of your tire is the point of contact. The farther you go from that point the more force that will be given. Just a simple lever can tell the story and you don't need more than that. SUVs are really horrible at making things much worse once you are trying to maneuver. Sadly, in the case of a family this large, they might have to go with a minivan. I don't know if there is one that handles better or is safer. Once you get into larger vehicles like this, you better drive very carefully at all times.
It is very sad and that poor kid of just 16. What will happen to him the rest of his life? How does one cope with such a thing? Hope he has some really good relatives that will try and help him. All it takes is one mistake. What possessed these people to not have seat belts on is amazing. I think there would have been some lives saved if they all had seat belts on, but that is hindsight now.
There are so many deaths on the roadways, yet people seem to be okay with it. People speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. Just pure selfishness. If you are driving, slow down and if you have to drive some big SUV or pickup, you better stay in the right lane and be very careful. Those things are deathtraps to say the least. As someone that had to drive a lot I sure saw a lot of SUVs in ditches.
Tragic mistake by the parents to let a 16 YO drive at night with the whole family in the car.
When i got my license at 17, my parents didnt want me to drive a distance longer than an hour. Evetually I got to drive to grandmas (3 hours away) while my mom was awake in the front seat. Well into my 20s my parents worried about me driving long distances at night.
At 16 there is no way i would been able to do more than a short portion of that trip!
So tragic.
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