Tragedy On Our County's Roads

[azskyman]

This is normally the time of year when kids of all ages are excited about the Boone County Fair starting up today. Plenty of fun, food, and music plus all the carnival and 4H activities.

That's our home county back in Illinois before we moved to Arizona.

This year, the fair is marred by the deaths of five (four girls and one boy) teens under the age of 18 in two separate accidents over the last week. Hard for anyone going to the fair this year not to feel that pain.

Three were not wearing seatbelts, and both accidents are under investigation.

We all know families who have experienced losses to auto accidents...and may have lost someone ourselves. But it is especially tragic when teens are involved. It changes the lives of their families forever.

Be careful out there....all of you, not just teens. All of you.

[Skywatch_NC]

Seems wearing seat belts is a hot issue with many out there...some claim that being belted in can leave one trapped in their vehicle in the event of an accident (for ie. a vehicle catching on fire after an impact)...others like myself...always wear a belt whether sitting in the front seat or back.

Prayers and thoughts with the families and friends of these teenagers.

Eric

[beachbum_al]

I am a prime example why you should wear your seat belt. While in college I was driving to work along I85 and flipped my car over several times. If I had not had my seatbelt on I would had been killed from being thrown out of the car and the car rolling on. But I had my seatbelt on and it kept me not only in the car but when the car landed I was upside down still sitting in my seat belted in.

Also carseat/booster seats are a must too for the younger ones. Even if a child seems to be too big for a booster seat more than likely they are not. Children need booster seats up to 80/100 pounds and I can't remember the height...because the seat belts hit them wrong and can either kill or seriously injure them. Yes, I am a big stinker on carseats for children! Put your children in a carseat or booster seat. It takes a second and can save someone's life.

And I hate to hear about people losing their lives.

[DaylilyDawn]

My youngset son would not be here today if he had not been wearing a seatbelt. In early Jan 2000 he was driving home from VA. to see if he could be tested as a possible organ donor for his brother who has kidney disease and was in bad shape with kidney failure at the time. As my youngest son reached Rocky Mount , NC he hit black ice on the highway , he lost control of the car and it went airborne and landed nose down, and tumbled 7 times down the mountain. When it finally stopped moving, his car was upside down against a tree, and he was hanging out of the moon roof of the car. It was a Mazda 926 he had bought about 6 months before the accident. He undid his seatbelt and fell out but was trapped by his shoe string on his boot caught in a crack in the dash board. He tore the leather eylet area off the boot trying to get his foot free. By freeing his foot, he broke both the bones in the lower leg . He also had internal injuries and lots of cuts and bruises. It took him a full year for him to recover from his injuries and to be released back to Active Duty status in the Navy. While he was recovering, his shipp sailed and he was reassigned to the USS Harry S. Truman, a ship he did not like. As soon as he was able to , he asked to be reassigned back to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the ship he was originally assigned to.

[gtalum]

I can't believe teh styupidity required to refuse to wear a seatbelt. My stepfather refuses to wear one, and has actually gone to the trouble to disable the seatbelt reminder in his car.

[Miss Mary]

We lost a nephew, age 16, almost 3 years ago. So stories like this one really hit home with me. Families are never the same once they lose a child - parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins...we all feel our nephew's absence and always will.

My heart goes out to the families that lost their child from this awful accident. Sometimes something good can come out of a tragedy like this. I know in my husband's family, the younger ramaining cousins learning to drive, make sure everyone is wearing their seatbelts and if they're not, they can just get out of the car. All any of us have to say is one word - Luke. And we all know we should never skip the seatbelt (like these young teens, he wasn't wearing his seatbelt either). Teenagers just think they are invincible. Nothing can harm them. That is very hard to correct sometimes.

Prayers coming to your community Steve.

Mary

[Lindaloo]

Prayers going out to everyone in your community, Poppysky.

I lost two best friends in car/firetruck accidents. One (Christine) when we were teens and the other (Terri) a few years ago while she was enroute to a fire. I miss and love them both very much. Alot of "what if's" when I lost the first one. But after alot of years of guilt, I realized that I was not to blame. The drunk driver in the dump truck was to blame.

Terri was a firefighter and she had always wanted to be one, even as a kid.