Our society must stop celebrating lives of reckless car-crash teens

Rippy

Myers is ignoring the human, personal side of the story.
Parents/ relatives / friends need to celebrate the positive when confronted with the inconceivable sudden death of a young person.
It is an important part of the grieving process.
Media coverage of funerals is often inappropriate.
Overcrowded cars, driving under the influence, speeding, unroadworthy, uninsured cars, unlicenced drivers.
In my youth I either drove or was a passenger under all these risk factors (often several at once).
I'm sure most of us in our 40s and 50s can say the same. Back in the 70s and 80s it was socially acceptable for ALL ages to behave in such a manner.
Attitudes have changed, cars are safer, emergency response and treatment have improved.
Still people die.
And they always will.

ninty9er

Rippy wrote: »

Myers is ignoring the human, personal side of the story.
Parents/ relatives / friends need to celebrate the positive when confronted with the inconceivable sudden death of a young person.
It is an important part of the grieving process.
Media coverage of funerals is often inappropriate.
Overcrowded cars, driving under the influence, speeding, unroadworthy, uninsured cars, unlicenced drivers.
In my youth I either drove or was a passenger under all these risk factors (often several at once).
I'm sure most of us in our 40s and 50s can say the same. Back in the 70s and 80s it was socially acceptable for ALL ages to behave in such a manner.
Attitudes have changed, cars are safer, emergency response and treatment have improved.
Still people die.
And they always will.

This is all well and good, but in the case of someone who dies from a drug overdose, the issue of the dangers of drugs will more than likely be raised by the priest, it would do no harm for priests to say, "If you don't want to end up in a box, with your family and friends grieving like all of you are, then think twice before overloading your car and taking unnecessary risks."

conneem-TT

ninty9er wrote: »

. . . . "If you don't want to end up in a box, with your family and friends grieving like all of you are, then think twice before overloading your car and taking unnecessary risks."

Also, it should be said that the passengers are also taking the risk, with it being obvious that there are not enough seatbelts for all of them. This is one of the things that is highlighted by one of the long running ads (see link below) on the television, the danger of even one unbelted passenger, they not only put themselves at risk but every other occupant.

Note: this vid included some disturbing scenes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Qhmdk4VNs&feature=related

They fact that a car might be overloaded may not (and probably was not a factor in the Donegal incident) cause an accident but it sure will exacerbate the outcome by an unimaginable margin.

Eric Cartman

-Chris- wrote: »

At some point someone should say "You're 20 years old, I don't think buying a 140BHP Passat is a good idea. I think you should be in something slower until you've got a bit of sense".

It really comes down to the individual, at 18 I wasnt going round driving wrecklessly, I had my 163bhp 4x4 and it was fine, but I know lads in 1 litre micras who are still bombing around dangerously at 22-23 , if your going to drive like a f*cktard your going to do it in any car, and Id feel much safer about a lad driving round in a 2 litre lexus that has factory designed brakes to stop that car rather than a honda civic with a VTEC controller and tonnes of money pumped into the engine with no regard for the stopping power or handling of the car. These 'boy racers' only modify sh*t cars to make them as fast as decent cars because they cant insure decent cars, if they were let do that theyd still be driving badly but in a car that was atleast designed to handle/stop correctly at the speeds it can do