please please please drum into your kids how dangerous driving at high speeds can be, and NEVER to sit without a seatbelt

[stitch]

my baby sis just told me about her night morning at work. sounded like something out of er, but its so much scarier and real in rl

she was called at 4.30 to the a&e where there was a girl screaming and screaming. and another one who wasnt making any sense. and omg,i was practically in tears when she was telling me. she told me how it unfolded for her. she was the most senior person there. no one seemed to know what was wrong with her, my baby sis pulled her back on the table, and heard the click of her broken leg. she had a collapsed lung. her blood pressure plummetedon the scan table. she basicallly had five things wrong with her, any one of which was enough to kill her. she was 14. unrestrained backseat passenger in a car that crashed into a tree at 100mph.
the girl who had been walking fine on the scene, was now babbling, she had head trauma, and internal stuff. i caant remember all of it. one of the girls died. the front passenger, who was 13, had his head stuck in the dashboard, died on the spot, the driver who was 15 died on the spot too. one of the girls died in the hospital, her mom, grandmother and sis managed to get there eventually, coz they didnt know who she was for a while. my ssis had to call the ambulance crew back to find out what was going on. they had had to cut the girls out of the car which was eight feet off the ground.
i cant even begin to feel what the parents must be feeling, but i am so upset by this. and its just kids being stupid. one of the things that upset my sis was that when she told the grandmother of one of the girls, she was shocked that death was a possiblity.
IF YOU HIT A TREE AT 100MPH, THEN you are bloody likely to die.please please tell you r kids this.
thank you for listening to me.

[ssd]

[emmatom]

My husband is a forensic crash investigator, ie he is the police officer who goes to the fatal car crashes and tries to work out how it happened.

Some of his stories make me weep. Makes you realise how fragile life can be and how it can be taken from you so quickly.

[suedonim]

There's been some terrible accidents round here lately, involving youngsters. In one, the driver hit a bus. He was thrown clear but the two passengers were trapped in the car, which burst into flames. The bus passengers had to witness these two boys being burnt to death in the car, screaming and clawing at the windows in their desperation to get out. It makes my blood run cold.

[lucy5]

Its awful my first serious boyfriend died as a back seat passenger wearing no seat belt he was 20 at the time.

[jollymum]

My oldest is 15 and wants a car asap. I am so scared for him. I probably drove too fast as a youngster but he's still my baby. I keep telling him, ('cos we can talk fortunately and have a sense of humour about things) that I've got him through chicken pox, god knows what trouble and if he goes and dies at 18, I'll kill him Not making light of it, so sorry for those kids that died. One of my nightmares as a mum is my kids being trapped and not being able to save them, or even worse, choosing whch one of the four to save.

[greenbean]

This is a very sad and worrying thread. Not even discussed dangers of gettin into mates cars with dds(15 and 13 next month). Somehing else to worry about in the future. thanks stitch.

[ThePrisoner]

I have teenage dds with driving licences. They have friends with driving licences. I am soooo happy that they will actually refuse to be driven by some of their friends because they are unhappy with the way that they drive. My dds always wear seat belts, and don't ever drive if they've had ANY alcohol, and won't be driven by friends if they have. Some of their friends had accidents within days of getting their driving licences. My dds have also been extremely vocal in telling their friends why they won't get into vehicles with them!!

You realise that your children have become adults and you are eternally grateful that they have become sensible over one thing in their lives. Still not sure how we achieved it though.