Tragedy can teach us a lesson

[stealthee]

By now, a lot of you have heard of my accident I had when I was a teenager where I managed to rip a 75 Chevy Monza in two pieces.

For those that haven't, on December 23, 1998 I was in a severe accident. I was young, dumb, and thought I was invincible and unstoppable. I was very lucky that night that I didn't kill myself, and lucky that no one else was in my path of destruction.

I was driving way too fast and overcorrected on an odd curve in the road. That sent the ass end of the car around, and at that time everything else was out of my hands and I was along for the ride.

I proceeded to take out the end of a chain link fence, then hit a telephone pole sideways right behind the passenger door. The car started wrapping around the telephone pole and basically ripped at the seams behind the front seats. The front end of the car continued another 100 feet, went over some shrubbery, through a decorative wooden fence and stopped in a driveway facing the opposite direction that I was headed.

I could have very easily died that night had any one thing been different in the accident and left my family grieving for the holidays.

The photos from the next day (please excuse the quality as these are old 35mm photos that were scanned)













I post this story again because I woke up to some tragic news this morning. My 17 year old cousin (actually he's my cousin's son) was killed in an auto accident last night. They are estimating he was traveling in excess of 100 mph, lost control on a curve in the road, overcorrected, went off the edge of the road, hit an embankment, hit a stone wall, went airborne, hit a telephone pole, and rolled a few times.

Sadly, he was not alone in the car. There was a 17 year old female in the front seat and a 16 year old female in the back seat. The front seat passenger was also killed in the accident and the rear seat passenger had to be cut from the car and was life flighted out. She is currently listed in serious condition.

Two young lives, gone in an instant, and another probably affected for the rest of her life.

My intention of this post is to just have some of the people here (especially the younger ones) think twice about smashing the loud pedal and driving way too fast. There is a time and a place. I was incredibly lucky with my accident. In the fact that I walked away unharmed, and that I only damaged property, and not lives. Now, due to one stupid decision, there are multiple lives affected just because an inexperienced driver decided it was time to drive like an idiot.

There are other things I wished to say, but all the words have left my head at this point, so I will just leave off with, stay safe friends.

[idrivejunk]

Thats bad, man. My 2nd cousin (cousin's son) came by the shop to show me the new crotch rocket he got after totalling the last one. He has been on dirtbikes all his life but I still gotta worry a little. That Monza may have been hacked 70s style before you had it. I was driving through Tyler TX in the early 90s and saw an old Ford with the bed off in a yard, didn't think much of it but as I got closer I noticed a very crooked phone pole and a very dazed dude sitting on the ground looking around with that stunned look on his face... yep he had just knocked the bed off it and got thrown out. No tellin what that guy was up to... or you... or me with my flip job, or your kin. No good! Peace to your family.

[GTPkirmet]

Thank you for the eye opening reminder. We get so caught up thinking we can get away with more risky actions as we age with nothing to remind us what could very well happen when the slightest thing goes wrong. My condolences to you and your family.

[Kaiser Pontiac]

I'm almost scared of having passengers, because their lives are in my hands and stupid things happen so quickly when driving. Thanks for the post, stealth, and condolences to your family.

[Bronco Boy]

Great post stealthee. It's amazing what we got away with in our "young and stupid days".

[Burbman]

Man you tore that thing up, glad you are here to talk about it. So sorry to hear about your cousin's son and his friend.

[2003 SSEi]

I heard of that accident (its local to me) on the news and saw pics of the car from the accident scene. It didn't look good, I couldn't even recognize what type of car it was.

RIP to the ones involved and a speedy recovery to the survivor

[stealthee]

I want to thank everyone for their kind words. Condolences were not my reason for the thread, but they were still nice to see.

Yesterday and today were two of the hardest days of my life. Burying relatives is never easy in a close knit family, but burying someone so young, who touched so many lives makes it all the more difficult. As if it were not already an emotional event, I was asked to be a pallbearer, making it a little extra emotional.

The turnout for the viewing yesterday was amazing. I was told over 700 people signed the guest book, and as you know, not everyone knows to or realizes there is a guest book to sign so the number was likely significantly higher. Today we started at the funeral home to have a final viewing and once the casket was placed in the hearse we proceeded the 5 miles with an amazing procession to the church for final services.

In closing, please feel free to use this thread for reference for anyone who you think might need a wake-up call. A lot of kids only seem to think about themselves, and they need to realize there are sometimes severe consequences to their actions.

[SubwayGuy]

Should of thought about this earlier today.

[MrPoopyButthole]

Incredibly sad to hear. I'm sorry to hear for your lose and share my condolences.

Driving is a privilege, treat it with respect at all times.

Do you have any word on the surviving female?

[stealthee]

It appears she will be okay. She actually came to the viewing yesterday. She was on crutches with a broken leg. I was sitting with my cousin and a family friend when she came in. The line was very long, but they let her to the front. As soon as she saw him she burst into tears and had to be consoled.

[WickedGoat]

I'd love to print your opening thread and post it somewhere conspicuous in the town I live in. Too many people, mostly young, but certainly not to exclude the older ones that know better, drive their pick ups around like they are the fastest thing on the planet. I look at them when they hammer down and just shake my head thinking, "really? It's a freakin pick up... get over yourself". I have seen a few accidents as a result of this stupidity, with the last one being a pick up rear ending a car and putting the trunk of it very well into the back seat... dumbass in the truck was probably jacking around and playing with his phone, then boom.

A guy that lived across the street from me and two houses over used to use our street as a drag strip. He would race his Acura, his Camaro and his motorcycles up the street whenever he felt like it and didn't give a crap about it. Several of us made it clear we weren't going to put up with it and someone got a hold of the landlord... The guy no longer lives on the street... And what made the matter worse was this is predominantly a family street with little kids, including my 8 year old daughter, at play. This asswipe had a girlfriend and his less than 5 year old son living with him.

As a truck driver, I see all kinds of stupid crap going on along with some nasty accidents. I wish people would learn that there is a time and place for things and that 99% of it shouldn't happen behind the wheel. Condolences to you and your family Stealthlee.