August 26, 2009

MONTANA: An unnamed 19-year-old was killed after attempting an incredibly risky -- and likely illegal -- maneuver on a highway north of Wolf Point. He was driving a 1990 F-250 truck in reverse up the highway road when he attempted to make a "j-turn" -- a 180-degree turn without stopping. He also wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

He drove the truck off the road, and he was ejected from the truck as it started to roll. It rolled on top of him, killing him. The three other passengers in the truck were all wearing their seatbelts, and walked away from the crash.

NEW YORK: There are few details in this Mid-Hudson News report on the death of Richard Lodovichetti of Warwick, N.Y. They call him a teen in the headline and say he graduated from Warwick High School in 2008, so he's got to be 18 or 19, but the paper doesn't say his age.

He was driving by himself in a 2005 Dodge Neon along a road in Chester, following behind two cars driven by friends. He passed both in a legal passing zone, lost control and ran off the road. He struck fence posts and earth embankments, the paper says, before rolling over.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

UPDATE: Still few details out about Rich, but he appears to have been passionate about his car. Here's what appears to be a page showing off his 2005 Dodge Neon.

August 25, 2009

NEW JERSEY: An 18-year-old boy from Monroe was killed after he tried to pass a pickup truck on the left, as the truck was attempting to make a left-hand turn. Matthew Bowdenhodge was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which happened around 9:16 p.m. in Englishtown. He tried to pass a pick-up truck driven by 20-year-old Robin Smart, and as he passed his Toyota Camry clipped the truck and then went across the road and hit a pole and mail box. Two passengers in his car suffered severe injuries, and one was flown to the hospital. The other went in an ambulance.


UTAH: A recent high school graduate and soccer enthusiast died Tuesday night after he attempted to pass a car that was stopping at a red light. He collided into oncoming traffic, rolling his Ford Ranger several times, and was ejected from the car, according to The Herald Journal. 

Police said Jacob Hawkes, 19, of Hyde Park, was airlifted to an area hospital, where he died. The Herald Journal story has a lot more details about Hawkes and his family.

NORTH CAROLINA: A teen driver is listed in critical condition following a crash that killed the two passengers in his car. Demonte Cissell, 22, and 16-year-old Destinee Taylor were both killed in the one-car accident in Durham, according to a local TV station. 

Destinee had just finished her first day of tenth grade, the story says, and was a joyful, happy teenager, the family says. Her family spent Wednesday picking through debris at the accident site, hoping to find something belonging to her.

Police say excessive speed was a factor in the crash. The car left the road, crossed a ditch and flew into the trees, snapping branches more than 10 feet in the air.


OREGON: This accident defies all the norms of a teen driving accident (no speeding, no groups of teens in a car, seatbelts were in use), and yet reflects the inexperience teen drivers bring to the road.

Sixteen-year-old Heather Snyder was killed, and her father was seriously injured, when Heather collided with a fully loaded dump truck along a road in Lafayette County. Heather was stopped at an intersection, and then proceeded through in front of the dump truck, which struck the driver's side door and killed her. Her father, Frank Snyder, was in the passenger seat and was airlifted to an area hospital.

Roger Wise, the driver of the dump truck, said he tried to stop but couldn't. He was uninjured. Everyone was wearing seatbelts.

It's hard to say who's at fault here, given the details provided by the local TV station story. Was Wise running a red light? Was Heather not paying attention? Whatever the circumstances, they say young female drivers are very trusting on the road, and tend to believe that everyone is going to be OK and all the other drivers are going to do exactly what they are supposed to do. It takes a few scares, I think, to learn how to react and how to be hyper vigilant when crossing through major intersections. I'm sorry this turned so badly for this family.

This one hits home for me, because my husband's grandparents were killed in a similar accident. It's hard to survive an accident with a giant mass of dump truck, especially when it's fully loaded. The laws of physics don't bend for anyone.

MICHIGAN: A girl mourning the death of her father apparently committed suicide by driving into oncoming traffic. Michigan State Police told a local TV station that Noura Hattar, 16, of Milford, left a suicide note behind before driving her mother's SUV eastbound on westbound lanes of I-96 in Leroy Township. The note said she was tired of being depressed and wanted to to see her father. (The Detroit News story actually spells her name correctly.)

Here's a Youtube video of Noura horsing around with a friend. The date on the video is June 9.

Sad story

I am not sure what to make of this story, or how to classify it, or even if it fits into this blog. But I suppose it's about the aftermath of teen car accidents, so it's worth mentioning.

Police found the bodies of two teens, who had been dating for a while, in a Dripping Springs, Texas, home. Both teens, Sarah Carman, 17, and Cody Strauss, 18, had been in a severe car accident last November that had left Strauss in a coma initially, and recovering from severe brain injuries for the past several months. Strauss' mom has been keeping a blog detailing his recovery, but she's since made that blog private, likely because newspapers and TV stations in the Austin, Texas, area were quoting from it.


A story in the Austin American Statesman can't come out and say it was likely a double suicide, but wording by the police leaves few other options: Police say they aren't looking for any suspects, and the community is not in danger. Police have also released few details of the crash that injured Strauss in the first place.

August 24, 2009

CALIFORNIA: A 60-year-old beach loving woman and her dog, Peanut, were struck and killed by a 16-year-old driver, as the woman headed out to the surf for her daily walk. The Ventura County Star says the driver has not been charged with anything, and told Ventura police he didn't see them in the road before the crash.

Family members told the newspaper that Susan Herman was "half flower child, half attorney and accountant." She had a daughter and one grandson, whom she doted on.

Herman, pictured above, was an animal lover who rescued tortoises, chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs, hamsters, birds, a cow and a horse, her daughter told the Ventura County Star. Peanut was also adopted.

OREGON: An 18-year-old woman was ejected from an SUV around 4:20 a.m. Monday after a simple driving error ended in a fatal rollover. According to a local TV station,  the 22-year-old driver drifted into the shoulder, and overcorrected, causing the vehicle to roll over. The accident happened on a rural road in Lakeview.

Over correcting is a common issue in novice drivers, and really anyone who may be nervous behind the wheel, or sleepy, or drunk. It's when you get startled by something and jerk the wheel in the other direction, causing the car to lose control and sometimes flip. Although by this photo, it looks like the road they were driving on was likely nerve-wracking enough, with the steep dropoff to their right.

Lauren Allison, 18, was not wearing her seatbelt, and was ejected from the car. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, Michael Bymoen, was wearing his seatbelt and was taken to the hospital, and was listed in serious condition.

U.K. Public Service Announcement

This is a bit gory, although it is all simulated. Not for the recently grieving or easily squeamish. But I do believe it is affective, and I'm hopeful that it will encourage teens to speak up when the driver of the car they are in is acting like a nitwit.

It shows the consequences of texting while driving.

August 23, 2009

FLORIDA: Not sure if this fits into the whole teen driving scenario, but it involves teens so it feels wrong to exclude it. An 18-year-old driving a dirt bike without its lights on struck a car, which was also driven by a teen. The accident happened west of DeLand, Fla., at around 11:15 p.m., according to the News-Journal. The dirt bike driver, who was not wearing a helmet, died. A passenger on the bike, also not wearing a helmet, was in critical condition Monday.

OHIO: 19-year-old Jacob Childers died in an early-morning accident after his car struck a tree in western Lucas County. Police say Childers was not wearing a seatbelt, and may have been speeding. There's a short story explaining some details here.

UPDATED: There's more info out now on Childers, known as Jake to his friends, at Legacy.com. Childers was an honors student who was planning to attend the University of Cincinnati in the fall. "He had  agreat sense of humor, a creative flair, passion for adventure, loved music, believed in God, loved the water, and had an appetite of no other." Plus, the picture with his obituary shows that there's a chance the girls were gaga for him.

NEW YORK: A New York City security guard returning home from work was killed by a teen driver early Sunday morning as he stepped out of his cab. The New York Daily News reports that 32-year-old Donald Bryan was struck as he headed back to his Queens home.

He stepped out of the taxi just as a Lexus driven by 18-year-old Alfred Barcenilla Jr. "roared around the corner," witnesses told the newspaper.

"I knew the guy was in bad shape," neighbor Christopher Gianni told the New York Daily News. "The last thing he said to me was that he felt really cold. That's when he started to slip out."

A report in Newsday says Bryan was dragged under the car for half a block until the car crashed into a fence. 

Barcenilla was not injured in the accident, passed a breathalyzer test and was not charged with DUI.

UPDATE: Barcenilla was later charged with underage drinking after the accident. Given the fact he passed the breathalyzer test, he probably was drinking but not technically drunk. What's that new drunk driving slogan? Buzzed driving is drunk driving? Seems to fit here.

OHIO: A 17-year-old boy from Holland, Ohio, was killed when he ran a stop sign and was hit by an oncoming car. Jacob Martin was driving a Dodge Neon when he ran the sign around 7 p.m. Sunday, and was struck by a car driven by a 28-year-old man from Toledo. Martin was declared dead at the scene.

UPDATED: Legacy.com has Jake's obituary and guest book up, although no picture. He was an avid BMX biker, snowboarder, and involved in his church's youth group. He also volunteered at charity events for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the comments on the guest book show he was a polite and sweet, bringing younger kids to roller skate and "had one of the biggest hearts of anyone I've known."

WISCONSIN: A 17-year-old boy from Campbellsport, Wisc., was killed around 2 a.m. Sunday in a one-car accident on a rural road. Tyler Batzler was partially ejected from his car when it went off the road and entered a ditch, rolling over. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

UPDATE: Friends have erected a memorial page to Tyler on Facebook, in addition to the memorials the family is working on. People keep repeating the same message: Tyler loved life, and was friends with everyone. He had wicked blue eyes, and shared my passion for Will Ferrel movies (at least, that's what his MySpace page says.)

He also appears to have been a pretty good snowboarder, as you can see in this video below. Tyler is the last snowboarder in the shot.

August 22, 2009


MICHIGAN: Police are investigating why 20-year-old Ryan Woodward was laying on a dark rural road, according to this story by the Lansing State Journal. He was struck by a car driven by a longtime friend, age 19. The driver is not expected to face charges, since he was the designated driver and DUI tests prove he wasn't drinking. But police don't know why Woodward was in the road -- could he have passed out there? More to come on this story.


NEBRASKA: The Journal Star posted a lovely memorial story for 16-year-old Emily Johnson, a junior at Southwest High who died Saturday heading for work at noon. The accident occurred close to her home, colliding with a car driven by 17-year-old Taylor Mortensen. His car struck Emily's car at the driver's door as she pulled away from a stop sign.

Mortensen is still in the hospital.

Emily, a twin, seemed like a blast to be around, and her friends still seem in shock by the news. They spent Sunday telling stories about how funny she could be, saying how she could make eating Chipotle burritos graphic and funny.

She had just started her junior year a week earlier.

KANSAS: Sixteen-year-old Dalton Westphal of Carbondale died in a one-car rollover accident Saturday evening. He was a junior at Shawnee Heights High School, and was the only person in the car. Police say the accident is under investigation.

UPDATE: Dalton's obituary is online through the funeral home.  Dalton was an honors student, played soccer, tennis and baseball, and was smart enough to figure out how to fix his new iPod when it stopped working. He liked to play pranks on his sister, and apparently spent a good amount of time laughing.

CALIFORNIA: An 18-year-old Bakersfield man was killed when he crashed into a brick wall on Snow Road. Police say  they're unsure of what caused John Jenkins to lose control of his SUV.

UPDATE: Jenkins' obituary is online, and shows him to be bit of a teddy bear. He loved video games and computers, and spent a lot of time offroading. Known as Jon-Jon to his family and "Tiny" to his friends, Jenkins was willing to help out anyone in need, the obituary says.

NORTH DAKOTA: A 15-year-old driver with his learner's permit lost control of the car he was driving on August 22, and struck and killed a woman who was on the sidewalk.

According to this story in the Jamestown Sun, 60-year-old Christie Morgan was sitting on a folding chair outside the Blockbuster Video in Jamestown. She was selling videos when she was struck.

The driver and a 19-year-old licensed passenger were not identified by police.