For the second time this year there’s been a fatal crash in the town of Clarence. While this one didn’t involve a commercial airliner—gratefully—a minivan and a Nissan Sentra colliding at Stickler and County roads led to the untimely death of four teenagers. All were passengers, along with driver, Viktor Shaprio in the Nissan. The van’s occupants were hospitalized with injuries, but are expected to be ok.
What gets me about this story is the fact that Shaprio had numerous traffic violations against him yet a slew of bureaucratic maladies that led to his license being in good standing at the time of the crash earlier this week.
In fact, Shapiro was known for driving recklessly and for being unaffected by speeding tickets, license suspensions, and violation points. The night he t-boned the minivan at Stickler and County, police report he was doing 90mph.
People can say teenagers have the invincibility mindset all they want. How is one not affected by the stories just like Shapiro’s that fill the headlines? Of course it can happen to you…it happens all the time, sadly. It’s terrifying that teenagers can be so stupid behind the wheel of a 3000+ pound machine of steel.
On several occasions I had the unfortunate privilege of being in the passenger seat while a reckless friend was at the wheel. Whether it was testing the limits of dad’s Oldsmobile, showing off the hot turbocharged sports car, or driving way too fast in snow, I’ve clawed the door handles plenty of times while friends flirted with triple digits on the speedometer. Gratefully, nothing ever happened. (Except smoke coming out of the valve cover one time.) But I was scared during all those occasions; I knew I was far from invincible.
I always understood the potential consequences if I was not a careful, defensive driver, but that didn’t spare me from having one accident. Since April 12, 2004, the accident has been expunged from my record (saves me a bundle on my car insurance!). But I’ll never forget that awful day. I could have been responsible for someone being killed or maimed. The only thing crippled were three GM vehicles (my Honda, the cause of the wreck, wasn’t actually hit).
Once I finally mustered the courage to drive again, I dare say I’ve never been the same. Recklessness, inattention, texting at the wheel—none of these were the cause of my wreck, but rather inexperience and indecision was to blame. I’ll spare the details, but every time I come to a two-way stop where cross traffic has the right of way, I look, look, look again and proceed ever so cautiously.
As much as I like to feel the handling prowess of my AWD, sport-tuned suspension Subaru Legacy, I also am reminded of pedestrians, deer, and other unwelcome obstructions that clutter the roadways. Besides, the car only has 170HP and a 0-60 time near double digits; it’s not exactly what sports cars are made of…
I guess my point is, I don’t understand why young drivers especially tend to be so stupid and reckless. The news is full of examples of what happens, and yet young people never learn. I don’t know if tougher licensing laws are the answer or not. In New York, teenagers have to take prelicensing courses and watch graphic videos of what happens when you drink and drive, speed recklessly, etc. Every day it seems there’s another real-world example, but some people never learn…it’s like they won’t be stopped, unless it’s by a minivan innocently crossing an intersection.
click here to see photos and news coverage of the crash
No comments:
Post a Comment