Dad Lets 10 Year Old Drive - Car Goes Airborn - Dad Seriously Injured

[matcom]

<snip>

A 10-year-old boy apparently learning to drive along the Santa Cruz River ran a car into a concrete ditch Tuesday afternoon, seriously injuring his father, police said.

The 30-year-old father was teaching his son to drive on a dirt road used as a utility easement on the west bank of the Santa Cruz, said Officer Michelle Pickrom.

The boy was driving the 1993 two-door Toyota Tercel south of West Irvington Road when the car came upon a ditch he wasn't aware was there.

The car became airborne and hit the north bank of the concrete wash, Pickrom said.

The father sustained life-threatening injuries.

Detectives said they believe the father wasn't wearing a seat belt because his injuries were consistent with hitting the windshield, Pickrom said.

The boy sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries, Pickrom said.

The boy and his father were not identified Tuesday, pending notification of family members.

http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/metro/48522.php

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Oh dear. Hugs and prayers for that family.. and a little

common sense too.

-----------------------------------
Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/

[Occulus]

4. If you're going to teach your kid to drive before they're 15/16/17/whateve

Please, please, do a couple things:

Find a nice big parking lot if you can use one (hint: most businesses and police would probably take this badly);

use a big flat open field, and/or

cut a 4x4 wood post to a couple inches long and mount it under the gas pedal to act as a "governor" of sorts.

Oh, and always show your kid the right things, such as always putting on a seatbelt if the car will be moving.

My father did basically what this guy did (except for the getting into a wreck part), and it helped to familiarize me with vehicles in general. Of course, we had access to a big open field so it wasn't a problem, and we always wore our belts wherever we went.

Common sense, indeed. The actual teaching of driving to the kid wasn't the lack of common sense, it was the failure to ensure that minimal precautions were taken. Poor man, poor kid. His son will have a major driving complex if his dad dies because of this.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Yep. I live in the country. Lots of kids learned to drive really young

here.

-----------------------------------
Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/

[benburch]

2. ouch.

A Tercel was not a car I would have wanted to hit a concrete wall in...

[underpants]

3. YeeeeeeeHAW!

[rbnyc]

6. This is really sad. :( (nt)

[rocktivity]

7. He probably wasn't sitting high enough up in seat to see the ditch.

Sigh...

:shrug:
rocknation

[HEyHEY]

8. Same thing happened to me once

I was 11 and mom let me drive, when I got to the top of the drive way (In B.C. we mostly have very steep driveways) I had a foot on the brake, and one of the gas...I was pitching out the engine and my mom says "Hey, take your foot off the brake."

I did and the car took-off, we got air off the end of the driveway and then smashed into the end of the garage....the bansaw never recovered

[skygazer]

9. When my brother was ten years old

My dad had him drive home from a friends house that was at least 50 miles away, over a mountain late at night because my dad was too drunk to drive.

Luckily, my brother made it home with no trouble (he'd learned to drive at about 8 - we lived in the country and Vermont roads have little traffic) though my mom was absolutely livid.

Idiots. My father is still an idiot...

[Rambis]

10. Natural selection

It is like watching my pug neighbor take his 2 year old son on the riding mower once a week. STUPID!

[Downtown Hound]

11. I'm guessing dad won't be doing that again anytime soon...

[Arkana]

12. "The only item recovered from the crash was a 'Libruls suck' sticker."

[Endangered Specie]

13. I believe that is an "Honorable Mention"