Teenagers Are Not Invincible!!!

It’s a tragedy anytime someone is seriously injured or dies in an auto accident. Having said that, I am particularly focused today on a horrific accident that occurred early Tuesday morning in south Overland Park, Kansas at 151st and Glenwood in which two high school seniors from Olathe South High School were killed and a third teenager was seriously injured. Here two young lives ended senselessly and a third life has been dramatically altered.

My focus on this accident may be because I am very familiar with where the accident occurred, the fact that two high school seniors were killed during spring break or that a similar senseless event involving high school athletes on their way to a softball game occurred not far from there a few years ago. Whatever the reason, I cannot get this tragedy out of my mind.

The facts of the accident as we know them at this time are unbelievably dramatic. At approximately 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the car carrying the teenagers was traveling at a high rate of speed eastbound on 151st Street. A couple of blocks east of Metcalf, the driver lost control of his car and it appears to have veered across 151st Street, and hit the north curb. The car then sheared off a telephone pole, went airborne and hit the corner of a house, all before overturning and bursting into flames.

A witness to the crash amazingly was able to pull the driver from the burning wreckage and himself sustained significant burns.

Speed obviously was a factor and as of yet it is unknown whether alcohol or drugs were involved. Internet comments to the news story have suggested that alcohol was a factor and that the driver may have been attempting to elude the police. Regardless of the facts, WHAT A SENSELESS TRAGEDY!!!

Yes, events like this happen every day. So much so that we seem to have become calloused to the effect they have on the lives of those involved. These families are suffering an immeasurable loss. The heartache will never go away. Should the young driver survive, his life course will be dramatically altered. What then can be done?

At the risk of sounding old, our teenagers need to read the news stories and see the related photos/video. Whether they consciously think it, teenagers act as if they are invincible. We need to keep reminding them that they are not! Maybe it will help prevent another senseless accident.