“Ghost riding” teen gets run over by her own SUV
Oh, the things that teens do to be cool.
A California girl tried a stunt called “ghost-riding the whip,” which involves standing on the footstep of the driver’s side while the vehicle is moving and music is playing. Unfortunately, the 17-year-old lost her balance, fell, and had her legs run over by her Chevrolet Blazer.
The accident occurred on Tuesday near a Brentwood, Calif., park where more responsible kids were playing a baseball game, KTVU News reported. Police said that the girl was dragged a short distance before she completely lost her grip on the car. She was badly injured, but should survive, authorities said.
One teenager explained the appeal of ghost riding to reporters: “It’s fun. You record it and put it on YouTube. We’re teenagers. We just kind of act upon what we think for the first thought.”
Read about other stupid teenage tricks with cars here.
Teen nearly dies after jumping out of moving car on dare
The 17-year-old boy was in critical condition after jumping from a Dodge Durango. The incident happened as part of a scavenger hunt in a Chicago suburb on Friday night, the St. charles Sun reported. The boy’s name was not released publicly.
Jumping from a car moving at 25 mph was one of the tasks in the scavenger hunt. About 75 teenagers participated in the game, which is an annual tradition for St. Charles North High School students, but is not sanctioned or organized by school officials. Previous dares have been less dangerous, such as chugging maple syrup and getting kicked in the groin by a stranger.
At least some of the kids realized the car dare was not cool, authorities said. The teens in the Durango planned to take a photo of the speedometer at 25 mph and then slow down the car before jumping. The teen who was injured apparently either didn’t hear the plan or didn’t agree with it. He jumped without telling anyone.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived, the boy was laying in the center of the road. He was unconscious and a pool of blood formed under his head. A few students fled the scene.
Doing stupid things in or on cars is not uncommon among teens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned against several trends: car surfing (hanging onto the outside of vehicles), ghost riding (drivers exiting a moving car) and dancing next to speeding cars.
Photo by Rubin 110
Surfin’ USA
As if there aren’t enough ways to die while inside a car, teenagers sometimes take to hanging on to the outside of vehicles in a risky maneuver known as car surfing.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control evaluated 18 years of newspaper reports about car surfing stunts gone terribly wrong. They found 99 incidents, more than half of which were fatal. The accidents occurred at speeds as low as 5 miles an hour, with the average age of those injured or killed 17.6. It will come as no surprise that most were male.
The CDC report excluded hazardous activities that are similar to car surfing, including ghost riding (a driver exiting a moving car) and dancing next to a moving vehicle. The report was released in conjunction with National Teen Safe Driving Week, which is this week.
Photo by mochinbach
