Teens and Parents

There was an accident involving a son of one of my friends. He WAS 18 and riding one of the fastest production bikes available. It was bought for him as a graduation present.

Last week he was doing 80 in a 35 and ran into the back of a pickup that was turning. He did have a helmet on,,,,,but his head was nothing but mush after the impact. He died shortly afterwards at the hospital.

Now my bud is hating himself for buying more of a machine than his son could handle. Yep,,,I agree with that. I just can't understand why parents want to buy a status symbol for their teens that do not have the experience to operate them.

At least Ohio is trying to curb the accident rate. Now only one non-family member can ride in the car that is a teen. No teen can operate a motor vehicle with other teens in it. With this new law, insurance rates are dropping.

I think the next should be a limit on the amount of horsepower of the vehicle that they are driving. I was a teen once like everyone else and I know when I was away from mom and pop,,,,,,all their rules was out the window. I was lucky that all the dumb stupid things I did,,,,,,,,I survived unlike many others.

My suggestion is,,,,,if you love your teen,,,,,Don't buy them something that they will kill themselves in. I would almost call that child endangering when they do. Please think about this when your in the process of buying your teen some transportation.

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Amen! My sympathies to the family. That father is going to need counseling. I hope he seeks it.

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SS I feel for ya. A kid I work with just turned 19 and bought himself a GSXR-750. By no means the fastest crotch rocket on the planet (160 top speed) but fast enough. He had it less than a month and wrecked it. He ended up wrecking it 3 times in the past few months and getting a speeding ticket (86 in a 55) before his parents took it from him. Thank God because everybody that knew him knew he wasn't mature enough for that thing.

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I keep telling my son there is a time and a place for everything. That is a parents job to make sure kids know these things.

Those bikes are made to go fast. However, A 35 MPH zone isnt the right place to hit the throttle. He should have known that.

A hammer in the hands of a fool is just as dangerous as a sport bike in the hands of an 18 yr old. Mypoint is, tt isnt the tool that makes is dangerous, it is the operator. He could have done the same thing in a honda scooter.


Ken

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It is a medical fact that kids that age have not developed the impulse control to go along with the raging hormones and the physical attributes of thier bodies. That is why they stupid things. It is not until the early to mid twenties that they have fully developed impulse control and they start becoming responsible adults.

Yep, this was a costly stupid decision on dan and son..

I also have a philosophy that something that nice,should be earned by them and not given. for a number of different reasons.

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After posting this I had to make a run to Akron to pick up some parts. The local station said that there were 5 killed in a car that ran into the back of a dump truck........Driver was a 16 year old girl........So much for a new law. The parent of the driver should be responsible for this one in my opinion for allowing her to break the law.

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SS MAYFLOAT said:

After posting this I had to make a run to Akron to pick up some parts. The local station said that there were 5 killed in a car that ran into the back of a dump truck........Driver was a 16 year old girl........So much for a new law. The parent of the driver should be responsible for this one in my opinion for allowing her to break the law.

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How do you know that they, (the Parents) knew?
This is just more 'nanny Gubmint' stuff.....

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Haut Medoc said:

How do you know that they, (the Parents) knew?
This is just more 'nanny Gubmint' stuff.....

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Look at it this way Haut, if you have a dog and it gets loose and kills someone you are responsible. No matter what precautions you took to keep the dog contained, it doesn't matter. You the owner is responsible. I feel it should be that way with anyones children. Don't forget that the parent (at least in Ohio) must sign to allow its teen to get their license up until they are 18. When the parent signs their signature, that signature puts the liability on them. So therefore they should be responsible.

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SS MAYFLOAT said:

Look at it this way Haut, if you have a dog and it gets loose and kills someone you are responsible. No matter what precautions you took to keep the dog contained, it doesn't matter. You the owner is responsible. I feel it should be that way with anyones children. Don't forget that the parent (at least in Ohio) must sign to allow its teen to get their license up until they are 18. When the parent signs their signature, that signature puts the liability on them. So therefore they should be responsible.

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I disagree.....
That's why people pay insurance to protect from liability.....
It should not be a criminal or civil matter with regards to the parents....
The dog doesn't know any better, because he is a dog & that is his nature.........
A teen is a human being & should be held responsible for their own misdeeds.....
It's kinda like shooting the messenger to me.........

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SS MAYFLOAT said:

Look at it this way Haut, if you have a dog and it gets loose and kills someone you are responsible. No matter what precautions you took to keep the dog contained, it doesn't matter. You the owner is responsible. I feel it should be that way with anyones children. Don't forget that the parent (at least in Ohio) must sign to allow its teen to get their license up until they are 18. When the parent signs their signature, that signature puts the liability on them. So therefore they should be responsible.

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I can't believe it I AGREE WITH ME BRO!! This is a sad story SS Mayfloat, but things do happen in a Country of 300 Million.

Do we need a set of intricate laws designed to coach the dimmest bulbs, (or the young and immature) in our society, and saddle all of us with a huge structure to keep them from their mistakes??

Me Bro said NANNY GOVERNMENT and he is spot on!!! If you cede all yer personal responsibility to Big Government ya need to have a 99% tax on yer income n' all yer assets to cover all of the potential dim wit victims of their own self cornduct. Ya dumb down the laws and make them very intracate so maybe 25% of the curriculum of all public instruction is to keep on top of all those existing laws n' of course all the potential future Nanny state laws. Ya need Nanny State prisons, guards many more police to mind all of our business. N' don't ever complain about all those lobbyists who try to get the Nanny government pointed at you instead of them!!!!! That comes with the territory once ya cede all yer responsibility to BIG GOVERNMENT!!

I do not say this to hurt your feelings about the horrible loss of your friend's son. I have a son and that would hurt me real bad, (in fact I can't think of much worse) if it happened to me. That said: there really is a thing called personal responsibility. We can all be much more prosperous if we accept personal tragedy without creating a whole victimhood industry to keep anchors around the necks of those who do practice the corncept of: PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!! Please do not take offence to what I just said, as it is not indended. Respectfully JR

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Well, I contend that learning how to recognise and respect risk is something modern American children are denied.

Our society is obsessed with eliminating risk and suing the pockets off anyone who exposes us to any risk or even invites us to expose ourselves to risk.

Yes, my generation took stupid risks and many died as a result, but my body carries some diplomas of learning about how immortal I was when doing something stupid got me 3rd degree burns, scrapes, scars and healed fractures rather than a granite pillow. I became less stupid in the process.

I guess that is why I raced cars, jumped out of perfectly good airplanes and swam up to 150' under the waves in the Molokai Channel only after every safety precaution was taken and risk was minimized.

That is like very small exposure to deadly germs can make us largely immune to them. Small exposure to risk with unpleasant but survivable consequences when we are young can make us immune to the temptation to take deadly, unsurvivable risks.

I don't think Dad and Mom are responsible for the teen's stupid act, but they may share society's responsibility for the teen thinking he was immortal.

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Very well said; as usual: JB!! JR

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"I don't think Dad and Mom are responsible for the teen's stupid act, but they may share society's responsibility for the teen thinking he was immortal."




Hey, are you saying, "it takes a village"?







.

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CJY said:

Hey, are you saying, "it takes a village"?

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I think he meant "it takes a Village" to mess it up CJY . . . Nice try

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My friends son was 18. He knows his judgment for awarding his son for great grades was not the best. At 18 you are an adult and your parents are released from being your legal guardian.

I was more upset at the parents of the 16 year old since she is still under the legal care of the parents. I will be watching the news this evening and will try to find out more. I too as many others jump to conclusions without the full story. If all those in the car were immediate family, then she would be legal to transport them.

When I'm out on service calls late at night and see groups of teens out at 3am, it just makes me wonder what kind of parents do these kids have. However what is being said,,,,,,,,,,the parent is not responsible? I'm sorry but I stick to my guns on this point. Anyone under the age of 18 is and always will be the parents responsibility. They should always know what their teen is up to.

Some remember the trouble I had with my son Carl. Yeah he was a rebel, but I knew where he was, who he was with, and sent his rear to the juvenille detention hall when he got out of my control. Carl is now 20, has a decent job and making it on his own. At the time of the problems going on, the police was always there telling me the parent that I'm responsible for his actions.

Another point involving the parents responsibility,,,,,If your teen skips school and is truant,,,,,In Ohio the parent goes to jail.

Yeah, I agee also a dog doesn't know better, but someone driving a vehicle that involves the lives of others on the road SHOULD know better. After all they are or surposed to be a civilized human and understand.

I'm not offended by any negative comments providing it does not contain any name calling.

I'm not asking for any new laws, just wishing parents would take more responsibility of making sure what their teens are doing what is asked of them.

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It is sad

BUT how is the parent NOT at fault for giveing there child something they were not trained to use


It would be like giveing them there first rifle without saftey training


There is a reason there are so many motorcycle saftey schools and more advanced ones for the superbike crowd



Tommays

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Mayfloat - I can't believe you think that the parents of the 16 year old are at fault for the accident woth the dump truck. When I was 16, my parents didn't let me ride with other teens. They felt that two teens together in a car were more likely to get in an accident than two teens in two cars. I think there is a lot of wisdom there.

But you can't assess blame for an accident. The parents of the 16 year old were as much at fault as the parents of the other kids in the car.

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here is the story about the 16 year old girl,,,,,,,,,sad that this had to happen. Speeding, wet pavement, and a stopped vehicle in the road. Not a happy story at all. It wasn't 5 that died and she survived,,,,,,she died at the scene and a boy died at the hospital.
www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

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I think the no other teens law is pure BS. How are you supposed to go on a date?

That bike didn't kill the kid, and neither did the dad. The boy killed hisself. The dad may greive over providing him the means to do so but it could have just as easily been any other "non hot rod" bike he was on. They will all go 85.


I ain't picking a fight with ya but you brought up Carl. Think about other posts you've had with family problems and then tell us how ya feel again about its the parents fault.

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Glad to hear Carl is turning his life around and becoming a responsible citizen.

Sad for your friends son.
A 10 year old Honda Rebel 2 cylinder 450cc may have been a better choice.
But, its done.

By the time I was 18, I had been riding for 11 years, and a 350 was enough bike to get me into trouble.