Thankful Today...

14 yr old daughter has been driving on a school permit since last oct. w/out a problem...till yesterday. A quarter mile from home on her way to school, met a car hogging the middle of the gravel road. She slowed and moved right. Coming back to the left she fishtailed and took the ditch to the left. Hit an eight inch tree, bowed it down enough to drive up it about ten feet before tumbling down the ditch sideways 3.5 times. Came to a rest upside down, hanging from her seatbelt, top crushed down pretty good. Took her fifteen minutes to get out a rear window. Someone, possibly the driver that met her, called 911. Multiple cars went by while she was trapped and honking the horn, nobody stopped to give aid. Not a scratch on her. Walked her through Army risk avoidance steps, she came to the right conclusion that she'll drive for the other guy next time, respect and understand what Dad means when he says, "gravel will bite you",and SLOW DOWN now means 5-10, not 20-30. We kept her at home a couple hours to make sure adrenalin wasn't hiding an injury, then she demanded to go to school so she could play varsity volleyball last night. Oh, to be young again. I told my wife I was stopping at the tow yard on the way to work that afternoon, she told me not to come home without the charm pinned to the driver's visor. Looking at the wreck alone I let myself get upset, then reached through what remained of the driver's side window and felt for the charm I'd never seen. It was an Angel. My wife had bought one for our oldest daughter when she started driving two years ago, and another last October. The words on the charm? "NEVER DRIVE FASTER THAN YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL CAN FLY".

Glad it turned out O.K. with no injuries. Kind of like the CC commercial -- Car -- few thousand bucks -- Daughter -- PRICELESS!!!

Now, let's see how long she remembers it.....

Thank God and seatbelts she is uninjured. A friend of mine lost his 17 year old daughter in a similar accident as she was not wearing her seatbelt, was thrown from the car and crushed when it flipped.
Give all your kids a hug! And a belt!

Used to be IA Dave,

Awesome that she is ok!

Bet she will never forget it. I did similar when I was in high school - hit a bridge. Walked away unscathed. NEVER again drove too fast on gravel... life-long, deep respect for the stuff.

Very glad she is ok.

Very happy she is ok. We were all young once, and all learn a few hard lessons. She learned a very valuable lesson that didnt cost a thing (no injuries), the car can be replaced.

I know the vehicle climbed a tree first, but to roll 3 1/2 times, I would estimate her speed closer to 75mph. A rollover scrubs off a lot of speed very quickly. I think you would get a good 1 to 1 1/2 times at 25mph, coming off the tree like she did. If she was spinning, a little less speed would get you around a few times. Loose gravel is like driving on marbles, then if there are a few washboard bumps, its all over, if your speed is too high.

I can't believe no one stopped, yet one of them had to call 911. I think your right, the original driver crowding, probably watched it in his rearview mirror, then was too embarrassed to stop, thinking he contributed to it by crowding. In our state, the 911 records are public, not sure they list the callers ID, might be worth looking at.

I bet she learned more in those 2 seconds than the last so many years you have been talking to her. My oldest one is in the stage that she thinks we don't know a thing. But, I was there too when I was that age.

Rick

I have to agree with Rick. She was going pretty fast to crash that hard. Thank God she had her seat belt on. My roads are so dusty that if two cars met going pretty fast the dust may be so thick they may not see the other crash behind them. Hope that someone would have stopped to render aid though.

My neice, at a very young driving age, slid a long ways sideways, went in the ditch and rolled once. Rung her bell a little but walked away fine. She said she was going slow. Evidence and the deputy said otherwise.

Right now a semi meeting a semi on a gravel road puts up such a dust cloud that you cannot see a thing after meeting. Just have to slow down!!!

I did remember how steep some of those IA ditches are, as are some around me. If it was steep enough 3.5 rolls may have been from gravity and slope, not very high speeds. If it was on flat ground, then she was driving pretty fast.

I remember in Southeast Iowa about 1970 everyone drove 70 on the gravel roads. I was told they put something from the paper mills on the roads. They seemed as smooth as the highways, but you could see someone coming for miles because of the dust cloud. I guess I'm lucky to still be alive.

I am sure glad she wasn"t hurt. As you described the incident, it seems really scary.

Kids don"t have the best judgment, and I question the idea of a 14 year old driving. Years ago there were farm permits that allowed young drivers to help with harvest in my state, but I don"t think there was ever any way that a 14 year old could legally drive to school. In the last few years my state has added a BUNCH of new rules that control the hours a new driver can drive (at 16) and who they can give rides to.

My guess is that there is more to the story than what your daughter has told you. I also would guess that she was going WAY too fast on the gravel. Hopefully she has learned something.

If she was my child, I would not let her drive for a while. There probably is a school bus available. She needs to KNOW that the accident is a BIG THING.

My oldest stepdaughter used poor judgment driving when she was in high school. In one incident I could see her tracks on a gravel road where she had actually been up on two wheels for about 50 feet. She didn"t roll the car, but both tires on that side came off the rims and went flat, so she had to call me. I also got complaints about her driving fast and squirreling around the area from neighbors. She was punished in various ways, including losing her driver"s license for months. The only thing that really seemed to impress her was when I told her that if I got one more complaint from a neighbor, her driver"s license and the keys to the car she bought would reside in my pocket until she turned 18 AND moved out of my house.

I learned from my experiences with Patti. I chose the cars that our other children drove, and I really never had much trouble with the other 4. They all had little scrapes with the not-too-valuable and not very fast cars I allowed them to drive. But no more excited and angry calls from neighbors.

Good luck with your daughter, and DO be thankful that it wasn"t much worse. But I hope you can impress on her that it IS a BIG DEAL that could have been the worst day of your life...and hers. Nothing can replace a lost child.

Good news she is OK, we have lost several girls here in Eastern Iowa the last couple of years. They have not been wearing seat belts.

Dave I really am gald that your daughter is ok.

I too question both the states wisdom and yours for letting a 14 year old drive. Most 14 year old kids don't have the judgment to handle all situations behind the wheel.

Risk Managment???? What you were taught in the Army was really designed you teach you how to send others out to complete a mission with minumum losses and deciding who was most expendable. (they didn't use those words but that's waht it was).


Risk Assessment was also combat leadership oriented. Supposed to help you decide if you had the people/equipment/training to complete a mission of if you should inform higher that you need additional assets or decide if the mission is important enough to risk it so other may complete their task.

Rick

so glad to hear shes ok. My daughter is 19 and is just starting to drive, she has her license ,but doesnt want to drive much