Fatal "Car Surfing" Accident Serves as a Grim Warning about High Risk Recreational Activity
If you are a parent of a teenager, you may experience fears about your kids caving under peer pressure and engaging in high risk activity like drinking and driving, experimentation with drugs or other high risk behavior. A recent tragedy involving a teenage girl from Dawsonville, which is approximately twenty miles from Atlanta, provides a stern warning about a risky adrenaline oriented activity. The Georgia State Patrol has indicated Anna Hawkins was “car surfing” on the hood of an SUV after the teen driver operating the vehicle lost control of the SUV and crashed into an embankment according to a report on FoxNews.com. Our Atlanta personal injury attorneys at Montlick and Associates extend our deepest condolences to the teenager’s family.
“Car surfing” involves standing on the hood, trunk or roof of a vehicle and trying to maintain one’s balance while the vehicle is in motion just like the term implies. The Fox report indicates that the girl would have been a junior at Dawson County High School and also was a star on the school’s soccer team. While car surfing can hardly be considered a safe activity under any conditions, the Fox report also indicated that the vehicle was speeding as the teenager attempted to remain standing on the hood of the SUV.
While most adults probably recognize that car surfing is a dangerous activity that should be avoided at all times, teenagers may be less familiar with the dangers associated with vehicle ejection type injuries. When a car, truck or SUV is traveling at 30 to 40 miles per hour on a residential street, the force of impact when the driver falls off the vehicle and strikes the roadway can cause traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, cracked vertebras, hemorrhaging, broken necks, facial injuries and other serious injuries that necessitate long periods of rehabilitation, enormous medical bills and devastating pain and suffering. It may be less obvious that even at slower speeds in parking lots, a person who is hurdled onto the pavement while trying to balance on the exterior of a car may suffer severe injuries.
One issue that arises in this situation involves assessing liability for the enormous financial costs associated with serious injuries or wrongful death suffered while car surfing. Even if the person who is injured or killed voluntarily choses to engage in the activity, the driver of the vehicle may be primarily or solely responsible. The driver may be liable even if the driver’s operation of the vehicle complies with safe driving practices and traffic safety laws.
If you or someone you love is injured in a car accident, our Georgia motor vehicle accident attorneys at Montlick and Associates are available to provide effective legal representation to those throughout all of Georgia and the Southeast, including all smaller cities and rural areas in the state.
No matter where you are located, our attorneys are just a phone call away, and we will even come to you. Call us 24 hours a day/7 days a week for your Free Consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333).
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