Car Surfing and Snapchat Accident Ends in Tragedy
Over the last several months we have read about more and more car accidents related to Snapchat and teenagers acting inappropriately while behind the wheel of a vehicle or while riding as a passenger. On September 24th, 2015 15-year-old YULA Girls High School student Tsofia Mesica lost her life in a “car surfing” accident. Car surfing is when a passenger of a vehicle has part or all of their body out of the vehicle while it is in motion. We have seen this on movies and in TV shows over the years but it is nothing that should be done by the common passenger; for obvious reasons.
Prior to the time of the accident Tsofia and some of her friends had been Snapchatting. This is becoming all too common. What was once labeled “do it for the Instagram” is now becoming “do it for the Snapchat”. More and more teenagers are partaking in very unsafe activities as they video with their smartphone. The risks are getting more severe as the ante is being upped with each activity. Before we know it we will see Snapchat videos of individual jumping off waterfalls and riding motorcycles. In fact, it is likely already happening.
Oklahoma City car accident lawyer John Mac Hayes has an entire section on his website about using Snapchat, Twitter or Facebook while behind the wheel of a vehicle. While no driver should use a social media app while driving it is now the case that we must inform teenagers and young adults that they should not use Snapchat while in the vehicle as a driver or passenger.
The investigation is ongoing. “This group of young people were socializing. At that point there was a Honda SUV … being driven by a male,”Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Valley Traffic Detective Bill Bustos said. The LAPD official did not identify the driver, because he is a juvenile and had not been charged with a crime. “Something happened, the car impacted the girl. The actual specificity of how that developed is still being investigated. Suffice it to say the girl suffered serious injuries. We are trying to find out, specifically, if the girl was impacted by the vehicle or fell off the vehicle.”
As we learn more about this story we will keep you updated. If you have a son or daughter that uses the Snapchat app quite often there is a good chance they use it while driving. Make it a point to explain the dangers of using such an app while driving or riding passenger in a moving vehicle. As Snapchat gains in popularity we are likely to hear more stories related to this topic.
