Troopers: Texting Wash. driver nearly lost his head in crash
ABERDEEN, Wash. -- A teen suspected of texting and talking on a cell phone while driving escaped with only minor injuries when he crashed, causing a fence post to spear his windshield.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Russ Winger said the teen was eastbound on Highway 12 near Aberdeen Lake Road on Saturday when other drivers reported seeing him texting and talking on the phone while driving erratically.
The 18-year-old driver made a U-turn a short time later and then crashed off the side of the highway and into a fence.
A piece of the fence smashed through pickup truck's windshield and "nearly took his head off," Winger said of the driver.
The teen suffered only facial lacerations and was taken to a nearby hospital to be checked out.
(Photo: Washington State Patrol)
Great reporting. Don't look like no fence post to me, looks more like a fence rail. Wise up and think about what you're going to say before you report it.
A new slogan, 'Is that Text really worth "Losing your Head" over`
anyone useing a phone whill driving should be takin off the road so as not to put outhers in danger of not getting home alive we have enought on our minds wiht out having cell phon users putting our lives at risk
The sad part of this is that too many people who are just out doing errands etc.have been killed or injured by people who know the law but ignore it and then have to live with the knowledge that they took the lives of someone,like maybe a family of 4 or more? These people are eventually called " Statistics" Whenever I see a motorcycle or car driving too fast or erratically,I look at my wife and say....There goes another STATISTIC!!
I posted this before but its worth repeating. I was rear ende by a woman on a way to her new job. She was on the cell. Long story short.........she totaled her car, lost the job and now can't get insured. Dunno why but I felt sorry for her. Pay attention for Christ"s sake. The losses can be huge.....financially and mortally.
@Rob ......it would be nice if people didn't use Christ in their post. The name is respected by more than 1.5 Billion people. People, can't we be more sensitive and polite in our postings? Thank you!!
You can stand on any street corner and count the number of people still talking or texting on the phone when they are driving. I stood one time on a busy street in our town and counted twenty people talking and drivingin lest then ten miuntes. Police don't stop and ticket them because they know they are just as guilty at doing it themsevles. So what is this law about anyway? Have you done it yourself? It will notstop until they fid a way to block you phone when yo are driving your car.
Holy moly! Hope this kid gets this wake up call.
No great loss if he had lost his head! Darwin Award candidate!
words escape me on your comment, JPK...............
This is a classic example of what texting and talkling on phones will do. Perhaps he needs to be given community serivice as part of his sentence and discuss it with classes of kids and why one shouldn't have been doing what he did.I would wager his insurance co(if he even has any) will drop him in a nano second.He was lucky this time. Hopefully he won't do it again.
This is obama and the lefty fault,Today he was trying to take control of the internet,and you people think he is a god.
@tpc4545 ......time to put down the drugs, pick up a book and try and educate yourself. Apparently your parents failed.
 @tpc4545Â
Â
Huh!?!
Get real and get a life. Try blaming the person most responsible..the driver
Better off that he loose his head than the head of some other innocent driver because he was driving and texting. They should just nail drivers who text by throwing them in jail and taking away their license. While at, throw the person who was texting the driver in jail as well if s/he knew they were texting a driver. I'm sick of the irresponsibility and just plain selfishness of people in society today who only think about themselves.
@peckishpete
actually there was a case recently that held the other texter liable but it didn't fly.Too bad.
Yes, the laws should be a lot stricter for those moronic enough to do stupid things while driving.And LE should be enforcing the laws more than they are.They seem to have a blind eye when out on patrol.It could also bring in some revenue(from the price of the tickets)...Maybe make it an incentative among LE to whomever writes the most tickets gets................
Â
Â
@peckishpete "lose" his head.
It is well passed the time texting while driving should get a person the same punishment that drinking and driving gets you.
Â
Sure, some people can text and drive just fine...Guess what, some people can drink and drive above the legal limit just fine too.
Â
All in all though, both are extremely dangerous, not just to the driver, but to others as well.
Â
Let's get harder on the distracted drivers. I think it has been shown that texting while driving is actually more dangerous than drinking and driving. Time for some harsh laws if people aren't going to get a frickin clue.
At 18, this 'kid' probably sees this narrow escape from death as proof that he really *is* invincible!
@Gravity Works!
he's also felony stupid........
It is a shame the idiot didn't eat that lumber. Too many of these idiots are out there injuring innocent people who do have some common sense (all though what use to be common is becoming more uncommon). Unless people start acting rationally with their cell phones we will end up with laws that block cell phone use electronically anytime a vehcile is moving. Those that think they need to be glued to a cell phone 24/7 need to grow up, get a life, and get a brain.Â
@I812
actually if he had been paralyzed, it might have been a more powerful impact on his young life and he would have to live with the consequences of his actions.
@Mazda84 If he had been paralyzed he probably would have ended up as another burden on the taxpayers. Given the fact that he doesn't appear to have much of a brain that may be the case anyway. Any idiot that can't figure out it is dangerous to text while driving based on the reported weaving isn't likely to stop doing it while still breathing. I don't wish serious harm or death to this idiot but I certainly don't want him destroying the lives of innocent people. At the very least they should make it financially infeasible for him to drive for a significant period of time.
Remove his thumbs. Problem solved.
Hey, "thumbs up" for that one..love it
LOL
Well of course his first response was....
OMG OMG WTHÂ Â ....
It is time that our officers ENFORCED this law...
Stand any intersection and watch for five minutes.
You will see far too many people talking while driving.
Texting is a little tougher to spot, but we have to get their attention somehow.
Great minds think alike..I have said that for so-o-o long now....
 @Pissed0ffPirateÂ
It seems traffic violations are the last thing PPD would want to enforce. I saw a PPD officer in a marked car nearly get hit by a car running a red light and he never even appears to pick up his radio to tell a traffic cop to go find them.
Â
That was the second time in a week I saw a near miss from a marked PPD car and a citizen running a red light.
Â
Yet when they get bored (read:need revenue or are looking to prove a point), they will craft some retarded "sting" and pull over and ticket everyone going 5 miles an hour over or more (Powell and Ross Island 40 in a 35 at 9:00pm on a Wednesday). But got forbid they hit the lights and tell a dude standing in the street to move along or to not jaywalk.
Â
We have tons of laws, many of them are good ones and need to be enforced. It would be nice if all law enforcement agencies thought so as well.
It's all about the paperwork and being too lazy to pull someone over.If more tickets were written, it might send a message and even more so, if the laws were more stringent, it would help.Maybe some saturation's on these at particular places would help.How about a contest among law enforcement as to how many each agency can write ?
 @Repoman There shouldn't have to be a financial feasibility study to determine if they want to enforce a law or not. :-)
If they want to fight for more funding, then enforce the laws and show us the demand.
 @Pissed0ffPirate It's time people started using some COMMON SENSE. We shouldn't need laws like this.
John Q Public---EXCEPT common sense doesn't seem to factor into most peoples thinking so that's why they created laws and people still abuse them..........
@JohnQ.Public .........COMMON SENSE is no longer common !!
@JohnQ.Public @Pissed0ffPirate  I agree that we shouldn't need laws like this, but since so few out there know what common sense is, the laws should be enforced and many tickets written. The problem with our laws is that they are seldom enforced leaving those lacking any sense whatsoever the belief that the laws don't apply to them. If people were actually cited for breaking the laws, fewer people would do so. The old "slap on the wrist" means nothing these days.
Common sense, needs to be re-termed as so few are willing to display that they have it.
Close but no cigar.
He was lucky this time, other drivers are also lucky he did not kill some innocent person. It is too bad that he was so lucky actually. He will not learn. Some people fully believe they are outside the laws.
His parents should not allow him to drive again either. Not one of their vehicles that is.
I see it all the time, people are either dozing at the wheel with their eyes open, admiring their laps, or texting. No other reason to have their eyes looking so far below the top of the steering wheel.
Â
@Just Lookin What is it in this story that leads you to believe this young man "will not learn"? If you are human, you have had the experience of a close call at some point and on some level. They are wake up calls. This one was especially dramatic. Since this young man is the product of a truly miraculous number of generations of people who survived long enough to reproduce, I would say he has a good chance of learning from this and perhaps making an exceptional difference in the lives of others.
@MizBee No. After he cleans his underwear, he'll do it again somewhere down the road.
Mizbee, from watching many many drivers texting, yakking on the cell phone, speeding or tailgating, I doubt this kid will learn. If he does then good. He was lucky...this time. If he does not change his ways...who will he kill? Himself or innocent people?
Bluetooth-talk not text
I drove from PDX to Silver Falls and back yesterday and I swear half the people were on cell phones. Even one hippie in a VW van was on one. Made me SO angry that these people who are "upright citizens" would put so many at risk let alone themselves over a stupid few words.Â
Â
I think the fines should be tripled and cops all over Oregon spend a week stopping everyone.
Â
I have almost been hit by cars walking across the street and they are not even looking up but down at cell phones. IDIOTS!!!!
 @MagicMoose I agree. Try to cross the street, even at an intersection, and you are putting your life on the line.Â
But I couldn't pass on one statement you made. "...hit by cars walking across the street...". In my area cars rarely walk across the street. Sorry, couldn't pass it up.
LOL... I caught that "...cars walking across the street...", too.. and up popped a memtal cartoon-type image of a car ambling across an intersection, little headlights, like eyes, angled down towards the cell phone propped on the bumper..! Â
Â
Thanks, MagicMoose, for a good Monday laugh..loved it!  :-)
 @Nobody OH! hahahaha, I should've written that better.
WEll what can be said about this. The kid is stupid to think he can multi-task while driving. This should be a good sign to others but it will not be. Drivers will still text, talk on cell phones and do whatever else they want because they feel they are very good multi-taskers.Â
I'm quite confident this person will be doing the same thing again in a month or two after they get a new vehicle.