Tragic accident

[Charlene]

I heard of a tragic accident this weekend where a 13 yr. old boy was run over by a 12yr old boy at a motorcross event at the Indy raceway. I am torn by this as I know he was a very skilled rider and he loved the sport, but perhaps that age is just a little young. People are pushing to raise the age to acquire a drivers license as the brain of the young adult is not fully developed and it is difficult for them to handle the complex skills required during driving. In the sport the boy died in they frequently hit speeds much faster than any driver normally does. What are your opinions on this?

[deb60]

I think it's terribly sad! These kids train for years and they should know how to handle every situation, or they should not be put in these situations. I wouldn't let me daughter or son go out and do this.

[WalkingMan]

That is horrible. I hadn't heard about that. My grandson got his license when he was 17 but he still isn't able to drive without us worrying. He has had three accidents in the last three years. The first one he rolled his car and broke a vertebra in his back. He had to spend last summer in a back brace and I thought he had learned his lesson but the other day he rear-ended someone in town. I really would love to see the driving age raised to at least 19 with maybe the permit stage lasting 2 years with supervision. I know that wouldn't be a popular view but I have seen too many of these little incidents lately. There was a girl who was blown out of her car when she tried to change from the driver's seat into the passenger and her passenger was trying to get in the driver's seat. The bad thing about it was they were in a T-top and she was picked up by the wind because they were going at least the speed limit and landed on the road. It killed her instantly.

[Bruen]

I saw the coverage on that accident over the weekend. I don't think children should be allowed to race in those tournaments. They said they hit speeds of over 100 mph regularly. That's just plain nuts....for anyone, let alone children.

[HappyFeet]

Sports like this are for adults and for teens however skillful they maybe. Organizers shouldn't wait for such tragedies before they would disallow youngsters to join such competitions.

[DThewanderer]

I used to think it was a great sport for a young person to get in to but now I think differently. I think this sport is far to dangerous for such young people to be involved in. I hope someone realizes this and keeps young people out of those competitions.