The parents of two sons who died in a horrific car crash released a video capturing their final moments.
Friends Kyle Careford, 20, and Michael Owen, 21, died instantaneously after they were driving at speeds of 90 mph. Their car crashed into a church wall last April. The footage was released months later.
“I really don’t know why the boys chose to do what they did, but I blame them both for the decisions they made on this night,” she continued. “If all this stops one person from making the same mistake, then some good has come from showing this video. I’m hoping it will have an impact on young people and make them see that a bit of fun can have such devastating consequences.”
The two were reportedly on a cocktail of drugs when they were driving.
She added that for her, “Watching the video was very upsetting, but I’m hoping it can be used in a positive way, by showing young people what could happen to them.”
In the clip, Michael appears to be worried about the speed, saying, “Slow down” and “slow down Bruv, we are doing 90.”
The camera then goes dark and the sounds of the crash are heard.
Later, a woman is heard saying “can you hear me” and “is anyone alive” in the video. They both died at the scene, according to The Mirror.
Friend Tyler Scales said: “My deepest sympathy and thoughts go out to all those who have loved and lost.”
Drivers Young and Old Taking More Risks
Well over half of drivers in every age group have texted behind the wheel, run a red light or driven faster than the speed limit in the last 30 days, according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, according to The Associated Press.Younger drivers are the worst offenders. Eighty-eight percent of drivers ages 19 to 24 admitted to at least one of those behaviors. But even mature drivers skirted the rules more often researchers expected. For instance, 10 percent of drivers between 60 and 74 have texted or sent email from behind the wheel, while 37 percent of drivers over 75 said they’d driven through a light that had just turned red.
“It was a surprise that there were relatively high rates of these behaviors among the drivers we think of as safer,” said Lindsay Arnold, a research associate with the AAA Foundation.
The rise in traffic deaths “points to the need to improve driver behavior if we’re going to reverse this alarming trend,” Arnold said.
The study questioned 2,511 licensed drivers aged 16 and over.
- The youngest drivers—those ages 16 to 18—were less likely to engage in speeding, running red lights, or texting while driving than drivers in their 20s through 50s.
- Eighty-three percent of drivers—and 86.5 percent of drivers 75 or older—said they were more careful than other drivers on the road.
- Just over half of drivers feel seriously threatened by drivers talking on cellphones, but 68 percent made a call while driving in the last 30 day
- Drivers ages 40-59 were the most likely to use a hands-free phone in the car. Drivers ages 16-18 and 75 or older were the most likely to hold their phones and talk while driving.
- Twenty-three percent of drivers—and 36 percent of those ages 19 to 24—think it’s acceptable to drive 15 mph over the speed limit on a freeway. Forty-six percent of drivers say they have driven that fast on a freeway in the last 30 days.
