When it is a little too chilly to head to the beach, teens are finding other ways to surf. Recently, a trend called "car surfing" has replaced the waves in the water. To car surf, teens stand in the open trunk or truck bed of a car while a driver speeds the car up, mimicking the rush that surfers get when they catch a big wave. The adrenaline rush of a dangerous situation like this one attracts youth, who also think that car surfing is a great way to impress their friends. But one teenager named Hannah Huntoon has recently chosen so speak out against car surfing and expose the danger of this sometimes-fatal fad.
Hannah was once a car surfer herself. One day, she was practicing her surfing skills with a couple of friends in the back of a SUV trunk. When something went wrong, she tumbled out of the moving car, receiving a traumatic brain injury that almost cost her life. Like Hannah, other teenagers will use cars as a source of dangerous thrill. Along with car surfing, teens also ghost ride by holding onto a speeding vehicle while on a skateboard or longboard. Some brave adolescents will even stand on top of the car while it moves at breakneck speed.
Huntoon had large portions of her skull removed to allow her brain to swell, and stayed in a coma for nearly three weeks after her accident. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 99 people died or suffered serious injuries from car surfing between 1999 and 2008. Yet many believe that that is a grossly underestimated figure. The CDC gained their information from newspaper reports, and many car surfers never make it into the press.
If you or someone you know was injured car surfing, and the accident was preventable, you may want to seek restitution. Discourage this dangerous practice by taking action today.