Car surfing unbelievably stupid, says CDC

[struggle4progress]

Source: Orange County Register

Video: Teens often film their stunts for Web site YouTube.
By SAM MILLER
The Orange County Register
Comments 5 | Recommend 2

At least 99 people have died or been seriously injured while "car surfing" since 1990, according to data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Car surfing is what it sounds like: riding on top of a car while another person drives it. According to the CDC, it is practiced mainly by teenagers ...

Like a lot of dangerous activities teens do, it is widely documented on the video-sharing site YouTube, where hundreds of videos are posted of teens and young adults hanging onto moving cars.

"I know this looks dangerous and dumb, but I know what I'm doing," one YouTube user says of a video showing him sliding on the top of a moving car ...

Read more: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/car-surfing-teens-2197292-surfing-youtube

---

from the country that let george steal TWO elections

[billyoc]

1. "I know this looks dangerous and dumb, but I know what I'm doing,"

And... That's 100.

:rofl:

[JeanGrey]

60. Famous last words.

[wordpix]

64. yeah, so did a young acquaintance who damaged his brain forever

when he fell on his head during such a stunt.

[MrModerate]

2. Among the many stupid things I did 40 years ago . . .

This is definitely Number 2 (rolling under a moving freight train while tripping would be Number 1).

How I survived, I do not know -- but I do know that it wasn't until years later that I realized how dangerous it had been.

Some things never change. Except now YouTube provides extra incentive for Jackass stunts because, along with the thrill, you get 15 seconds of fame.

[azurnoir]

3. Car surfing unbelievably stupid, says CDC

another "eureka" moment

[auburngrad82]

39. A classic understatement, eh? nt

[petronius]

41. Don't short change the CDC - their research also uncovered the previously unsuspected

"mainly practiced by teenagers" factoid... ;)

[Frank Booth]

4. Are they just pulling this out of their ass? Shouldn't they conduct a study prior to making such

rash pronouncements?

How many parents will deny their children the pleasures of car surfing now that the CDC has labeled it "dangerous"?

Pathetic.

[tabasco]

51. Really. I think this one needs more research.

[On the Road]

5. In Brazil,

the street kids used to do this with trains. If anything, it was even deadlier.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. Natural selection.

[douglas9]

31. Darwin Award Applicants

http://www.darwinawards.com/

[Dr. Strange]

44. Yes, it does work.

[mwooldri]

7. Certainly dangerous and stupid.

Though the only guy I know who actually did this ended up enlisting in the British Army. No more high jinxes after that AFAIK.

Mark.

[Posteritatis]

54. To be fair, helicopter surfing would be a much greater challenge (tm)

[mwooldri]

57. ROFLMAO!!!

Though you do see these films of people dangling from the bottom of helicopters but never anyone trying to hang on up top. Cos if you're holding on below the blades and you stick your head up it's either a bloody mess... or god forbid you're actually holding onto the blades... geesh if you're doing that... sorry "helicopter surfing" came up with a very vivid imagery for me that's gruesome yet fscking hilarious at the same time.

Mark.

[WatchWhatISay]

8. I lost my 13 year old brother in 10/25/1970 from this

My boyfriend was driving the car, my brother was riding on the front hood, and my older brother was following behind on a bike.

When the car turned, he slid off the hood and under the back wheel. His skull and neck was crushed and they pronounced him dead on the way to the hospital.

My boyfriend took off running. Someone yelled "stop him" but nobody did.

They found him about four hours later. He had snuck into a garage and hung himself from the rafters.

My heart almost stops everytime I see kids doing this.

[struggle4progress]

9. very sorry to hear that

[Frank Cannon]

15. That's horrible

I am very sorry to hear that.

[bitchkitty]

17. Good Lord, I am so sorry.

What you must have gone through - my heart goes out to you, WWIS.

[shadowknows69]

20. I'm so sorry, I made kind of a glib comment before I saw this post

About how I don't know how I survived doing it once. I feel like a shit now. I knew after the ride that it was the last time I was doing it or the next time probably would mean my death. Why do kids always think they're invincible? Again, I''m so sorry for your loss.

[WatchWhatISay]

52. No offense taken shadowknows69

I understand the seperation between thinking a CDC study should come up with something more profound than what they did, and trying to convey, as you did, how dangerous and "risk-underrated" this is. Lots of things kids do take some risk, but this is a thing that, I don't think people can understand, until they are up on top of a car how extremely dangerous this is.

And to everyone here who just verbally "gave me a hug", thankyou. It is still very tough to take, even after all these years. It changed my life as well as every member of my family as well as the members of my boyfriends family. His brother began having behavior problems and was eventually sent to a military academy. And his mother aged visibly soon after.

The saddest thing is, these were two great kids. They both had a lot to offer the world.

Just please, talk to your kids about it, step in if you see other kids doing it. I've done that a few times, while the blood was pounding in my ears out of fear.

But again, thanks for your comments, they help a lot.

[Gman]

26. I wish I could find the article about

the reason kids don't recognize danger is because their brain has not fully developed. The article said the part of the brain that recognizes danger is not fully developed until a person is in their 20's.

I'm so sorry about your brother. I realize it was almost 40 years ago and it is late for these kind of condolences, but I think everyone here, for a moment, shares that pain from so long ago.

[OGpoopin]

37. not exactly

There's actually a book that just came out that really digs into these things. It's not just a lack of brain development it's the PARENTS. When you shield your kids from the world, and/scare the crap out of them, if you don't let them fall, get scrapes, bruises, and injuries one of two things will happen. A: They will be terrified for life and will do and try NOTHING ruined by a fear of the unknown. OR B: Feel like nothing can hurt them since nothing ever has.....They surf on cars the do stupid things because life is boring and the only things that could be worth doing they're not aloud to....

[Swagman]

35. I'm so sorry-I lost my best friend likewise and his son was driving

the ramifications were just so awful apart from the personal loss. The son was charged with murder but fortunately later dropped to manslaughter with a bond. Still has to live with the memory though.

At his funeral his other 13 year old intellectual disabled son got up in the pulpit and said.."please don't drink and drive". Everyone just burst into tears.

[JerseygirlCT]

48. Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry

What a horrible, horrible tragedy.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LiberalLovinLug]

18. Cindy McCain's favorite "sport"

Drift racing. She does it with her son. Such a good example on using a car safely....not.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/e60/news/story?id=3571491&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos1

"I love it," McCain said, though she described herself as a below-average drifter. "I'm probably a little too cautious with it because it is abnormal from what you're taught when you're taught to drive. You're taught to keep control of your car. Everything you were taught in driver's ed, forget. That's what drifting is about."

[Dulcinea]

11. I know someone who's brain-damaged from doing this.

This must've been 20 years ago, long before YouTube.

Anyway, a guy I knew as a kid was riding on top of the hood of a car doing 65 mph. Of course, he fell off, & his head hit the pavement. He's been brain-damaged ever since, & has spent the last 2 decades wandering around the streets of my hometown, often in the dark. He'll probably be hit & killed one day, if he's even still alive.

So yes, this is unbelievably stupid!

[MrSlayer]

12. So they've all seen "Teen Wolf" I suppose.

[Blue_Tires]

49. i remember that

i had no idea folks were ignorant enough to do it in real life!

but hey...Uncle Chuck is gonna cash his fuckin' checks, you better believe that!

[JVS]

13. LOL! The rescue 911 episode makes it look like the most hillarious thing ever!

[Frank Cannon]

14. Still no cure for cancer

Paging Dr. Obvious.

[pam4water]

16. Catch a beamer and you sitting on top of the world? These guys need more to do with their time.

[shadowknows69]

19. Doesn't the CDC have better things to do?

Does anyone really need to say this isn't safe? I admit, I did it once in my home town many years ago. It wasn't so much fun as completely terrifying. Of course it didn't help that we had a drunk crazy man at the wheel. I really don't know how I survived my youth.

[MadHound]

21. Evolution in action

Removing the stupidity gene out of the gene pool one person at a time.

[cobalt1999]

22. We've all been teenagers.

I'm sure before cars came along teenagers where doing incredibly stupid and dangerous things too. Probably in the pioneer days they'd try to ride wild bears or pull mountain lion tails.

As a teen, I came close to death many times fooling around with cars, boats, motorcycles, wildlife, drunks, guns, girls, etc.

We've all been through our "invincible" phase.

[Drum]

23. "while another person drives it"

is the antithesis of surfing. The misnaming makes it sound appealing to some fools, but it's just idiocy. :(

[mwb970]

24. What are the most common words from teenage boys just before they die?

"Watch this!"

[cobalt1999]

25. Just before that it's a friend saying "I bet you can't...."

As teens, once we stopped listening to our own stupid ideas, our life expectancy went way up.

[AngryAmish]

29. In Wisoconsin it is "Hold my beer and watch this."

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

27. It's not the surfing that gets you...it's the leash.

:D

[Dr.Phool]

28. It's no more dangerous than Russian Roulette.

[corkhead]

30. here's an on topic oldie but goodie on this subject...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFF_ueOZ2mw

[slackmaster]

32. Kids were doing that in my neighborhood

About 15 years ago. I haven't seen that stupid stunt in a loooong time.

[OwnedByFerrets]

33. Famous last words ... "Hey Watch This"

[snooper2]

34. In Missouri we were more creative...

Used a brand new John Deer tractor in 4wd High, and with about 30 foot of rope tied that to a volkswagen beetle hood ( upsidedown )

Two of us ride the hood in the snow while tractor pulls us doing donuts and high speeds :)

[Liberalatus]

36. Do they mean standing on top of the car?

Or on the hood, like the movie Deathproof? Either way, it seems like boys will be boys and always do stupid things. I was a straight A student, considered intelligent and mature when I was a teen, yet I did som incredibly stupid things.

The worst was playing chicken with my friends on the train tracks near my house. The trains would stop near my house, so we would walk down to the last car, and climb up on the ladder and hold on to either side as it started to go. As it got up to speed, whoever let go first lost. One time I ended up like 2-3 miles from my house. Definitely stupid. I am amazed at how lucky I was.
I finally saw a movie where a little girl, probably 6-9yo was playing on some train tracks, and the train shifted and cut off her legs. It was so traumatizing, I never went near the tracks again. I still stay away from them.

[On the Road]

46. Oh, My Gosh,

Sounds like a variation on le Jeu du Prochain Train.

[Liberalatus]

56. pardon moi?

Never heard of that

[On the Road]

59. It's in David Foster Wallace's

Infinite Jest, which has a subplot involving a wheelchair-bound group of Quebecois separatist terrorists called Les Assassins des Fautueils Rollents. The reason they were wheelchair bound is from playing a suicidal group game on the railroad tracks at night. As a train approached, their goal was to be the last person to jump across. That person often won by losing their legs. And as for chickening out:

Far beyond prohibited, not to jump at all is regarded as impossible. To "perdre son coeur " and not jump at all is outside le Jeu's limit. The possibility simply does not exist. It is unthinkable. Only once, in le Jeu du Prochain Train's extensive oral history, has a miner's son not jumped, lost his heart and frozen, remaining on his jut as the round's train passed. This player later drowned.

[Liberalatus]

62. wow

Thanks for the information.

[Javaman]

38. read my sig. nt

[TheWraith]

40. No shit. In other news, fire is hot and water quenches thirst. nt

[yellowcanine]

42. Well at least they aren't climbing from one car into another at 60 mph.

Thank God for that. Otherwise someone could get hurt.

Kids do the darndest things.

[yellowcanine]

43. There was a video of a grown man doing that on a motorcycle and HE was driving the cycle.

Incredibly he survived with nothing but bruises.

[pitohui]

45. someone tried to do this on my car when i was younger

he was unhurt even tho he jumped onto my car after i started to drive away but i was still very angry with him

he thought it was funny! funny! jesus, how could i have explained it if he had been seriously injured?

what guys will do to get a girl's attention

[JerseygirlCT]

47. Teenagers always think they know what they're doing

And that they'll live forever.

[LibertyLover]

50. In other news

a 5 year study just concluded by the CDC confirms that water is wet. More research will be required to confirm fire is hot.
:evilgrin:

[ACTION BASTARD]

53. Pfft this is kid stuff. Now Ghost Ride the Whip and

get back to me. Stupid human trick gone wrong.

[ContraBass Black]

55. So, does that make it more or less dangerous than ghost riding?

[NoodleyAppendage]

66. I'd say car surfing is more dangerous. Ghost riding tends to be low speed and somewhat predictable.

Car surfing, on the other hand, does not lend itself to predictability and is engaged in at mostly higher speeds.

J

[ryanmuegge]

58. It is stupid, but what's the shock? There isn't much of a future to live for, really.

Kids know how shitty things are, and they're at the age where they do incredibly risky shit because they don't fully realize the consequences.

[FloridaJudy]

61. For heavensake

Isn't there some way YouTube can delete dangerous crap like this, the way we delete/ban posters here on DU if they're encouraging reckless or illegal behavior? Teenagers all think they're immortal - that's why the Armed Services like to get them young. Maybe if they know they'll lose their YouTube privileges, kids won't be so eager to pull these insane stunts.

[eek MD]

63. I've done it... :)

Ahh, the things we do for fun in our youth to impress girls. Yes it was stupid....but anyone who does this is obviously aware of the risks involved.

Banning these videos from youtube won't stop it from happening. Maybe if you separated girls and boys until they were 21 it might work...but I weep for any parent that's protective enough to support THAT idea. :)

[NoodleyAppendage]

65. Saddest case I've EVER seen on a brain rehab ward was a 15 yr old girl who was car surfing.

Her injury resulted in a severe head injury with an almost complete right hemispheric craniotomy. Her life was altered beyond her comprehension, and the saddest factor was the growing realization she evinced as she started to gain some insight that she would no longer be desirable.

J