Expectant Mom Dies Via Elderly Driver

http://news.yahoo.com/expectant-mom-struck-car-dies-baby-born-alive-164229978.html


About 18 years ago, I was 16 years old. I was driving my younger sister and I home from school. We were following behind an older woman (~60ish). It was raining and very slick, thus I was keeping pretty far back (kind of newish driver and if anything happened to my car...oh boy). She suddenly slammed on her brakes and turned on her left blinker AFTER slamming on her brakes. She was apparently trying to turn left into a line of bushes (there was no driveway or anything to turn into...?). I hit my brakes and threw my "mom arm" over my sister's chest, just like my mom taught me to do.

The car behind me didn't stop, they weren't expecting it either (really...nowhere to turn left there for a LONG time). They slammed into us, making us slam into her. The car behind me had a father and very young son (~5ish) that wasn't buckled in. The son wound up slamming his head into the back of his father's seat, and was bleeding a lot (head wound and all). I grabbed the nearest thing I could (sweatshirt) and pressed it against his head until the ambulance showed up. He wound up going to the hospital, but was generally fine afterwards.

At the end, when speaking with the police. This woman had a cane, she wasn't wearing her glasses, AND attempted to blame me. The police asked her why she wasn't wearing her glasses (they were around her neck the whole time), and she said "It's that damn teen's fault!!!!" Way to avoid responsibility. The police obviously sided with me, as I was the car IN THE MIDDLE that got squished.

My sister wound up with a nasty bruise on her chest, and I face planted the steering wheel. I was only slightly bleeding, but my face looked like a train wreck afterwards. It took about 2 months for the bruise on my sister to go away.

I don't know what happened to that old woman after that, but I REALLY hope they took her license away. My mom was livid though, not at me. She couldn't wrap her head around someone driving, endangering/hurting others, and STILL not accepting responsibility for her actions. I was terrified to drive until I was about 22 after that, and even still will NOT drive long distances. I keep a camera in my car. The old drivers in this small, small town are TERRIBLE. I have seen some crazy stuff around here from them. It's worse then someone driving with a cellphone. Even if they are driving super slow (~20 under speed limit), they are still horrible at stopping for lights/stop signs/anything else. I've also taught my own kids the "mom arm", as I am fairly certain my sister might of gone through the window without it (she's still tiny, so could easily slide out of the buckle).

When I had meningitis and a LOT of issues driving, I absolutely refused to drive myself anywhere.  The medication made me loopy and I was having problems remembering things.  It is called personal responsibility.  I could live for a few months without driving, while I got myself sorted out.

I think older people need to accept their own personal responsibility, as well.  My own mother had a stroke and she refuses to drive now - for good reason.  Laws need to change and they need to test people after a certain age.