Tragic Story in Broadlands Last Night

From LCAS Press Release:
Loudoun County, Virginia- Two Ashburn teenage boys lost their lives Saturday night and a third teen is in critical condition after a single vehicle accident on an unopened road in the Broadlands area.

The vehicle, a Ford F250 pick-up was discovered down an embankment shortly after 11:30 PM on the north side of Ridgeway Drive east of Claiborne Parkway in the Broadlands area. Sheriff's Office dispatchers received several calls from area residents shortly after 11 PM who said they had heard a crash and deputies began a search for the accident.

Accident Reconstruction Units have determined the pick-up was traveling down the roadway, when the driver, a 15-year-old from Ashburn, lost control of the truck, struck a median curb and a shoulder curb before going over an embankment.

A 17-year-old and a 16-year-old, who are both from Ashburn, were riding in the cargo area of the pick-up and were thrown from the vehicle. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

The 15-year-old driver was taken to Loudoun Hospital center and later transferred to Inova Fairfax Hospital where he is in critical but stable condition.

Ashburn Volunteer Fire-Rescue Company #6 also responded to the scene of the accident.

 

What was a 15-yearold driver

a. doing driving a vehicle, presumably without a licence,
b. doing out at 2300 hrs (11:00 pm)
c. having riders in the back of a pickup truck.

feel bad for the kid, but where were the parents.

 

Not to sound flippant, but they were being teenage boys. I know as a teen I did some rather stupid things and like most of us, consider myself lucky that nothing serious happened to me.

 

My daughter knew both of the boys that died. One was in several of her classes over the years. Nick was a funny, happy guy. He was in her PEclass this year and she said he was so funny.... She said the boys were "wild" but not druggie types. We do not have the name of the 15 year old so she does not know of him. This will be a very difficult week for Stone Bridge High School students.

 

It is sad. I heard the sirens too and did not know what had happened so close to home.

We have so many young teenager(s) in cars in our area, a few driver very fast (yes, as do some adults).

 

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish this type of tragedy on anyone, but the fact remains that
the kids were out late, unsupervised, acting irresponsibly and driving on a road that was closed because it’s not finished.

I really think that the parents of these kids and the kids should be help responsible for this terrible tragedy, not blame it on "youth" or being a young boy.

I did things in my youth, and made mistakes, but through good guidance (or rather a firm hand) knew that certain things you should not do because it’s illegal or just stupid. Mistakes like this one are often times passed on as bad judgment from general good kids, but parents should be proactive and talk to their kids, not as "buddies" but as parents. Define what is right and wrong, and stress that , you can break the law, but eventually it will catch up to you. In this case, breaking the law caught up to three boys who had their future ahead of them, and maybe were destine for greater things, but now…

 

On Sunday night at 12:30AM my wife and I saw the police cars and about 5 or other emergency vehicles when we drove through the intersection of Claiborne, Ridgeway, and Wyndridge. My first thought was that some teenagers were drag racing on the unfinished section of Wyndridge. Its truly sad that teen lives were lost in Broadlands. I place part of the blame on whomever is responsible for the construction of Wyndridge. When completed, Wyndridge will T bone into the Route 772 extension (Exit 6 off Greenway). I have been monitoring this road project since it should save Southern Walk residents 5-8 minutes to/from the Greenway East. The project has moved along in spurts of activity over the last year. I have seen longer sections of road completed in much shorter periods of time. My point is that the road has been unfinished and a accident waiting to happen for over a year.

Though I hope the young 15 year old driver recovers completely, he should face charges for driving on a closed road and transporting passengers unsecured in the back of the pickup he crashed. Sure the drive may have started as a childhood prank, but his fun resulted in the death of two of his friends.

Parents, please don't cop out and say that your teens are uncontrollable. Set boundaries, be enforcers, ask who, what, where, and when before you give your kids the keys. The excuse that "I did the same thing when I was a teen and I'm OK" doesnt apply since today it is against the law to ride in a vehicle without a wearing a seatbelt. Its truly a shame that Broadlands has become a location of yet another unsupervised teen tragedy.

 

Just because something may have been normal when you were a child dosen't make it right. That is a cop out. The facts still remain that the parents should have had better control over their child. If parents don't start stepping up to the plate and taking the responsibility for their childrens actions, there will only be more sad stories like this. Its the parents job to teach their children no to do "stupid things" that can endanger not only their own lives but in the case the lives of 2 other kids.

 

At least the driver lived, now he has to live with what he did for the rest of his life.

 

Two children are dead, and their families will need to bury them. One child is struggling for his life in internsive care. Could you people please have some common decency and give the families a moment to deal with the tragedy before you start tossing around blame? The courts will have plenty of time to figure that out later.

 

Hello...there are big signs and cones that say "Road Closed" what is the construction company to do? Post a guard there 24/7? This area is full of 1/2 way complete roads & construction projects. Any road is an accident waiting to happen if you ask me.

People make bad decisions on our roads every single day. 6 years ago we lost a friend on Ryan Rd due to bad decisions. Parental accountability can only go so far. I will do my best to see my child/ren raised with morals and a firm knowledge of right from wrong. BUT no matter what, we all make stupid decisions that hopefully you can look back on and think; Thank God nothing bad happened to me then, what was I thinking?

 

Two of the boys were honor roll students. All three were good boys, wild but good. They were well liked by all the kids in the high school. This is just a sad situation, one thing lead to another and then a disaster... If you know high school kids that could be affected by this, spend time with them, let them talk, throw a ball with them, or bake something together, cook a meal, go for a walk. This is going to take time for them to sort this out. Stop the blaming and who is going to sue whom.

 

They aren't/weren't "good" boys. If they were, the driver wouldn't be out driving illegally. Good kids may act their age but they don't wantonly break the law.

In order to get that driver's permit, the driver knew what the rules of the road were in order to pass the written test to get the permit.

He knew he wasn't allowed to drive without adult supervision, yet he did it anyway, breaking the law.

He knew he wasn't supposed to drive on a closed road, yet he did it anyway.

He knew that he was supposed to wear a seatbelt and the same for the passengers. Yet, the passengers rode unsecured.

He knew that he wasn't supposed to speed, yet he did.

You break the law, you live (if you're lucky) with the consequences.

And again, what's with the three sets of parents not having a problem with their minor kids out at all hours of the night? There's a definite lack of parental care going on with all of these kids not having anyone to have to answer to.

I did stupid things too when I was a teenager but never anything that was illegal or life endangering.

 

Huh? You never rode in a speeding car as a teenager, which may be life endangering? You never drank alcohol as a teenager, which is illegal?

I agreed with most everything you said, but this "holier than thou" attitude is unnecessary IMO.

 

I did not do either of those. My friends were level headed folks and my parents did a good enough job raising me so that I didn't want to try alcohol (I didn't have a drink until I was 24).

You do irresponsible things that have dire consequences...you pay the price, regardless of age, gender, etc...

 

STOP! How about some compassion! Give this some time before blasting everyone. ENOUGH!

 

So anyone who tried alcohol before the age of 21 had parents that didn't do a good enough job of raising them? Good grief. How easily we editorialize everyone else's lives on these boards...

 

I didn't say that, I was merely responding to someone elses accusations of the pot calling the kettle black.