Comments on: Five Young Women Killed In Fiery Car Crash

SUV Collided Head-On With Truck; Victims Killed Days After Graduating From N.Y. High School

[taylpatr]

In 1976, the daughter of a friend of mine was killed in a car wreck not far from my house. He never went back to the accident location.He toiled between alcoholism and a broken heart from that day on. Four weeks ago, he passed away. But he never really lived after his daughter died. All you critics sit alone, because you have no idea of the pain your words cause to the parents of these girls. Bob,(my friend)I'm glad you're with her again and that you no longer have to hear these simpletons that can make light or brag of their skill in a vehicle after such a horrible thing.

[eschliff]

i know your entitled to your opinion, but that last comment was completely out of line. this was sad unfortunate and it was a tragedy. this accident had nothing to do with the social class of the girls. and you may be right it could have been avoided, there are plenty of should of's or what ifs. a lot of things can be avoided, but that doesn't mean they should be looked down upon. if you were to be involve in an accident, i mean and unfortunate preventable crash, would you want a stranger posting comments calling you stupid. mistakes happen, accidents happen, show some sympathy.

[DrewAtlanta]

OMG some of you are so stupid or don't know the english language. THIS WAS NOT A TRAGEDY! Tragedies are unavoidable. A hurricane, a sunami, etc.

This was sooooo avoidable jsut bad choices:
There could have been less people in the car.
Driver could have actually paid attention.
Driver could have chosen not to take chance passing.
What makes me laugh at tragedy is this chick was so pampered she had a sweet suv. Getto kids don't often get in jet ski accidents, or down hill ski into a tree. She or her parents chose to let her drive when clearly she shouldn't have.

BTW. I'm lily white and came from a family of wealth, so I know of what I speak. Sometimes kids are just stupid.

I do feel bad for the families of the kids and realy bad for the truck driver. I just don't like the word tragedy used for what is so avoidable. Unless her axel broke or she ran over something, I wouldn't even call it an accident because she used poor judgement or wasn't paying attention. People should chose their words carefully.

Maybe: "it's a terrible thing that happened. I hope she was paying attention and it was a mechanical failure and my friend didn't wreck the lives of so many".

[usagi55]

A Fairport Prayer

To those five girls, who died so young:

To all the things you never got, for all the dreams you never sought,
To all the hearts you%u2019ll never break, to all tears that are taking place.
Five girls%u2019 tragedies made unity take place, and it is truly by their amazing grace;
That others can come together, to comfort and help and give strength to one another.

To the parents, siblings, family and friends, their lives have so shortly come to an end.
Yet, they have touched so many lives, and candles are lit long into the night.
Be proud and strong for your little girls, for their beauty will still radiant into the world.

My sorrow is deep, and for strangers I weep;
Trying to make sense of this horrible time, and as an outsider, it is hard not to cry.
I am truly sorry for all your pain and I truly wish I could help take it away.
Don%u2019t give up hope and try not to place blame; I know in my heart they would say the same thing.

[smcooles]

I am a graduate of FHS class of 2005. I knew these girls. I had the chance to cherrlead with each of them. They were great girls. I feel that people on here are paying to much attention to the car and how things happened, instead of focusing on the fact that these 5 young woman, ready to start their lives, are not gone. They were AMAZING girls. I will never forget them. My mom called me at 3 am to let me know what happened. I sat in my abthrrom with my yearbook on my lap as she read me the names...with each name, came a tear. I was mortified. I am still in utter shock and disbelief and Fairport is suffering as well. I went to school with these girls, sat at the same lunch tables, square danced together, laughed together. Please focus on the fact that we will miss their precense, and please pray for their families. I will always haev you in my heart. RIP Sara, Hannah, Meredith, Katie, and Bailey.

[dude2007-2009]

A gaggle of teenaged girls in a SUV. Nothing more terrifying than that, I'm glad they didn't hurt any innocent drivers at least

[winger58]

I can't believe the insensitive people who use assumptions and tragedy to make insane comments. Parenting has nothing to do with this tragedy and shame on you for even mentioning it. Who said that this SUV even belonged to these girls? It could have been the parents car, borrowed for the trip because the parents didn't want their daughter to drive a "pos" such a long distance. The type of car involved had nothing to do with the accident. So all you anti-SUV fanatics can get off your soapbox. Passing on a "grade" had nothing to do with the accident. The driver had already safely passed the slow-moving vehicle and was back in her lane of traffic. (By the way, I'm very familiar with this roadway and location. The grade is very, very slight. You can easily see a mile or more down the roadway and it is a legal passing zone). We'll never know what happened in that vehicle prior to the accident. Maybe she hit the soft shoulder and overcorrected. Maybe she took her eyes off the road for a split second. It happens all the time. Most people correct and think, "thank God there wasn't a car coming in the other lane at that moment." This time it wasn't so. There are also reports in the local media that the van being passed sped up as the girls passed and may have tailgated them. We just don't know all the facts yet. All we do know is that 5 very talented and beautiful young women are dead

[frb01]

This is a tragedy, 20 years ago 6 teenage friends of mine were killed in a car crossing a railroad track. All of us can lack judgement at times, but past years are filled of accidents involving the SUV of yesterday, which happened to have the words Firebird, Mustang, Camaro, Chevelle, etc. Or the various motorcycle accidents. Blaming it on the SUV is stupid.

[holmholm]

This is so sad. There are many faults as you look at the entire chain of events, three are chief
1) The decision to pass on two lane highway
2) Passing on the approach of a hill apex
3) SUV

The previous author, although opinionated, is dead wrong on discounting the SUV as a factor in this type of accident. The SUV is arguably the most significant factor.

As a former driver of an SUV, I guarantee you this accident wouldn't have happened in a BMW, or any car with speed appropriate handling character. The driver just wouldn't make the same error.

What a tragedy.

[chrisbetz5]

this has nothing to do with suvs,pickup trucks,truck drivers,or horse carriages....to even insinuate that the suv is the reason is rediculous.
i do however agree that no teenager should have a new care,and maybe even eliminate the possibility of teenagers driving under the parents insurance.
if teenagers these days had to buy their own auto,own insurance,etc...you would have more teens obeying the rules of the road and taking better care of the vehicles as well as themselves.
i dont know the specifics of this particular incident,so maybe what ive said does not pertain to it,but i still think if more kids EARNED the right to drive like the rest of us,we would see less reckless driving by teens.
anyhow,my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these girls and also the driver of the rig....he has to live with this for the rest of his life too....very sad.

[closethippy]

It's interesting how the crash happened because I see it happen to me a lot. I'll have someone pass me and when they are trying to get back to the lane they hesitate.
I can see them looking through the rear view mirror and they seem frustrated because they think that either I'm speeding up or that they simply don't have enough room to get back on the lane.
In some cases I'll have a car that just passed me with at least 50 feet of space between us trying to get back to the lane and they'll be swerving back and forth not sure if they have enough room.
And I find that ridiculous. Why the last second doubt? Are people trying to be polite about it? Do they think I'm speeding up to make life difficult for them?
It's good to be careful when it comes to driving but you also have to be firm about it. If I'm driving slowly you have the right to pass me, and if it happens that I decide to speed up for whatever reason go ahead and get back on the lane.
If I hit you from behind IT'S MY FREAKING FAULT!
Sometimes I'll see people with their blinking lights on and looking at the rear view mirror for miles before they decide to change lanes.
If changing a freaking lane stresses you this much you shouldn't be driving, period.

[mollyb32]

My heart goes out to the families & friends of this tragic accident. It is so sad that this happened. Why does the fact that they were driving a SUV make a difference? It could have happened in any car. We don't know all the facts yet so now is not the time to judge anyone. We just need to grieve.

[grape_b]

People should show more compassion for the families of those young girls killed in such a horrific accident. At a time like this they need people to be more thoughtful and not say things that donot help them right now. my thoughts and prayers are with you during this ver difficult time. May God be with you.

[rheola-2009]

Willyn3

I agree, very easy to forget him when after all he appears to have been a totaaly innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[puzzler125]

Mandatory driver's education classes would help young drivers and in Ohio where I live they are not mandatory. I've seen some of the worst drivers in the United States here including, sad to say, police officers failing to signal and yapping on cell phones while breaking driving laws. Good parenting has absolutely nothing to do with it. SUVs have nothing to do with it either.

[alexma50085]

The loss of a child is tragic, but the deaths of these children lies heavily on the parents. When parents give their children $25,000+ vehicles with power that an unexperienced driver can't handle, these tragedies happen.
Parents these days aren't teaching their children the responsiblity of the real world. If these girls would have had to work to earn the money for a crappy, $2,000 p.o.s., I'm sure they wouldn't be hauling a$$ down the highway, passing "slower" vehicles. Mostly because their p.o.s. wouldn't let them do it.
NO teenage driver should have a brand new car, it's just a recipe for disaster.

[willyn3]

I feel badly for the truck driver too.

[jasbek]

Good parenting wouldn't change this at all. It was an accident. A terrible accident. How rude to say such a thing!!!

[DrewAtlanta]

Just natural selection. We don't need new laws. Their parents should have known who they were with, how many kids to a car etc. Good parenting and being involved with your kid would prevent this. The reality though is that the 40-somethings that are parents are more interested in working out, golf, careers, fun etc than raising their kid. Most parents can't wait for their kid to drive so they don't have to haul them around.

[roesch21]

If SUV's were illegal, these girls would not have died in one, right? Isn't this "common sense" these days?

Posted by GunOwnerDan at 04:59 PM : Jun 27, 2007

Dan, i have to agree with you on the gun control sh*t the leftwings are trying to pull. You make a valid point...why isn't Hilary F*cking Clinton here banning SUV's, smoking, ***(STD's), h*ll even rides at Six Flags. That aside i do feel for the families of these young women and hope this serves as a learning lesson for America's youth. Don't let these girl's deaths be in vain.