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College age students and accidents

nbs2

nbs2

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Mar 31, 2004
2,719
491
A geographical oddity
Two regional stories, involving young adults who disappeared for a week:

1) An 18 year old wrecked his car in a ravine, in just the right spot - so nobody saw him for a week. He was just found today after he managed to crawl out.

2) A 22yo was found dead at the bottom of some cliffs. She was missing for a week - her injuries are consistent with a fall, but police haven't made a determination.

Do stories like this happen on a regular basis and just get missed, or has there just been a rash of young adults having accidents and disappearing? I guess I'm just a little freaked out - I live in the same town as 1 and went to the same school as 2.
 
nbs2 said:
Do stories like this happen on a regular basis and just get missed, or has there just been a rash of young adults having accidents and disappearing?
Click to expand...
I must admit, this is a strange question.

First of all, I wouldn't call this a rash of incidents. When there have been 100 in a week, then we can talk about a rash of incidents.

Secondly, yes, I'm sure things like this happen on a regular basis, although I wouldn't say they are missed (except maybe by you). ;)
 
nbs2 said:
Do stories like this happen on a regular basis and just get missed, or has there just been a rash of young adults having accidents and disappearing?
Click to expand...

Sorry to bring bad news, but the chance that you will be the third death is very high. I'd hide under my bed tonight if I were you. And get a crucifix.
 
We don't get many stories like that, nobody has fallen down cliffs or lost in strange places. We do get a lot of car accidents, there's a notorious stretch of road inbetween Diggle and Kirklees (or Oldham and Huddersfield in the bigger picture) that see's so many deaths per year. Usually young types speeding about the place.
 
Statistically, I had all of my vehicle accidents between the ages of 19 - 22. Out of 25 years of driving, those three years when I was ten feet tall and bullet-proof were the most dangerous. No wonder my insurance was so high back then!:rolleyes:
 
nbs2 said:
I guess I'm just a little freaked out - I live in the same town as 1 and went to the same school as 2.
Click to expand...

Just a bizarre coincidence and nothing more.

The 22 year old woman was from my town, and I used to work with a relative (I think he was a cousin). So that kind of brought it a little closer to home for me. Such tragic things to happen. :(
 
nbs2 said:
Do stories like this happen on a regular basis and just get missed, or has there just been a rash of young adults having accidents and disappearing
Click to expand...

I hate to say it, but stories like this are not rare, it's just what the media presents. If it's in the news, it seems like a lot, even if it's no more (or less!) than normal.

Remember that "Summer of the Shark" or whatever nonsense, when there was all that reporting of shark attacks and lots of people were scared? Shark attacks were down that year from the previous one. It's all how it's presented.
 
Ja Di ksw said:
I hate to say it, but stories like this are not rare, it's just what the media presents. If it's in the news, it seems like a lot, even if it's no more (or less!) than normal.

Remember that "Summer of the Shark" or whatever nonsense, when there was all that reporting of shark attacks and lots of people were scared? Shark attacks were down that year from the previous one. It's all how it's presented.
Click to expand...

Nice analysis.
 
Ja Di ksw said:
Remember that "Summer of the Shark" or whatever nonsense, when there was all that reporting of shark attacks and lots of people were scared? Shark attacks were down that year from the previous one. It's all how it's presented.
Click to expand...
I hope you're not implying that it is safe to go into the water again...;)
 
IMHO, stuff like this happens all the time. When I was at Cornell in the early 1990s, a frat guy went missing for like a week or two. They finally found him stuck inside the chimney of his fraternity - he apparently tried to climb down while drunk and suffocated as the chimney narrowed and constricted his chest.

Another woman was sunbathing on a 3rd story ledge outside of her dorm window that was like 2 feet wide. She drifted off asleep, fell of the ledge and had to be airlifted to a hospital with a broken spine.

Of course, Cornell also had a lot of high bridges with low railings (about 4 feet) that were either metal railing or stone walls - another drunken fratboy was walking on the top of the wide stone railing to one of our bridges during winter, slipped on some ice and fell to his death about 75 feet down.

These same bridges were very convenient for suicide - I witnessed a grad student toss himself off one of our bridges and, well, heard the impact in the gorge below. Very traumatic - I was about 50 away from him on the other side of the bridge when it happened.
 
nbs2 said:
Two regional stories, involving young adults who disappeared for a week:

1) An 18 year old wrecked his car in a ravine, in just the right spot - so nobody saw him for a week. He was just found today after he managed to crawl out.

2) A 22yo was found dead at the bottom of some cliffs. She was missing for a week - her injuries are consistent with a fall, but police haven't made a determination.

Do stories like this happen on a regular basis and just get missed, or has there just been a rash of young adults having accidents and disappearing? I guess I'm just a little freaked out - I live in the same town as 1 and went to the same school as 2.
Click to expand...

I think people of all ages have accidents. I think the only reason these ones made the news is because in the case of #1, it's remarkable that he was stuck for a week. For #2, it started out as a missing person/possible kidnapping sort of thing. If they had known she fell right away, I'm sure it would have been news here in Utah, but I doubt it would have been national. FWIW, I've heard plenty of stories about non-college age (ie. older) people in very similar kinds of accidents.

Too bad about your having gone to BYU. At least you changed your avatar. Just kidding :p. I'm a U of U alumnus, but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for BYU as that's where my parents met.
 
Whilst people of all ages do have accidents I expect you'll find that people in this age range are likely in danger of having more accidents. This is because this is often an experimental, thrill seeking part of your life when you are still possessed with a sense of immortality and tend to a lot of things under the influence of alcohol. The most common causes of death at this age should be infection, accident, suicide, although it's best not to quote me on that. And it's worth bearing in mind that when you've been out drinking that, whilst driving home is very stupid, you are also more likely to die as a pedestrian when drunk as opposed to when sober.

Being young is dangerous - stay in your homes!
 
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