SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - According to the Centers for Disease Control - 100 people have been killed or suffered serious injuries from car surfing. In case you don't know what car surfing is - its when kids get on top of a car or in a truck bed of a moving vehicle and act like they are surfing. Sadly, Utah is seeing its fair share of these cases and many are ending with serious injuries - even death.
When it comes to car surfing or truck surfing there is no safety belt and there is no safety. All around are dangerous or even deadly outcomes waiting for the person riding on the car or standing in the back of a truck. That's exactly what happened Wednesday in West Jordan. Police say a teenager climbed into the back of a moving truck - the driver overcorrected the truck - and the teen flew out and landed on his head. He was flown to a hospital in an emergency helicopter.
Unfortunately, teenagers in Utah say this is happening all over the state. Matt Monsen, a Sophomore at Alta High School has seen it firsthand. "We were all in the parking lot and some kid decided he wanted to do it." In fact, these are headlines from three car surfing incidents from the past few years:
West Jordan -10-year-old hospitalized after falling from his mother's car while car surfing.
Riverton - 17-year-old fractures his skull while car surfing.
Magna - 18-year-old charged with abuse in car surfing case
Monsen isn't the only one who has witnessed other teens jump on moving cars. D.J. Zdunich, another Alta High School student has seen a friend car surf. "He was standing like this on top of the windshield." Zdunich says afterwards his friend said, "We are never doing that again." Monsen says it never even crossed his mind to join in with the other car surfers. Instead of landing on his head - he says he used his head. "Its not smart. Its not safe. You got nothing to hold you back."
If you would like more information about car surfing please visit the Centers For Disease Control website:
http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Teen_Drivers/car_surfing.html
