The whole Santa Fe Christian campus is grieving the loss of 16-year-old football varsity player, William Wardrip, from Enchinitas, to a tragic car accident. Wardrip died when the SUV he was riding as a passenger got involved in a rollover accident in Fairbanks Ranch.

Reports said that the driver of the 1999 Lexus recently got his license and Wardrip was the only occupant not wearing a seatbelt.

The ninth to twelfth grade students were given a choice of staying at home or to join the prayer service in memory of Wardrip.

Grieving parents and students flocked the campus to join in the service.

Although drugs and alcohol were not a factor, the driver of the SUV may be facing liability for the death of Wardrip.

Aside from that, the parents or the owner of the SUV may also be held liable because the driver was also a minor and also a new driver.

Although there may be some comparative negligence on the part of Wardrib for not following the state seatbelt law, it does not remove the liability of the driver for his own negligent acts.

New drivers are not allowed to drive between 11pm and 5am and the accident occurred at 3am.

Another violation is that new drivers are not supposed to have passengers below the age of 20 without a parent or a guardian.

Hopefully, the driver would show remorse for the tragedy and the prosecutors may choose not to file criminal charges against him.

However, that does not stop Wardrib’s parents from pursuing a wrongful death claim.

Hopefully, this becomes a lesson to all teen drivers who overestimate their driving skills.

Reckless driving is not only a danger to the driver but to those around them as well.

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Well, the law says that for a person to be charged DUI he had to be driving a vehicle, and apparently motorized upholstery counts as a vehicle too.

That’s what we found out today when a Minnesota man pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-boy while drunk.

The Laz-boy was powered by a converted lawnmower and even had a cup holder and a stereo.

According to reports, Dennis LeRoy, 62, told the police that he left a bar in Proctor aboard his La-Z-boy after drinking 8-9 bottles of beer.

He eventually crashed to a parked vehicle.

The prosecutors said that his BAC at the time of the “vehicular” accident was .29%, which is very high and serves as an aggravating offense.

DUI offenders with at least .20% BAC in Minnesota may be given an increased punishment under the “enhanced penalty rule.”

LeRoy got 180 days jail time and two years probation for the offense.

Just goes to show the flexibility of the law. It did not say that it had to be a car or any other common vehicle that you need a license to drive.

It just stated that everyone is prohibited from driving a “vehicle” while under the influence.

In truth, an improvised vehicle like that could even be more dangerous as its crashworthiness has not been tested.

He’s lucky that no one got hurt during the incident or the charges could have been graver.

Thankfully, the damage was limited to the parked car and probably his La-Z-boy.

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With Christmas just a month or two away, a class-action suit’s settlement will surely bring glad tidings to families who were affected by a 2007 toy recall which involved millions of toys tainted with excessive levels of lead or had design problems.

Popular toys from Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Diego toys made by Fisher-Price, and some Mattel toys like Batman, Polly Pocket, Sarge cars and Barbie accessories were among those found to contain high levels of lead. They toys were all made from China.

Mattel Inc., the world’s largest toy maker, has agreed to settle and will provide affected toy buyers either 50 percent of the total amount of vouchers or $10, depending on whichever is greater.

Also, other consumers who didn’t participate in the recalls but have a recalled toy shall get a check or a voucher equivalent to the toy’s price. Buyers of recalled toys in which only one piece of the toy was affected can receive up to $12.

Those whose toys have been destroyed after the recall will also be eligible to receive a voucher for the amount of the toy for up to three toys. Mattel’s settlement could top $50 million dollars as the exact number of claims is still uncertain.

If approved by the court, Mattel and Fisher-Price will likewise reimburse families their expenses after getting tests for their children for lead exposure.

Under product liability laws, the manufacturer and supplier is responsible for damages caused by their product. The $50 million settlement will not just serve to compensate the consumers who have been injured by their lead-contaminated toys but will also be a reminder to them that the toys they put out to market should be fit for consumers.

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In San Diego, a truck ran off the ravine when its 75-year old driver mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake.

It fell 200 feet down the ravine through thick vegetation before landing on its roof. The truck’s 77-year old passenger managed to get out of the vehicle but the elderly driver was trapped and unconscious. The driver was extricated by rescuers and was airlifted to the hospital.

The 77-year old passenger allegedly told authorities that his friend had a bad hip. Park Ranger Noel Adams also said that the driver told her he had a bad foot.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Maurice Luque said that the two old men were wearing their seatbelts which saved them from getting thrown out of the truck.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, people aged 70 years and older represented approximately 12 percent of the driving age population and about 10 percent of all drivers in the US.

The Federal Highway Administration reported that there were more than 20 million licensed drivers 70 and older in 2007.

While elderly drivers are involved less in fatal car crashes than teenagers, there were still 4,598 people above 70 years old who died in motor vehicle crashes back in 2007. An elderly driver’s physical, cognitive, and visual abilities may decline as they advance in age.

It is impossible to generalize that like drunk drivers, all older drivers are potential road risks. Some elderly drivers are in excellent shape while some, like the 75-year old driver who drove his truck have certain physical limitations that may impair their driving skills.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has a Mature Driver Program which is an eight hour course for drivers 55 years old and older. It covers a variety of topics of special interest to the mature driver and some insurance providers offer discounts for elderly drivers who complete the class and receive a completion certificate.

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In the past, nobody really took climate change seriously—it seemed largely like a myth, like Atlantis, December 12, 2012, and Big Foot.

Fast forward to now, climate change is real. It is a reality as the whole world now experiences unprecedented and completely unpredictable weather.

Scorching hot weathers that bring on wildfire, the tsunami in Samoa, mudslides, intense storms and hurricanes that have flooded several countries to the brink of calamity…as Al Gore would have probably said, this is the inconvenient truth that many people refused to acknowledge for a long time.

Scientists believed that global warming is caused by the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. At the top of the list are the millions of cars that people all over the world use every day.

But a few months ago, President Barack Obama, whose campaign included clean next-generation vehicles and “green collar” jobs, signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) which is more popularly known as “Cash for Clunkers”.

US residents were given economic incentives of up to $3,500 or $4,500 to purchase a new, more fuel efficient vehicle when trading in a less fuel efficient vehicle.

Although it was a move to help boost the economy through increased car sales, it also meant putting cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars on the road.

The clunkers program, which many have criticized since it came to an end, may have been an imperfect solution. The recession is too big and global warming is too…global. But at least it was a move towards the right direction.

The real and inconvenient truth is, sometimes, you have to take three steps back to go one step forward and make the big leap towards a healthy auto industry and cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars on the road.

Better cars, better environment, better car industry and yes, maybe that would even equate to less car accidents as newer and better cars are more efficient.

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