Friedric Reep, 16, was traveling east in a field north of Crescent Road on a Yamaha Ovation snow mobile with passenger Alexis Hinckley, 13, of New London, at 3:53 p.m.
According to Ohio State Highway Patrol, Reep entered Crescent Road from the north and was struck by a 2001 Ford Windstar driven by Jonathan Gibson, 34, of Willard.
Both teens were thrown from the snow mobile, which came to a rest off the south side of the road.
Reep suffered serious injuries and was taken by medical helicopter to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo. Hinckley was also injured and was taken from the scene by North Central EMS to Fisher Titus Medical Center. Neither teen was wearing a helmet.
Gibson and his passenger, Jason Gibson, 33, of New London, were not injured in the crash. Both were wearing seat belts.
Comments
Helmets are a MUST on a snowmobile. Not only for protection from impacts, but the warmth factor is huge too. Never ever ride a sled with no helmet.
Agree with that RR.
snowmobiles and atv's injure and kill too many each year. they're not toys. and helmets should be standard equipment for motorcycles, scoooters, snowmobiles and atv's.
It is already illegal for someone under 18 to operate a snowmobile or ATV without a helmet.
Ban snowmobiles! Ban ATV's! People are not smart enough to enjoy them properly and safely, let the government ban them to protect us. (it is called natural selection)
Yes, ban them! The statistics show that these predictable and terrible accidents happen during the winter time. We should all live in our own government-induced bubble. Thank Bell for making helments. Thank Winchester for making guns. They're only as useful as the people who use them responsibly, but both serve a need.
It is also illegal to enter a public road from private property without first stopping and looking both ways. It's obvious who will be cited.
As if none of you ever did anything stupid when you were that age. Wearing a helmet was far from my mind when I was their age a decade ago. And yes, I got into a couple accidents. That's just being a kid, not "breaking laws" or "being reckless". Sure, they should've been more careful, and they should have worn helmets, but they didn't. How about we stop pointing fingers, stop the "ban this, ban that", stop the "well it was natural selection since they broke these laws", and instead pray for these kids to be okay. These kids' fun was disrupted by an accident. That's all there is to it. Thank God they are alive, and I hope for a speedy recovery and for them to be a bit more careful next time.
I can honestly say that I did more stupid things than most kids do/did. I also had my butt reamed for the stupidity. Now that I'm older and smarter, it's my turn to ream butt for stupidity. We have to keep on, to keep stupidity at a minimum. It's our job because, well... we learned.