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UPDATE: Cell phone causes serious accident; 17-year-old dies of injuries
The young man was the driver of an SUV that crashed at around 5:30 p.m. on Veterans Memorial Parkway at River Road when his vehicle went out of control, struck the centre divide and flipped over. "The 17 year old male driver suffered life-threatening injuries," police said, and those injuries led to his death. Police are not identifying the young man at the request of his family, in order to allow for additional family members to be notified. A 16-year-old female passenger in the SUV suffered minor injuries and was subsequently released from hospital. "A cell phone appears to be a contributing factor in this collision. At the time it is reported that the driver was attempting to retrieve his cell phone (that was ringing) from his pocket. His attention (mentally and physically) was distracted from his driving and the vehicle veered into the median divider. He then lost control of the SUV and the vehicle flipped," police said. The crash has police reminding all drivers about the dangers of distracted driving. "It only takes a fraction of a second of unfocused driving to cause a collision that may result in death or serious injury," police said. This death brings traffic-related deaths in London to seven in total this year. Last year at this time there was one traffic-related death, police said. In April, the Ontario government unanimously passed legislation that would ban the use of hand-held cell phones and other hand-held devices while operating a motor vehicle. Though not expected to come into effect until the fall, fines will be up to $500. |
| Was the phone call that important? |
| By: ICE COLD on 06/04/2009 |
| I'd hate to be whoever was calling him at that time. That phonecall cost him his life. |
| By: betty on 06/08/2009 |
| It wasn't the caller that made the mistake, it was the driver - and I don't think his youth was necessarily the determining factor either, I see all sorts of so-called mature drivers screwing up as they yak on their phones. |
| By: Stephen Cooper on 06/08/2009 |
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