New Jersey students remember classmates killed in car accident | Drazin and Warshaw, P.C. https://share.google/7fJhIORQ1iViZ7yRm (copy and paste link).
The one report about the crash in NJ uses the word, stunned. More on that later.
Who is actually stunned anymore by anything?
The Crash, the Netflix movie, as discussed in the last post, brought back my own memories of angry drivers, driving fast and driving under the influence.
I never believed in driving fast to make up time, nor driving angry. Once I drove when I should not have, due to alcohol consumption. I know a guardian angel was guiding me, or at least steered the car. I learned my lesson that night. I made it back to the dorm never to drive under the influence ever again. I was less drunk than my college roomate who owned the car. Neither one of us were thinking and we are fortunate, even back in 1976, we did not hurt anyone. "Not that" young (21) and stupid even 50 years ago was not a legal excuse for driving drunk.
I also remembered three other incidences in which I was a passenger. All three involved speed.
Two involved drivers showing off. One was a high school friend (just out of high school), and one was a male chaperone when I was in 9th grade, a CYO event. I thought if I did not die, that my parents would kill me (in both incidents).
I did not have much control over the chaperone. However, several years after the CYO hayride/joyride from hell, I mustered up enough strength to tell my high school friend (along with the other two passengers) that I would not drive back home with her, unless someone else drove. I was calling my dad if she didn't agree. We were about 50 miles from home by the beach. He would not have been happy. "Beatle" drove home. It was a much better ride on the Garden State Parkway. Needless, to say, friendships did not last.
I tried to instill in my own kids not to get in cars if they did not trust the driver. I also instilled to be a good driver. Some dangerous behaviors did occur, mostly because of those strict laws on teenagers. But thankfully, no illegal substances or accidents.
One other time, for me, anger and speed were the mix. I can not stand some situations or people anymore. Most I can avoid direct contact with if the "like" is no longer part of the picture. I was still young and stupid for that 5 hour ride.
Trust in the driver of a car is as important as trust in the person holding a gun or knife. There are laws governing all.
The accident in 2011, discussed below, did not go to trial because the driver was dead. Any civil suits when the numbness wore off? I am not sure. Any filed may have been hush, hush.
So, when the news broke of an accident in August 2011 impacting the Garden State Parkway and eight students from Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, NJ, I was not stunned. Accidents with teenagers happen.
I was suspicious of the narrative. It seemed too tragic to believe it was just an accident. It was sickening with the spin and romanticizing of an accident connected with a high school sponsored event, hence my concerns. Cover Up?
I had no respect for the long term coach at the time. Let's just say, he and I disagreed on hazing and coaching tactics. So, something began to smell. The kids had just left from the field to go to a traditional breakfast several miles off campus. The driver took a highway, crowded with summer tourists heading to the beaches. If he knew what he was doing, he would not have taken that route.
The hero wordship of the dead kids was nauseating to me. I did feel bad for the four kids who survived the crash and the other students. The four living crash victims knew what happened ( and could say in my opinion) and other kids had to put up with the "new saints". We all grieve in different ways, but truth is the best cleanser. These posts are half truths.
https://youtu.be/fLHmjgwPA3A?is=QmFCu7s6e5mgARmw
https://youtu.be/9-wOX5sSwBQ?is=Ja9rcPS-rB9h3NOc
The father of the driver wanted to change laws. His kid broke every single law of the NJ motor vehicle department and statutes especially for teen drivers. The father filed lawsuits, but interestingly, not against the school district. Hold your nose, he went after the roadways and the county He wanted future teen drivers to pay the price for his son's decisions.
Laws broken: seatbelts not used, number of kids in car, driving under the influence of marijuana and speed. Wreckful driving? Definitely deadly.
If the driver had lived, he would have been charged. But his parents, like those of The Crash film, would have made excuses based on the hero worship that followed.
People knew how I felt in 2011. As a member of the community, I did not attend vigils or fundraisers. I openly disagreed with the father about new laws on teenage drivers. I already went through the "parent of teenagers" stage.
In 2012, because the Atlantic City Press filed a request for public records, the public learned a little bit more of the reasons behind the crash.
Hmm, something did smell. It showed up in toxicology reports. The driver was dead. Three tested positive for marijuana. The spin continued. Not sure what the results of the survivors were or who supplied it. We would know if it had been a gun.
The Crash of Netflix infamy or the crash of Mainland Regional High School of 2011:
Would there any difference in public response had the weapon of death been a gun or a knife?
Four dead at a high school is usually called a massacre.
Intentional murder, The Crash, with a gun would be more than 15 years.
Accidents with cars when the driver tests positive and deaths occur, certainly some sort of prosecutorial judgement.
National news reported on the events on the crash in August 2011.
Fatal New Jersey Crash Spotlights Young Drivers Law - CBS Philadelphia https://share.google/llWvt2gOQlJbC7fkX ( copy and paste)
Those survivors are adults now, maybe with kids. Do they still romanticize the events? Yesterday's news, sadly can be tomorrows' headlines. School violence with a car.
Marian R. Carlino
June 29, 2026