Re: [AMC-list] Tom Bunsey & family tragedy

["Eddie Stakes" <eddiestakes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marc, you are so right. I have a email from Tom Bunsey here never answered. As for elderly 
drivers, I hope this one who wiped out Tom Bunsey's whole family is held accountable. 
Probably will be charged with vehicular manslaughter not sure what Ohio(?) laws have on 
books when someone kills someone with car, accident or not, sober or not.

Just today April 27th, 2011 not one but TWO elderly drivers slammed into stuff here, only 
reason was on news was it was buildings. One wiped out Yogurtland and Lab Tests when the 
old man 'accidentally hit the gas instead of brake pedal' it was reported. Here is video 
of it:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=8097348&rss=rss-ktrk-video-8097348#global

another elderly person, a lady, hit another building here in Houston today also. Get this, 
about SAME time old man hit other building!

http://www.click2houston.com/news/27689591/detail.html

Yet, another elderly person, a lady, got hit on Gessner about mile from me:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8096585

You bring up valid point about old folks driving. Go do a search on www.youtube.com for 
"old man driving wrong way on freeway" and watch it light up with videos.

Can't indite all of the elderly drivers though for actions of few. And as time goes on, 
and population ages, more and more of us will fall into that category. I can tell you for 
fact that my dad, God Bless him, fought us (and State of Texas) tooth & nail to not have 
driver license taken away. He had been driving since 11 years old. And at time, when he 
turned 69.....this old Nash man was adamant no one would take away his license.

His reflexes were not what were during WW/2. Eyesight was not what it was when AMC was 
formed. He still had all his conicas....but seemed to bump his AMC (70 Javelin & 79 AMX) 
cars into more and more things. And we were worried that it would amount to something, he 
would either hurt himself....or some innocent bystander, such as you see with Bunsey 
tragedy.

I just can't believe Tom gone. Wiped out. Vanished. And while I never met his wife, I do 
remember talking about his kids, they were babies at the time, and boy, was he beaming 
with pride.
My God, two young men who could have changed the future, who knows what they would have 
amounted to. We will never know now. I can't even begin to comprehend what uncles, aunts, 
cousins, relatives are going thru, their greif must be simply ovewhelming.

You mention drunken driving. I have been a bar manager & bartender almost 30 years. And 
here in Harris County, Houston, Texas......we lead the NATION....yes, we have dubious 
distinction of leading the United states in DWI fatalities:

http://www.houstoncaraccidentlawyerblog.com/2010/07/harris-county-leads-the-nation.html

more recent:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7962234

I could write a book about how many near misses, close calls, and stuff I have seen 
including carnage on Houston highways on way home from work thru the years. Unfortunately 
some of those people might have been sitting at my bar hours earlier too.

And speaking of speed....we are fixing to raise the speed limit in some areas here of 
Texas to 80-85MPH. Long stretches of highway where nothing but mesquite and tunbleweeds 
grow although some areas are inhabited and small towns exist. But not uncommon to see 
people driving 80MPH on Katy Freeway 2 miles south of me anyways in Houston.

Back to old folks driving. Ironically two of my last several aMCs bought were from old 
folks that no longer drive. The 82 Concord wagon, 74 Hornet Sportabout and incoming 68 
Ambassador all original owner cars. All of the owners.....stopped driving voluntarily due 
to what Marc mentions, they just could not handle rigors of operating a motor vehicle 
anymore. Sure wished the old man who killed Tom Bunsey & family would have given up pride, 
not been stubborn and just done same, we would have had several innocent people alive as 
we all write about how we all might have remembered this gentleman in our various AMC 
crossings with him thru the decades.

I guess in everyone's shock, then anger, then sadness about whole situation hell, not sure 
what we can say or do to change anything, maybe simply letting our thoughts and stories 
about Tom out is good therapy perhaps.

It wasn't lost that on a day when many of use were celebrating the Resurrection of Christ, 
Easter...
this happened. Read what a 12 year old classmate said of the boys:

http://www.madison-press.com/news/local-news/school-reacts-to-death-of-bunsey-twins/
Eddie Stakes
713.464.8825
eddiestakes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.planethoustonamx.com
===================================
Marc Montoni wrote:

I've known Tom for many years, and he was a friend.  A few weeks ago, he sent me a check 
to purchase a 3-speed with overdrive, and I've been prepping it for shipping.

Now I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes, alternately looking at the check he wrote me 
in his own handwriting, and photos on the web of those two beautiful little boys who died 
with their mother and father, and of course thinking back on all the conversations I've 
had over the years with Tom.

Tom was full of AMC wisdom, and always lent a friendly hand to anyone who needed 
information.  He was good with conversions -- he was one of the first folks to write up a 
Ford 5-speed conversion in his AMX.  I still remember that writeup many years later, 
published in one of the AMO newsletters.

I think I will remember the sound of Tom's radio-announcer dulcet voice from our phone 
conversations for a long time.

Guess I won't be cashing that check, either.

I'm seeing very foggy right now, but for the moment, all I can say is rage is what I feel 
right now, and I hope they prosecute that bastard who wiped out Tom and his family, so he 
can't hurt anyone else.

The Bunsey family is now the third time in less than a year that a friend (or several of 
them) was stolen from me by an elderly driver who shouldn't have been driving.  In anger, 
today I tallied up on paper all of the times I've been in accidents.  I was at fault in 
two very minor accidents when I was on my learner's permit in 1980 (I backed into someone 
behind me at about 3 mph when I went too far into an intersection; and I drove into a 
ditch one night, with no damage), with only one exception, all of the other 7 accidents 
I've been in in my entire life has involved an elderly driver hitting *me*.  The one 
exception was a woman who was yakking away on her cellphone who rear-ended me.

Seniors may appear to be "safe" drivers because they rarely have accidents, but I'd be 
willing to bet that's because seniors know already that they're becoming dangers to other, 
and they voluntarily cut way back on their driving.  Drivers over the .08 legal limit --  
despite what MADD will say -- are less likely to get in an at-fault accident **per mile 
they drive inebriated** than seniors older than 70 while perefectly sober.

Remember all those "little old lady" Rambler stories we grew up with?  Those 20-year old 
cars that were owned by 80 year-old grandmas, who had driven the car all of 30k -- only 
500 of it in the last year?  Well, there ya go.

I took my mother's keys away from her when she was 72, as soon as I discovered she had put 
multiple dents on a car I'd bought her.  She had a locksmith make a new set.  Then I 
pulled the coil wire.  She tricked some guy into reconnecting it.  Then I disabled it in a 
way it would have taken a professional mechanic a day of diagnosis to figure out, and that 
finally did it -- she started taking the bus to her destinations.

Let's take what happened to Tom and his family as a call to action.  If you have aging 
parents who shouldn't be driving, get them off the road.  Find a physician who is diligent 
about getting incompetent drivers off the road, take your relative to them for assessment, 
and be proactive by telling him *why* you think they are unsafe and should be off the 
road.

By the way, I don't believe the deaths can be attributed to not wearing seat belts.  Jeeps 
were never known for their crash protection; and of course they didn't get air bags until 
1995.  The chassis is a French-designed, light semi-unibody, and they come apart pretty 
easily in a crash.

http://www2.nbc4i.com/mgmedia/image/500/0/53142/madison-4x-crash/

Ask a cop.  Collisions where one or more of the vehicles are traveling at a high rate of 
speed (above about 45-50 mph) *often* involve fatalities, regardless of belts, crumple 
zones, front or side curtain air bags, and so on.
P.S.  I'll miss ya, Tom.

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