Re: [AMC-list] Bunsey Family Tragedy

[Marc Montoni <Freedom@xxxxxxxx>]

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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MARC MONTONI
Harrisonburg VA
http://FreeVirginia.blogspot.com/
Freedom.  Responsibility.  www.LP.org 
Cu vi parolas Esperanton?
I'd rather push a Rambler than drive a Toyota.
Visit www.AMCRC.com or www.AMONational.com .
http://RichmondRambler.tripod.com/
http://Hasdrubal.tripod.com/Index.htm
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