Posted on 05/22/2025 9:12:43 AM PDT by Red Badger
Three Massachusetts high school seniors killed in a deadly crash during their Florida spring break last month were barreling down the road at a frightening 110 mph, in the dark, before the fatal collision, according to investigators.
James McIntosh, 18, was driving on US 98 near Panama City “at an excessive speed” with three other teens when the vehicle crashed into a tractor-trailer that was making a U-turn on April 21, according to a crash report from the Florida Highway Patrol obtained by the Boston Globe.
McIntosh “failed to slow to traffic turning in front of him” moments before the wreck that killed him, Hannah Wasserman, 17, and state diving champion Maisey O’Donnell, 18.
O’Donnell — a star athlete at Concord-Carlisle High School — was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital three days after the crash. A fourth, unidentified 18-year-old senior was critically injured in the crash, but no update was given on their condition, according to the report.
Investigators found that Wasserman was the only person not wearing a seatbelt during the crash.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I’ll tell ya this: when they all spotted that truck in front of them they knew they were dead. That’s a loooong few seconds too…
At my daughter’s Catholic high school, every year during the last week of school, the school would have the cops tow a car, completely totalled by a drunk driver to the entrance area of the school, in order to impress upon the kids what could happen if you drink and drive.
“In high school driver’s ed we were shown Highway Patrol films of horrible crashes and they were bloody and gruesome and we knew they weren’t fake Hollywood blood and gore”
ditto ... if i remember correctly, one such film was titled “Signal 9” ... we just called it “Crispy Critters” ... gory yes, but i’m not sure it really made any real impression on driving behavior ... after all, kids of that age just assume that they are immortal ...
Pun intended, I'm sure.
Terrible story. I keep reiterating to my son about the dangers speed can cause. He’ll be 16 soon. I may have to show him this article and the pictures. It’s not the speed that kills, but the sudden stop that you can’t see coming.
“””Three Massachusetts high school seniors killed in a deadly crash during their Florida spring break last month”””
It appears spring breaker ages are declining. Why did their parents allow them to travel to Florida?
I wonder what the vehicle was but I can’t tell from the pictures and the article says SUV which is a pretty general description. Electric vehicles are software regulated not to go faster than a particular speed, which for my car is 108. My car is also called an SUV although the engine is an electric motor. It’s pretty easy to get an electric vehicle to go really fast.
Excessive money and insufficient brains..................
What many ppl don’t realize is that the force of inertia in a sudden stop is enough to rupture cell walls liquefying internal organs to a soupy mush.
Very similar to an explosion. The shockwave itself is enough to kill. Turns the organs to a soupy mix with globs and chunks. Outside the non-alived person can appear perfectly fine.
Same.
I recall in high school back in the '60s we were shown a black & white film called "Death on the Highway." One scene showed two teenagers cut in half by a car crash.
When I lived in Seattle, the go to term was “driving while Asian”
Here in eastern Washington, its “driving while Mexican”
I remember those. I’ve always been a buckle-up-before-I-start-driving type, after I was in a car accident where the vehicle I was a passenger in flipped over 1-1/4 times. That seatbelt came in pretty handy that day, and they’ve improved since then.
My older sister, on the other hand, hates them, for pretty ridiculous reasons. They wrinkle her clothes or they just pinch at her. When she’s in the car, I tell her I’m not moving until she puts her seatbelt on, and I can wait all day, or just not go if she wants to be stubborn about it.
F=ma
I was a CDL Driving istructor teahing an 8 hour class in Driver safety. Probably 25 years ago..I always showed the the movie “Room to LIVE”. The officer did a very good job. I am sure there are better produced ones out there now but they should be required by any Mother and Father before giving themn some complete instructions on every detail of the cockpit before letting get behind the when with you in the passenger seat. Teach them a pretrip inspection. Teach them to park, teach them to back into a space. Or hire someone who will and require reports on Progress, My boss and I used to have arguments over folks I flunked out. Why would I allow a person to drive your vehicle when I sure as hell wouldn’t allow them to drive mine. Its not a game. Its is a privledge, not a right.
Well a sad story, barreling down the road at 110 mph is a frightening speed? Dang I wonder what this writer would say about me in my high school days when I routinely ‘barreled’ down the freeway at 120+ mph when I got off work after midnight and I was just seventeen. Kids do stupid things, unfortunately for these three the stupid caught up to them.
“O’Donnell — a star athlete at Concord-Carlisle High School — was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital three days after the crash.”
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That seems a little odd.
“ Room to live”
Is the movie I remember seeing in class.
It was done very well and scared me.
I wear my seatbelt.
Oh, no. On a recent FL crash thats getting very little attention...
I hope they got good selfies for their ‘likes’
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