Adam Zick

Adam Zick only got to be sixteen for three months. He was riding in a car with two buddies when the driver looked back to talk to the guy in the back seat. When he did this, the driver’s hands followed his head and the car moved from its lane. Adam yelled to the driver to “look out” and those were his last words.

The driver overcorrected his mistake and ultimately lost control of the vehicle. They were going 64 mph in a 55 mph zone on a paved country road with very steep farm ditches on either side. When the out-of-control vehicle left the road it overturned 1 1/2 times and landed upside down on the incline with the primary impact point being the front passenger side where Adam was sitting.

Adam didn’t die right away. It took the paramedics a long time to get him out of the car. As he was being air lifted to the hospital, they determined that there was nothing more they could do to save him and he died somewhere in the air over southwestern Minnesota.

Most teenagers that die in car crashes are not buckled in; Adam was wearing his seatbelt Most accidents that kill teenagers happen on weekend nights; Adam died on a Tuesday, during daylight hours. Oftentimes alcohol or drugs are a factor in serious teen accidents; blood tests showed definitively that alcohol or drug use was not involved.

The driver was just not paying attention. Distractions are a leading cause of fatal accidents. Using the phone, too many people in the car, loud music, and many other things can compete for the driver’s attention when it should be focused solely on the task of driving.