Teens Die in After Hours Crash on Bobsled Track

[Always Sunny]

Generally I don't consider myself a heartless person. However, about 90% of the comments on this event seems to a.) be putting the blame on the facility for not having more security in place, or b.) the old "boys-will-be-boys", or c.) don't act like you never did anything stupid in your youth.

Truly, I believe, there is no one here to blame but 8 teenagers who made the worst choice of their live, costing two their own. Since when is trespassing on a professional closed track at 1:30am just "one of those things kids do"?

Someone could enter my home while I'm away and wind up killing themselves. Is it my fault for not putting an electrified fence around my home, a military level security system, and a moat around the place? (in the eyes of the law, I'm sure it is unfortunately).

Professionals have been killed on the same types of tracks with years of training and proper equipment. It's like buying a snorkel and water wings and jumping into a shark tank hoping for the best.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/two-teens- ... -1.2767455

Calgary police are investigating after two teens died and six others sustained injuries in what officials are calling an "after-hours incident" on a local luge and bobsled track.

According to a police press release, emergency crews received a call at about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday from the WinSport athletics facility, which was closed to the public at the time.

Paramedics arrived within minutes to find a group of older teenage males at the site, EMS Public Education Officer Adam Loria said on Saturday morning.

The crews declared two teens dead on the scene, and quickly moved to triage six other injured victims, Loria said.

"The first paramedic crew was able to triage and immediately call for six additional ambulances," he said. "Unfortunately they determined that two of (the teens) were deceased on scene, given the injuries they'd sustained."

Calgary Police Sgt. Paul Wyatt said police believe the teens used a store-bought toboggan to slide down the bobsled run, but crashed into a gate midway down the track.

Wyatt said officials believe the "impact of the gate" caused the injuries and fatalities.

"At this point in the investigation, it's believed at least eight teenagers, all males, entered the property after hours and used a personal sled/toboggan in an attempt to go down the bobsled track," the police press release said. "Part way down, the group hit a large gate used to separate the bobsled and luge tracks."

Wyatt said one of the teens was in critical condition, and five others were being treated for their injuries.

Loria said three were rushed to hospital in serious condition with "soft tissue injuries," and the other three were sent to hospital with minor injuries. None of the injuries are considered life threatening, Loria said.

Wyatt said the teens are suffering mental trauma from the event.

"They're severely traumatized themselves, never mind the injuries," he said.

The teens have not been identified, but Calgary Police Insp. Kelly Campbell told The Canadian Press that they are between the ages of 16 and 19.

Wyatt said police are now reviewing security footage from WinSport Canada and trying to figure out exactly what happened.

Police initially said two other teens may have witnessed in the incident, but officers later told The Canadian Press that they were no longer looking for anybody else.

Speaking at a Saturday evening press conference, WinSport Canada's CEO offered condolences for the victims' families.

“Today is the most tragic day in WinSport’s history,” WinSport president and CEO Barry Heck said. “As a father, first and foremost, my heart goes out to the [victims’] families tonight.”

Heck insisted that safety is a focus “in every aspect of our organization” and that WinSport will conduct its own review to “tell us what happened and how they were able to gain access.”

After-hours security measures include two “highly trained” security personnel on site “during the evening hours” after the park has closed, Heck said.

The track, which was built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, remains closed for the time being.

[Rosemary1]

Agree, if the facility had appropriate warning signs and teens like they often do, chose to ignore them, can't blame facility for what was a terrible needless tragedy.

[I Think]

Hey, good on the kids for letting it all hang out, They took risks, much like you and I did when we used to drive way too fast.
They did not endanger anyone but themselves, it would appear that they did no, or minimal damage.
Two of them did not make it..................... but they died doing something that must have been great fun.

[jamapple]

Hey, good on the kids for letting it all hang out, They took risks, much like you and I did when we used to drive way too fast.
They did not endanger anyone but themselves, it would appear that they did no, or minimal damage.
Two of them did not make it..................... but they died doing something that must have been great fun.

Yes, good on those 2 kids for letting it all hang out! Now, they're dead!
And, yes, I could only imagine how much "fun" hitting that gate must have been. Good times, for sure!!

[I Think]

Jamapple, young people are hard wired to take risks, you can observe this in the behaviour of herd animals.
The alpha male defends his herd, the young males risk their lives to get their genes into the pool.
They are not wired to think about the future consequences of their present acts, that comes around the late 20's in humans.

Two kids dying is not going to change the world. The effect on their immediate families is tragic.

[vinnied]

Still a sad story no matter how you look at it, a family has lost 2 of there children in a heartbeat for doing something stupid. But, It is true, Kids do do stupid stuff all the time. *bleep* some adults still do stupid stuff. But for the most part, they live to talk about it. unfortunately, Some do not. You live on the edge, you takes your chances.
In saying that though, I can see this going to court and the park owners having to pay out for someone elses stupidity, just because the system is so messed up.
Same idea as the abandoned suspension bridges here. eventually some one will die. Then we wait and see how it plays out

[V-Rated]

Well said ALWAYS SUNNY! I have to agree. People are always too quick to point fingers at everyone else for their mistakes. It is terrible that two people lost their lives, there really is nobody to blame but themselves as they made the choice to sneak in and take a run on the track. People need to start being responsible for their actions and stop playing the *victim*.
How many times have we all done something so stupid and look back wondering how we survived.
My heart aches for the family and the friends that have to live with that experience.
~V~

[fluffy]

In saying that though, I can see this going to court and the park owners having to pay out for someone elses stupidity, just because the system is so messed up.

It's like having a swimming pool in your back yard, if you do you have a duty of care to restrict open access within reason, as it's not an unrealistic possibility that someone may trespass. For residences high fences and locked gates seem to be an accepted norm,the thought being that anyone deliberately defeating those measures does so at their own risk. In the case of the slide park you can bet their security will come under very close scrutiny, families will be looking for someone to blame other than their loved ones, and the lawyers will be circling like wolves. A couple of questions I might ask would be about the gate that the kids hit, and whether or not it was necessary to have it closed when the park was not operating, and how much effort did the kids have to put in to gain access to the slides ?

[LTD]

how much effort hmmm if they climbed over a fence that's enough security they trespassed did something that while being fun at the time ended in tragedy its unfortunate but its nobody's fault but there own

[I Think]

Mid '70's a friend was building a sail boat, they went to the house for lunch, some people went into the boat shed, climbed up on deck, leaned on a railing (the pullpit) which, delivered that morning, was not installed yet, it and one of them fell, friends insurance paid the twerp $100,000.

[jamapple]

Mid '70's a friend was building a sail boat, they went to the house for lunch, some people went into the boat shed, climbed up on deck, leaned on a railing (the pullpit) which, delivered that morning, was not installed yet, it and one of them fell, friends insurance paid the twerp $100,000.

Great! Now we'll have a lineup of dummies trying to do something to hurt themselves, (hopefully without killing themselves), to make 100-500K..

[Ka-El]

This is a very sad story, and it would be unfair to place responsibility on the facility as there is no one here to blame but the teenagers who took the risk – but I Think is right in saying this is not completely unusual or unheard of teenager type of behavior. I did some crazy stupid things in my teens, including driving way too fast with way too much undue care and attention. We also used to do “car-surfing” (where you stood on the roof of a moving car like it was a surfboard). Smart? Hardly. Exciting? You bet, and obviously very dangerous too. I remember when watching this news story my wife and I looking at each other, smiling and saying “of course I would have been right in there”

Too bad about those gates, and my heart goes out to all the survivors and the families. No, I don’t think it would have been fun seeing those gates coming at you and then crashing into them. Sadly, no one in that group even thought about that possibility.

[Always Sunny]

Hey, good on the kids for letting it all hang out, They took risks, much like you and I did when we used to drive way too fast.
They did not endanger anyone but themselves, it would appear that they did no, or minimal damage.
Two of them did not make it..................... but they died doing something that must have been great fun.

Actually, as much as it may shock you, no, not all of us took to the road like speed demons. This is just another example of how so many are using their own foolish youthful choices to justify these kinds of actions.

In terms of infrastructure, you're right. The damage to the bobsled track is minimal. You know, if you include 8 bodies slamming into a gate at god only knows how many kilometres per hour.

But what's far more important than the damage done to the facility will be the lasting damage to the first responders and families these people have left behind. When the news sites all say "due to injuries, identification has not yet been determined" you can probably imagine what kind of sight that was to come upon.

[Ka-El]

Actually, as much as it may shock you, no, not all of us took to the road like speed demons. This is just another example of how so many are using their own foolish youthful choices to justify these kinds of actions.

No, not all teenagers are risk-takers, but a good many of them are. Hell, by my twenties I had smartened up somewhat but I was still racing on quarter mile tracks and jumping out of perfectly good airplanes - on purpose (my crazy *bleep* brother was scaling rock faces). I don't use these examples to justify the decision made by these teens to break in and ride that track - only to partly explain it. There are always going to be risk takers in this world, and not all of them will live to see old age. Still, obviously very sad for the survivors and the families and, as you note, even the first responders.

[vinnied]

I imagine this incident being eerily similar to the Georgian luger that died at the Vancouver Olympics.
if anyone has ever seen that uncensored video, you'll have a good idea of what probably happened to these boys.