A 19 yo runs into the back of a road train. It seems as if speed was involved, and possibly alcohol, drugs or driver error. The media outlet reporting this reports expert opinion that it was 'lucky the driver wasn't wearing a seat belt.'
The driver may well have survived this accident by not wearing a seatbelt, and so being thrown clear of the accident by virtue of his ability to quickly eject from the driver's seat. However, it is without a doubt, that had he been following all the road rules, he would never have required that quick ejection ability.
Road use requires seatbelts.
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Reckless, almost gleeful reporting of a Priest reacting to assault from skateboarders continues. While not acceptable, the priest's actions are explicable. The cause of outrage is betrayal of understanding or agreement. The kids knew what they were doing was wrong, and that they could get away with it. The priest clearly thought they shouldn't get away with it. The press find it entertaining. Of course, media entertainment threatens the welfare of us all.
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Driver cheats death in horror smash
By Tiina Urvet
A MAN has miraculously survived being thrown 15m from his ute when it slammed into the back of a road train in the Nothern Territory yesterday.
The blue Toyota twin-cab utility the 19-year-old was driving was not recognisable - all that could be seen was a twisted heap of metal on the road.
Road safety experts said last night that if the man was wearing a seatbelt he would have died, the Northern Territory News reported.
The man, believed to be from Wulagi, in Darwin, was being prepared for surgery at Royal Darwin Hospital late yesterday afternoon.
He suffered a fractured pelvis and a large gash to the head, believed to have been from when his head hit the roof when he was flung from the car.
Last night, he remained in a serious but stable condition. Police are hailing the fact anyone survived the mangled wreckage as a miracle.
Senior Constable Gary Wencke was one of the first officers on the scene and said his first thought was someone must have died. "The mere fact that he has survived is marvellous," he said.
"He is a very lucky man. What some people are walking away from these days is just miraculous."
The road train was travelling outbound on the Stuart Hwy and had stopped at the traffic lights at the intersection of Tulagi Rd when the ute ran into the back of it about 6.25am.
Police, Fire and Rescue and St John Ambulance attended the scene and took the injured driver to Royal Darwin. The driver of the road train was not injured, but was in shock.
Snr Const Wencke said it was not known what caused the crash, but speed and a lack of concentration were contributing factors.
He said police were awaiting blood test results to see whether alcohol was involved.
"At this stage it appears the man has overtook another car at speed and then slipped back into the lane in front of it before smashing into the back of the truck,'' he said.
Melbourne's swearing priest speaks out
By Carly Crawford
THE Catholic priest at the centre of the skateboarder slur scandal has fled Victoria.
Monsignor Geoff Baron said yesterday a four-year campaign of harassment by a mob of skateboarders provoked his notorious racist tirade.
The Herald Sun spoke to the priest at his brother's home in Sydney this week.
Monsignor Baron revealed the youths he sledged with racist abuse had taunted him and parish workers for years.
One worker said staff at St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne had been baited and abused - even physically threatened - by the camera-toting skaters since 2004.
But Monsignor Baron, whose tirade was posted on YouTube, said their campaign of abuse stretched back further than three years.
"Make it four," he said.
Monsignor Baron has apologised for his actions and admitted the drama had hurt him.
"I'm in a vulnerable position at the moment," he said.
"There is a very broad context to this and it hasn't come out yet.
"I'm on leave at the moment and I've got a lot to get through."
Melbourne's Vicar-General, Monsignor Les Tomlinson, confirmed there had been problems with property damage at the church.
"I'm aware there have been issues," Monsignor Tomlinson said.
"I've seen the damage they've caused and my own impression is they present a risk to themselves and those who use the grounds."
Church faces huge damages bill
The archdiocese estimates the skateboarders have cost $32,000 in damage.
The church has spent about $7000 skateboard-proofing gardens by fitting walls with steel fins designed as deterrents.
It has also spent $5000 on repairs to damaged walls and estimates existing damage would cost up to $20,000 to fix.
One worker said complaints had been made to police and the Melbourne City Council.
She said no action had been taken because the skateboarders usually fled before authorities arrived.
Police met St Patrick's clergy on Wednesday.
Priest 'endured 20-minute tirade'
A witness told how she saw the priest endure a 20-minute tirade from the skateboarders on the Grand Prix weekend in March last year.
Kristy Camilleri and her boyfriend, Paul Spiteri, had been leaving the cathedral after a sight-seeing visit when they heard screaming.
"We heard the priest screaming on the footpath and there were five or six kids - the priest was in hysterics," Ms Camilleri said.
She said he had been appealing for them to stop skating on the church's bluestone walls around the grounds.
"He was polite. There was no swearing," Ms Camilleri said.
Ms Camilleri said the youths refused to stop skating and had yelled obscenities at Monsignor Baron.
Youths 'waited for reactions'
They would switch on the camera only when he reacted, she said.
"They had a video camera and a dog," Ms Camilleri said.
"At the time they were abusing him, he asked if he could use my phone to call triple 0.
"I had to dial it because he didn't know how to use the mobile phone."
The skaters fled soon after, Ms Camilleri said, and Monsignor Baron thanked them for their help.
One parish worker said one had menaced her with his skateboard, raising it and saying: "It'll take your head off."
Another had bared his backside at the priest, accusing him of pedophilia.
Skaters were often seen dripping wax on the benches and low walls in the grounds to allow them to perform tricks on the property.
Thank heaven for mad priests
By Brendan Shanahan
I MUST be getting old.
When footage was released this week of a group of skateboarders going toe-to-toe with Monsignor Geoffrey Baron, Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, I was prepared to be outraged.
But, after viewing the stoush on YouTube, I think I speak for many when I say: I'm with the padre on this one.
Monsignor Baron has, as it turns out, a history of run-ins with skateboarders - boys with the power, it seems, to turn him into a sort of priestly Incredible Hulk.
For this he has been suspended and forced to undergo counselling.
Firstly, I would like to point out that anyone shocked that a priest could flip out like this clearly did not grow up with Catholic priests.
On the whole, the priests of my childhood were exceptionally kind yet, to varying degrees, completely bonkers.
Most drank too much, all smoked like '40s movie stars and when they swore they did so creatively.
Mad priests are one of the compensations for being a Catholic and without them many a memoir would be short a chapter.
However, in a world in which irascibility and eccentricity are now crimes, Father Baron has been hauled over the coals.
In recent days, youth workers and psychologists have been tripping over themselves to condemn him for the damage his words could have done to the notoriously delicate psyches of the teenagers.
In Melbourne's Herald Sun, adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg criticised the priest's conflict resolution" skills, noting with concern that he "violated the basic tenets of adult/adolescent communication".
Sure. Then again, one might also argue that the kids violated the basic tenets of skater/priest communication by turning up and skating around the grounds of his church, knowing full well it was guaranteed to make him chuck a mental, then baiting him further by calling him a paedophile and throwing stuff at him.
"He's notorious," announced one of Father Baron's victims on a Sky News report.
"If you skate past, the crazy old man comes out."
Aw, show me on the dolly where the priest hurt your feelings.
Monsignor Baron has suffered humiliation out of all proportion to his offence - being labelled a racist old curmudgeon who hates skateboarders is debasing for a man in his position but not, to my mind, a crime.
If it were, half the retirement villages in the country would be under house arrest.
Thank God priests are still as I remember them.
What a pity skateboarders have become such a bunch of sooks
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