Car hits girls sunbathing in road

Impromptu tanning salon

Two 13-year-old girls sunbathing in a rural road were struck by a car Sunday. Police in Beaver County, PA., said that the pair were in fair condition at Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital. The driver was one of the teens' cousins; he was questioned and released by authorities. "They were upset," another relative told WTAE-TV. "It was like the worst thing I've ever seen... I was like crying real bad. Shaking."

⟿ Follow Rob Beschizza on Twitter.

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Donald Petersen

As a species, why do we constantly need to be reminded not to do things like this? :^(

Edit: Also, nice of WTAE to identify the girls by name. Certainly, nothing but good will come of that.
- willyboy
  
  They probably have a good explanation. For instance, how do we know that the road was not made of sand.
http://blog.nella.org Jeff

Rob, I come to Boing Boing for quirky interesting things. This is just sad and stupid, and doesn’t belong on here.
- Brainspore
  
  Another one makes the list!
  - http://twitter.com/hoffasaurusx Michael Hassall
    
    I’m unsure of the purpose of the list… Is it illustrative of the relatively small number of people disappointed in the site? Or something else? It seems to come off slightly like a ‘Name and Shame’ of people who criticise posts. Am I going to emerge on a list of people who have criticised the list?
    - Brainspore
      
      Confusion noted.
      - usonia
        
        I’m disappointed that Boing Boing isn’t an ice cream flavor (possibly composed of flavors of wonderful things: hibiscus, MSG, caramel, porkfat, etc.). Does that count?
      - Warren_Terra
        
        How many layers of meta are you prepared to go? What if I were – and this is purely a hypothetical – to ask about the usefulness of a list of people who’ve questioned the purpose of a list of people who’ve expressed disappointment in Boing Boing?
      - Sparrow
        
        I’m disappointed that the list is not hosted on a platform that allows me to like entries or make comments, but not disappointed with bOING bOING itself. Does this mean you’ll need to make another list?
      - Pedantic Douchebag
        
        I am disappointed that I’m not on this list, in a red, bold font, preferably Comic Sans.
    - D Wyatt
      
      Serious douche-baggery going on around the boing lately. “the list” Seems editors thought it would be a good idea to make themselves a special place to make fun of people for their opinions on shitty boing boing threads…. Because thats better than listening and adapting.
      
      Maybe the readers should make a “Boings Worst” list and LINK to it, so that all the pathetic threads and idiot things done by editors/founders/moderators will forever be on display front and center….. Just click their cartoon picture and see a nice list of ignorant things that person has done to its readers/consumers…. Or in a small few’s case, the great things they have done/said/posted.
      
      That way people can see who they are truly dealing with on this site and easily separate the good from the bad. Thereby skipping hours of anger and wasted time reading ridiculous articles or arguing with the uninformed who also happen to be in charge.
      
      I would have a nice list of things to add to such a list.
      Dont get me wrong I like bb, I just think certain people abuse their (ban/block/remove) powers or fan following to stifle good people with informed opinions simply because they dont agree with them.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        There’s already a website that displays “all the pathetic threads and idiot things done by
        editors/founders/moderators.” It’s here.
      - http://www.facebook.com/people/Tim-Quinn/528943941 Tim Quinn
        
        assume much?
      - Ipo
        
        I’m sure your subscription fee will be reimbursed.
      - twianto
        
        Ipo, pretty much the weakest argument ever (note: I’m not saying anything about the validity of the criticism mentioned here, JFTR). Using that reasoning, nobody should ever criticize Limbaugh’s show and should be promptly ridiculed for doing so.
      - joeposts
        
        Because thats better than listening and adapting.
        
        I certainly agree. I shared a good gut laugh with someone when I showed her that list, and the laughter led to sex, and that’s why I come to Boing Boing. I don’t come here to read comments by people who don’t approve of Boing Boing’s response to critical comments by people who don’t like the website. I come here to get laid.
    - http://redesigned.com redesigned
      
      when people are doing stupid immature things and are acting badly, the natural response is to do the same back to them.
      
      so in that respect “the list” acts as vent/pressure release valve for the moderators/editors by providing exactly that function.
  - http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
    
    Oh Imma get that list a me. Lists love me. Love me long time.
- Mark_Frauenfelder
  
  Noted!
- willyboy
  
  Find me
Slowermo

See also sunbathing on train tracks:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100875845
Cowicide

It’s all fun and games sunbathing in the middle of a road until a relative runs you over.
- Ipo
  
  Relatively dangerous.
Antinous / Moderator

If the girls are in fair condition, they must not have been in the sun very long.
- http://twitter.com/gratefulvideo gratefulvideo
  
  Well done.
  - Cowicide
    
    He really burned those girls.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      It was a rare opportunity.
Scott Herbert

How appropriate that this story is reposted on “Boing Boing”.
- Brainspore
  
  Thankfully the girls weren’t more seriously injured or it would have been posted on “Reddit Asphalt.”
http://twitter.com/jen_canary Jennifer Ford

No one in this family comes off looking very smart. Or observant.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Having grown up in the middle of nowhere, I can verify that people tend to be semi-conscious most of the time.
  - willyboy
    
    Well, this is not in the middle of Nowhere. This is in the middle of Beaver county.
    - Warren_Terra
      
      If only they were better read!
      
      We can’t stop here! This is ~~Bat~~ Beaver country!
      - Cowicide
        
        If only they were better read!
        
        They thought they’d be better brown.
    - Cowicide
      
      Don’t even get me started on beavers. Those are some mean sons-a-bitches. Buck teeth from hell ready to plunge into your ankle like a defenseless sapling.
      - Warren_Terra
        
        Remember the kitsch song “Vampire Beavers”?
        
        … oh, hey, it’s on Youtube.
  - SomeGuyNamedMark
    
    But at least you were tan.
http://www.geekforce.com Hugh Johnson

Urban Darwinism in action.
- Brainspore
  
  “Urban”?
  - BombBlastLightingWaltz
    
    H.J. means Rural.
    
    Wonder why both fell asleep. Rather sketchy.
    - Warren_Terra
      
      I’m guessing they fell asleep because they were lying down in the hot sun.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        It only hit 62° there on Sunday. More likely they’re ectotherms and were sluggish from the cold.
    - Cowicide
      
      Wonder why both fell asleep.
      
      Jenkem?
http://twitter.com/WpgCameraMan Rock Hardwood

It being all family related, I suspect they were up to shenanigans and came up with this more plausible story to explain the injuries.
- bob d
  
  I dunno. A relative some years back was telling me about how a local couple were killed by being run over while they were having sex in the middle of the road one evening. Infrequently traveled roads lead to people doing unwise things on them…
  - Matthew Elmslie
    
    ”No one will be watching us…”
  - Beanolini
    
    Infrequently traveled roads lead to people doing unwise things on them…
    
    A friend of mine was of the opinion that one would obtain a unique perspective on the world by lying on one’s back in the middle of a road, and looking along the white line. I, and a number of my friends and relatives, can confirm that this is correct.
    - Ipo
      
      It hypnotizes chickens .
      
      So, that is my theory now of what happened to those girls.
      - Cowicide
        
        It hypnotizes chickens .
        
        I’ll just leave this here…
        
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvUBf5l7Vw&ob=av3n
Smash Martian

There was a great series of road safety awareness adverts aired on Imparja and NITV a few years back including a “Don’t Sleep on the Road” ad featuring Reggae Dave.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qClBRaretEk
Assault_is_eternal

“Surely there’s no harm in laying the middle of a public street?”
http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

Cut it out, Pennsyltucky
- usonia
  
  Western Massylvanimontampshaine
- http://twitter.com/bbum Bill Bumgarner
  
  …. where the capital was in Idiocracy.
Julia Singh

Reason #3,647 as to why I left Pittsburgh…
- Donald Petersen
  
  What do they know in Pittsburgh?
Molechaser

Before WWI, the term pedestrian didn’t exist in English: all users of the road were equal. I think we can all agree that the assumption that cars are the “proper” users of the road has gone too far when non-motored persons can no longer safely sunbathe in the street.
- estragon_nyc
  
  We can’t encourage motorists to sunbathe in the street either. That would have a detrimental effect on the flow of traffic.
- dainel
  
  Before motor vehicles existed, you could safely sleep in on the road … If only there were no horses and non-motored vehicles on them.
- Beanolini
  
  Before WWI, the term pedestrian didn’t exist in English
  
  Websters’ 1913 dictionary would disagree with you. It seems that the word was in use in the 18th century.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Even in the ancient world, walkers were distinguished from riders or people in sedan chairs.
- Pedantic Douchebag
  
  I think we can all agree
  
  Firstly, no. Secondly, I’ll bet there are less than ten actual situations where that phrase would be accurate. Maybe less than five.
jimh

Wow, I cannot even express how relieved that wasn’t a video up there. I felt a little queasy when I saw the headline and the photo.
Roose_Bolton

Yeah, it was dumb…no less upsetting for all that. I hope they end up being OK.
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

I support most efforts to eradicate or prevent melanoma and related skin cancers, but Cousin Oops takes it a bit far IMHO.
http://www.facebook.com/aelfscine Jon Bakos

Does anyone else have an ad for ‘ROADKILL’ t-shirts directly under this story? Cold, random ad generator. Cold.
http://rhinocrisy.org/ saurabh

I don’t get it. What is the point of this post? Are we supposed to appreciate the fact that two young girls were struck by a car for an innocent mistake (and this really is, very much, a mistake of innocence – they are 13 for Christ’s sake)? Are we supposed to guffaw and feel righteous in our thirty-something-year-old wisdom, that WE have learned not to sunbathe in the street? I am having a hard time seeing some other angle, here, and that makes me sad.
- http://www.facebook.com/aelfscine Jon Bakos
  
  Uh… I’m pretty sure most people know not to sunbathe in the street while their age is still in single digits.
  - Cary Allen
    
    My dog never figured it out. She got very annoyed when a car would pull up and interrupt her nap.
mkanoap

This list is fine and all, but is not (yet) up to the level of awesomeness of the list kept by the “alt.pave.the.earth” newsgroup. http://www.reocities.com/southbeach/1380/list.html
http://profile.yahoo.com/QTRI4XIV4XA7ZIZSSG6TSU5JJE Fleeyp

When I read it, this story was followed immediately after by roadkilltshirts.com http://i.imgur.com/11owO.jpg
Culturedropout

So how wrong is it that I immediately thought of all the jokes I’d ever heard involving eating roadkill…?
Pedantic Douchebag

For some reason this reminds me of the Bill Hicks joke about aliens landing in rural areas and offering free dentistry/sterility services.