Car Surfing Newest Teenage Risky Behavior

It isn't uncommon for teenagers to engage in risky behavior. You can easily tell this by reading stories in the media of teenagers snorting cinnamon, drinking hand sanitizer to get drunk or inhaling helium for a quick rush. Now another type of scary and deadly behavior is making national headlines: car surfing.

Car surfing is a thrill-seeking behavior where teenagers ride on the outside of a moving car. The game has resulted in deadly consequences, including death. Unfortunately, there are no reliable statistics of the number of teenagers that have died from car surfing but anecdotal evidence from the Centers of Disease Control suggests that there were 58 car surfing deaths and 41 injuries between 1990 and 2008. Summer is also the time when experts expect more teenagers to car surf, since they are out of school and summer is also the most dangerous time for driving anyway.

Car surfing is mainly a phenomenon that occurs in the Midwest and South and among male teenagers, according to the CDC. But parents can do a lot to keep their children from engaging in such risky behaviors, regardless of where they live or what gender they are. The biggest problem is that many parents aren't aware of the newest fads in teens' risky behavior, which makes it impossible for them to discuss the dangers with their children. Constance Huntoon learned about her 16-year-old daughter's car surfing after she suffered a serious head injury after being thrown from the trunk of a moving car. Even traveling on the outside of a car going 5 mph can lead to serious injury or death. These types of incidents may come as a shocker to many people, but it is important that parents talk to their children and be conscious of their children's activities.