Alex Bachmeier - Girls 3 three event skier from Washington hurt in car crash

[robscholl-OF]

Many of you may have heard the name, Bachmeier, at Western Regionals and Nationals.  Janis and David Bachmeier, their two daughters, Alex and Mackenzie live on Rainier Lake in Yelm, Washington.  The entire family three event skis.  They, along with fellow lake owners, host two three event tournaments a year at Rainier Lake.   

Janis and the two girls competed this year at nationals.  Alex, 16 was involved in a very serious car crash on the way to school on Tuesday.  She was the passenger in the car.  I have attached some of the news articles from the local paper.  Last night I was told by a family friend that Alex suffered a broken Femur, foot, ribs and head injury.  The good news is that she and her friend should make a full recovery.  Keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.    

Two Yelm High School girls, both 16, were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center after their car crashed Tuesday morning.

The two girls were traveling Northbound on Morris Road near Prairie Elementary when they went around a corner too fast, crossed the center line and hit an oncoming truck, Washington State Patrol reported.

Both girls were airlifted with critical injuries.


UPDATE: As of 1 p.m. Wednesday Alexandria Bachmeier, 16, is in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The condition of Skye Calhoun, 16, is unknown because her family requested her condition not be released.

UPDATE (9/29): The two YHS students who were airlifted to Harborview Tuesday morning were identified as Skye Calhoun and Alexandria Bachmeier, both 16 of Yelm.

Both girls are going to be ok, said Trooper Brandy Kessler from Washington State Patrol.

In the attached photo, Alex is the 2nd from the left.  Was taken at Laku, this year regionals.

 

[Horton]

I just spoke to my brother about this. His kids know Alex and are very shook up.

[Horton]

Here is more info on the Alex Bachmeier accident.

 

http://www.komonews.com/news/62610462.html

 

I found this link to the hospital where Alex was airlifted. You can us it to send her a note of encouragement.

 

http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/Facilities/Harborview/ClinicsAndServices/emailGifts.htm

 

Contact info for Janice Bachmeier: http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/clubs/regiondetail.asp?type=s&name=WA

[Tuney]

I hope for the recovery of everyone involved to go well, both physical and emotional. It's really sad when something like this happens especially to a couple girls so young.

[Horton]

I am getting a number of private messages and emails on this.

I do not know that I have ever met Alex and I am still freaked out. Breaks my heart. We are all holding our breath.

[robscholl-OF]

I had made a video of Alex at her last tournament, Tates Last Blast on 9/18-20/2009.  Here it is...   

[RichardDoane]

I went to see Alex last night, she's alert and recovering well.  Her femur is fixed, her left foot is all fixed up, the right  is partially repaired with another surgery scheduled for Wednesday. Her dad was hoping she'll be able to come home by next Monday which will be terrific.  She has a room full of flowers - smells like a florist's shop - which I figured would be the case, so I brought her a bunch of candy.  She's hoping to be on her snow skis again before the end of this season, and back on the water again in May.

[RichardDoane]

I spoke with Janice yesterday. Alex had the pins removed from her left foot this week, so she can now wear a shoe and begin putting weight on it. She still has pins in her right foot, and it sounds like at least a couple more weeks until they come out. She'll be able to return to school about Feb. 1st. All in all, she's recovering well and hoping to be on the water again this summer.

[jhughes]

I can't imagine that being in that mid-80's GM vehicle did much to help them in the impact. Good luck to both of them on their recovery.

 

[Thomas Wayne]

When I was a kid we had a high school class called "Driver's Ed" that was mandatory if we wanted to get our license.  Part of that class entailed watching films produced by "The Highway Safety Foundation" such as Mechanized Death, Wheels of Tragedy, Red Asphalt...  These films featured black-and-white photos and 16mm clips shot at the scene of fatal car accidents and they were extremely graphic - enough so that occasionally some kids actually fainted in class.  Apparently the idea was that seeing firsthand the results of careless or reckless driving would scare kids into driving more carefully and would therefore reduce the frequency of serious accidents.

Today - at least in our local school system - there's no Driver's Ed classes available.   Instruction by parents, private driving lessons ($$), or learning from other teenage drivers are the only resources available to kids.  Failing the mandatory driver's test(s) - multiple times even - is considered par for the course... but the DMV is happy to take as many repeat testing fees as a kid's parents are willing to pay.

Meanwhile - and this is the most important consideration - the leading cause of death among kids under 21 is automobile accidents in which the teen victim is either driving, riding in a car being driven by another teenager, or is struck by a car being driven by a teenager.  Said another way, if a young driver dies before his 21st birthday [statistically] it was most likely due to an automobile accident in which a teenage driver was at fault.

I can't personally think of a single more important topic to discuss with our driving-age kids.

TW

[jhughes]

TW- we had driver's ed. At least in 1995 we did. I think they still have it at my highschool. We watched those movies and even had a full staged accident scene at a pre-prom football game, with a real smashed car, actors, fake blood, EMTs, ambulances, etc. We even had the county coroner give a speech to the whole highschool about the experience of telling parents that their kids died, including looking for the house with the lights on since the family is still waiting for their kid to come home when the coroner arrives. Terrible, shocking, sad, eye-opening. We still drove like idiots but my parents wrapped us in heavy (humbling) metal- old Volvos only. Nothing speedy, and nothing un-crashworthy. When my kid starts driving they will also be driving as safe (crashworthy) and slow of a car as possible.

[HO 410]

When I was a new driver, I was able to preview the curriculum through the high school, but attended a private program. While the private program does cost more money than the school program, the accompanying reduction in insurance premiums was well worth the cost of the program. There was also much more behind the wheel time, without trying to perform for Mom or Dad.

 

 

The scared safe approach does have some merit, but there is one thing that drivers ed missed. Driving is inherently complex and requires a high degree of attention and focus to do it safely and conscientiously. I couldn't quite put words to this until the last year or two when I had the distinct pleasure of being the inbetween-ager, at the ski club that got coerced to do a little "how does my teen drive when I'm not in the car" spying. It is not so much that there are a lot of bad drivers out there. It is that there are a lot of drivers that are on autopilot, or are distracted by tech, that do not have a very clear picture of what is happening around their car.

 

My one tip was, always expand your awareness of what is around you and drive accordingly. The point I proved was that it actually slows you down to race the lights, there is no reason to be in a hurry. The kid was by no means reckless, but with those two point I saw a pretty significant change in his approach behind the wheel.

[Thomas Wayne]

In Alaska we do have a "graduated license program", in which teenage drivers are slowly acclimatized to driving on public roads.  Beginning at the age of 14 a teen can get a permit allowing them to drive during daylight hours with a qualified licensed adult in the car.  As time progresses the teen is exposed to more challenging conditions and correspondingly more freedom.  Driving without being accompanied by an adult licensed driver [in the car] is the greatest level of freedom, and is reserved for several years later in the program.  One conclusion that has been drawn from studies connected to this program is that the single greatest factor in teen-driver accidents is driver inattention - usually caused by other teens in the car.

Statistically the graduated license program has successfully reduced teen traffic accidents (and deaths), but even so - while teens comprise only about 7 % of the total drivers - they are still responsible for around 16 % of the accidents.

TW

 

[HO 410]

Sorry about the hijack.

It is very good to hear that the healing is progressing.

[Old MS Accout]

TW,

You would think Palin would have fixed that.