In our last post we discussed the growing trend of Wisconsin teens who perform dangerous driving stunts such as drifting which often lead to car accidents. Another problematic trend is the number of teens engaged in "hill jumping." The hill jumping stunt is performed by speeding toward the crest of a hill to make a car airborne. The problem is that this reckless driving behavior makes it likely that the airborne car will end up in a ditch or fly into oncoming traffic.

In the case of one botched hill jumping stunt in Eau Claire, the car involved skidded off of the road and flipped several times before slamming into a tree. The car belonged to a 15-year-old girl who had a history of letting her unlicensed friends drive her vehicle to perform dangerous stunts.

The 14-year-old driver of the car did not have a license. He and his 13-year-old pregnant girlfriend were in the front of the car during the December crash. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The 15-year-old owner of the car was in the back seat with another 15-year-old and a 13-year-old. All of the backseat passengers failed to wear seatbelts and were found on the road near the crash scene. The second 15-year-old died the day after the crash, making the car owner and the 13-year-old backseat passenger the only survivors of this crash.

It is unclear whether the car owner will face wrongful death lawsuits from the families of the deceased teens involved in this crash. Although the car owner was not driving it appears that she was the only one with a driver's license and may have endangered everyone in the car by allowing an unlicensed teen to drive the car for the purpose of performing hill jumping stunts.

Authorities also say that they may charge the teen in connection with having too many people in her vehicle given the restrictions on her graduated license.

Source: Leader-Telegram, "Grandfather has question in triple 'hill jumping' fatality: Why?" Christena T. O'Brien, Jan. 16, 2012