10 year-old Gryffin Sanders and his four year-old brother were riding with their great-grandmother when she suddenly passed out. “I tried to wake her up at first,” Gryffin said. The car was going 60 miles an hour and heading towards oncoming traffic.
“My first thought was actually, is this a test or what?” Gryffin told Colorado’s 9 News (via Nintendo Life). The boy took the wheel and safely steered the car into a muddy ditch on the side of the road. “I wanted us to get somewhere where we could out of the way of traffic, I guess,” he said.
According to Gryffin, he learned a bit about driving from playing Mario Kart. “And, I’m pretty good at go kart driving,” he added. That, combined with a cool head helped Gryffin keep his family out of harm’s way.
The great grandmother was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Colorado Springs and has apparently recovered. It’s believed she could have suffered a mild heart attack. Neither Gryffin nor his brother were injured in the incident.
Nice to see the mainstream media recognise the good games can do. It’s also nice to see a level-headed kid like Gryffin.
10-year-old boy takes control of speeding car, possibly saving lives [9News via Nintendo Life via Destructoid]
To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.
Comments
15 responses to “Boy Credits Mario Kart After He Stops Out-of-Control Car”
I’m sure he could’ve handled any red shells out to get him, too.
-_-…….I’m going to take a major stab in the dark and say that the go-kart driving helped him more than mario kart ever did.
It’s a little unclear what is meant by “go kart driving” – maybe he meant in the game, where you know, you drive go karts?
Either way, it’s not very clear. I took it to mean that he was good at the game, as the sources don’t mention real go karts in their articles, just “go kart driving.”
I guess. I just assumed that since they mentioned mario kart and the go-kart driving afterwards they were referring to two different things since it would make more sense to just say he was good at mario kart, since just playing it won’t make you good at driving go-karts.
You are right there. It won’t make you a better driver, but it will help you keep calm and make quick decision as you already have seen similar situations.
It would have been a better answer if he said GTA
Fox news version.
Video game causes child Hijack car and crash it on the side of road!!!
And not mention that he gave his Grandmother a heart-attack? Come on, you know Fox wouldn’t leave that out.
Just another reason why there should be a cut-off to the legal driving age.
Video games have no real application in the real world. An old man stuck in the 18th century said it once and I believe him
Please tell me you’re talking about that old coot that was bagging out games the other day.
You mean that heavily religious man?
Yeah, thats the one
You’re about a week late, Kotaku.
As the media might say:
BOY THINKS HE CAN DRIVE DUE TO PLAYING VIDEO GAMES.
CRASHES CAR INTO MUDDY DITCH.
GREAT GRANDMOTHER SUFFERS HEART ATTACK AND HAS TO BE AIRLIFTED TO HOSPITAL.