Victim, family speak out after head-on crash with suspected drunk driver
After a serious collision last weekend, a family from Lively is speaking out about the dangers of impaired driving.
18-year old Noah Pasivirta was injured in a head-on collision Saturday evening in Lively. The crash happened just a few blocks from his house.
Greater Sudbury Police say breath tests showed the other driver had almost three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
A 33-year old Chelmsford man is charged with impaired driving and careless driving.
Noah says he doesn't remember much, as the crash happened quickly.
"I remember driving in my lane and the way he hit me, it wasn't a gradual veer over the middle lane, like it was a very aggressive crank to the left that hit me head on."
Noah suffered a number of injuries from the crash, including a concussion, injuries to his knee, and a sore neck and back.
His brand new car was totalled. He says he had just got his rare Infiniti G37-S 11 days before the collision happened.
"It really clicked in how fast things can happen, and there really are people out there that still drink and drive," Noah said.
He calls it an eye-opening experience.
"I'm definitely going to be a lot more careful on the road, even though it wasn't my fault, it just really clicked in on how fast these things can happen, and that they do happen," Noah said.
"I think that is very selfish for a person to get behind the wheel after who knows how many drinks you had, because three times over the limit is not a beer with dinner."
"That was carelessness. I think that is ridiculous that someone would still do that," Noah said.
A father's worst nightmare
Rob Pasivirta was just a few blocks away when he got his son Noah's phone call that he had just been hurt in a collision.
He says it was really scary to watch his son go through everything first at the scene, and then at the hospital where he underwent medical treatment and testing.
"It's a father's worst nightmare to get that type of a phone call," he said.
"Just seeing what he was going through, it was heart-wrenching."
However, Rob commends the paramedics and police officers who were at the scene, as well as the nurses and doctors who cared for Noah at Health Sciences North, in Sudbury.
"We're thankful he's alive, but now comes the other parts," Rob says, listing the facts that his son is not able to work, and will take a financial hit because of that, and he also can't get a rental car due to his age.
Driving: not a right but a privilege
Rob says the messaging about the dangers of impaired driving needs get out there and he also wants to see changes in how drunk drivers are punished.
"I think that if you get caught, and you are over like that, I don't think there should just be a one year suspension. I think it should be permanent."
"[Driving] is not a right to drive, it's a privilege," he said.
"This is such an injustice, not only to [Noah], but to anybody that may go through this type of situation," Rob said.
Rob says the family has been inundated with messages of support and others claiming similar frustrations with impaired driving.
Noah's sister wrote a lengthy post on Facebook a few days after the collision, which was addressed to the other driver. It has been shared more than 1,300 times.
That driver is scheduled to appear in court in Sudbury April 10. The charges have not been proven in court.
