Sad, real sad...5 teens killed in high speed M5 crash

a.k.a. Patrick · 01-28-08, 05:06

Sad sad sad.............I feel for the families. Lord get them through this.....
Let this serve as another reminder to our children (and ourselves), that speed and/or sudden impacts kill ......
I bet theres not a community on this forum that doesn't go through a similar scenario yearly.......I know it happens in my town. And still having one in high school, and another set to start next year, i still have troubles sleeping at night knowing my kids arent home......
We just have to do our best raising them by showing them lifes values and assuring them of our unconditional love..........then set them free and trust them, hoping they make the correct decisions in life....
Arghh...........such a senseless waste!!
Some strange info just learned also, this young man just joined a M5 board and that very day, was asking questions about shifting patterns and speeds. The readers responded by implying that car is "too much for someone your age", and "be careful, we dont want to see you on the news, cuz if you crash it, we will...."

Man what a great way to start my week eh?

TH0001 · 01-28-08, 05:43

Its terrible, and I wonder if the owner of the runway is going to be sued. It seems like it from that article (what I read about the families lawyers saying that it should be better protected).

I feel bad for the families and parents.

Yal · 01-28-08, 09:19

Its a shame that people are going to get sued for someones irresponsibility. Thats like someone getting sued by a thief after the intruder breaks into their house and trips down the stairs.

You can't hand the keys of a 500hp mega machine to a teenager and his friends, late at night after a party, and expect something good to come out of it. You just can't. The parents should be sued.

If you have something that powerful in your driveway hide the keys. Heck even a 270 hp Altima scares me in the hands of such a person, I don't care how responsible you think your teen is. Late at night with friends in the car all bets are off.

Sad sad incident

BigAl3 · 01-28-08, 09:20

very sad indeed...

Brandon1 · 01-28-08, 09:40

Honestly, I feel bad overall, but in some ways I dont. The parents were stupid enough to hand the keys over to them in the first place, not the brightest idea. Then alcohol was a factor, which means that the kids made the stupid decision to drink and drive.

Natural Selection if you ask me. People that dumb should not be allowed to reproduce. My prayers do go out to the families though.

Grimm · 01-28-08, 09:50

What is really sad is the situation we had in my area a few weeks ago. A kid was driving with 3 or 4 others in the car, high on pot I think. I don't know if the other kids were on it or not, but the driver pulled out in front of a semi and everyone died except him. I can't imagine living with that guilt for the rest of your life.

Yal · 01-28-08, 10:29

^You think thats bad a couple of months back we had 4 or 5 high school seniors (all girls) here die in a head on collision with a semi truck while overtaking. Turns out that there is a very high probability that the driver was texting somebody on her cellphone when the accident occurred.

Its happening all over.

Accumulator · 01-28-08, 10:37

The reports I read said the kids in the M5 were unbelted.

You simply gotta avoid that stupid places/stupid people/stupid activities combo; stupidity kills.

Kids have always been kids though, and they don't always live to tell; before it was a zillion mph in a M5 it was 75mph in a model A....

twitch · 01-28-08, 10:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yal

These cars are getting really powerful these days.

True but there have always been fast cars so I wouldn't use that excuse.

I agree wholeheartedly with what you mentioned first, being the number one problem, driver distraction! People today are entirely too worried and distracted by things that shouldn’t matter while behind the wheel. Unfortunately some people don’t understand that they are in essence driving a weapon and care needs to be taken. This means putting down the cell phone, newspaper, make-up, Big-Mac, razor, and anything else that causes inattention and pay attention to the road.

I do feel for the families and the kids who were passengers in the car. It is sad and it’s only getting worse.

Yal · 01-28-08, 11:12

I agree its been happening for a loooong time and it will continue to happen. I believe I read that car crashes are the number one cause of death from 16-20 years of age.

Accumulator - I don't think seat belts would have helped in this case, the car was ripped in two and crushed like an accordion before the firemen got to it.

Whats really crazy is that this was 3am, I don't care how good your headlights are if you are traveling at 150mph you're doing 220 feet a second (3/4 of a football field), you need lights that go 2000 feet. Maybe he never saw the embankment drop off and just thought it was open field.

Grimm · 01-28-08, 11:30

Well I know when our kids are old enough to drive, there will defintely be a rule of no phone calls in the car when driving. I don't even have a clue how to make sure that doesn't happen, but they will at least know that there will be dire consequences if I catch them using it while driving. Of course that's if we even allow them to have one.

Setec Astronomy · 01-28-08, 11:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Accumulator

Kids have always been kids though, and they don't always live to tell; before it was a zillion mph in a M5 it was 75mph in a model A....

Ain't that the truth. Grrowing up is what it is, as is human nature. I learned a new word a week or two ago: nanny-statism. I didn't know there was a word to explain why every intersection has to have right turn-only and left turn-only lanes, etc. In my town they have all these fancy computerized traffic light systems, and spring loaded signs in the crosswalks exhorting drivers to yield to pedestrians, but the number of pedestrians getting hit keeps going up. Why? Because the pedestrians still jaywalk, but the light patterns are so complicated now for smooth traffic flow that they can't figure out when it's "safe" to cross against the light--or THEY DON'T LOOK because all the signs have convinced them that the cars have to stop for them so they (I swear) step right off the curb in front of moving cars. There are some things you can't change no matter how many laws you pass. As Patrick said, you gotta do your best in the upbringing, and set them free and hope you've instilled some responsibility/judgement in them.

/rant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yal

Whats really crazy is that this was 3am, I don't care how good your headlights are if you are traveling at 150mph you're doing 220 feet a second (3/4 of a football field), you need lights that go 2000 feet. Maybe he never saw the embankment drop off and just thought it was open field.

Couple other factors with that...even if he had some high-powered driving lights, might have been a pretty bland runoff, his driving position is lower than most airplanes, would he have even recognized what he was looking at even if he could see it? Also, fairly young, probably inexperienced, possibly impaired driver, might not have understood how much more distance he needed to stop at that speed (energy going up at square of velocity) http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/pdf/Spee...gDistances.pdf