What was all that noise about doing it late at night on deserted roads being responsible and safe?
-AP
7 killed in "safe, controlled" street race crash
FocusOnPunk
- Status
181 - 200 of 310 Posts
Joined
·
3,077 Posts
While some of you are bent on shifting blame away from the racers let me clarify something for you:
If the Snotty Racerboy Dance Company held an interpretive dance in the middle of a highway at 4am, drew a crowd, and there was an accident involving the pedestrians, the Snotty Racerboy Dance Company would be in jail. Creating some kind of spectacle in the middle of a public road is illegal. You have to have permits and security and such to do so. The racers were creating a public nuisance in addition to the illegal activity they were participating in. They are not directly at fault, but their actions absolutely DID endanger people.
On an entirely different note: The ages of the victims would, to me, suggest that the racing community has embraced the gambling community. I have a feeling that this long established racing had drawn people that were not particularly interested in cares, but quite interested in wagering.
If the Snotty Racerboy Dance Company held an interpretive dance in the middle of a highway at 4am, drew a crowd, and there was an accident involving the pedestrians, the Snotty Racerboy Dance Company would be in jail. Creating some kind of spectacle in the middle of a public road is illegal. You have to have permits and security and such to do so. The racers were creating a public nuisance in addition to the illegal activity they were participating in. They are not directly at fault, but their actions absolutely DID endanger people.
On an entirely different note: The ages of the victims would, to me, suggest that the racing community has embraced the gambling community. I have a feeling that this long established racing had drawn people that were not particularly interested in cares, but quite interested in wagering.
Joined
·
7,901 Posts
It is your responsibility to avoid whatever obstacles you encounter...I will give you that. However, the people NEVER should have been standing in the middle of the road...EVER!!! I think you are giving normal drivers (in general) too much credit for their own driving abilities.thepepperman said:
Given the ****ED up choice do you:
1 - swerve at highway speeds and risk killing yourself and your passengers as you plow across the road and risk hitting other cars?
2 - slam on your brakes and hope to not hurt anyone while keeping yourself and your passengers safe?
I would choose number 2...all day everyday. Not my fault people are there...not my passengers fault, not the oncoming drivers in the other lanes fault.
I ran over a cement bag on the freeway the other day. In the 2 seconds I had to react I saw a car directly to my left and another cement bag in the next lane about 20 ft. up. I had no choice but to hit the cement bag and crack my carbon fiber lip. Had I gone into the lane to my right my outcome would have been the same. Had I gone into the lane to my left I would have hit another car. Had I just stood on the brakes the people behind me would have plowed into me.
I know its a bad comparison (cement v. human life) but I think you can get the gist of what I am saying.
:thumbup:91stang302 said:
Joined
·
21,315 Posts
Joined
·
544 Posts
No, but who said he was. At no time did I read he was speeding. And the latest reports say he DID have his lights on. Sure you can say a lot of illegal things he was doing. But you have to back them up with at least a report of some sort.BoomBoy said:
No one knows what really was happening. But some of us are backing up points with articles and statements made by police so far.
Joined
·
544 Posts
Oh you mean the witnesses that were standing in the middle of the road??BoomBoy said:
I wouldn't believe either of the two parties you mentioned. The first because he wasn't even at the scene and the second because they have absolutely no credibilty in my eyes.
Joined
·
944 Posts
Red, I agree with you that it may have been impossible for the driver to avoid those on the road, or that he had no other choice. In the same situation I might not be able to do any better. However I simply wanted to make the point that although the morons in the road were there illegally, that does not completely absolve the driver from blame. Sometimes things happen too fast to react to, or avoid; but that doesn't mean you're allowed to plow through and say "they shouldn't have been there"!
Not saying that's what the driver did, but that's how some people here are arguing that he has no fault at all.
Not saying that's what the driver did, but that's how some people here are arguing that he has no fault at all.
Joined
·
544 Posts
Motive is key. And I don't think his motive was to kill 8 people that night. If he saw the people in the road and said "hell, I aint stoppin" then yeah you're right. But I doubt thats how it went.thepepperman said:
Joined
·
4,790 Posts
...Were there skid marks in front of where the people were hit? That'd probably clear up the headlights vs no headlights issue, and the drugs/drinking vs clean driver issue as well.
Joined
·
944 Posts
91stang302 said:
^^ I'm not saying that was his motive. Just that people are saying simply because there were people illegally on the road that he is absolved from blame.
Joined
·
544 Posts
Ok I see where you're coming from now. I can't speak for anyone else but I think it's not the fact that those people were doing something illegal that absolves him from responsibilty, but rather the fact that it was a pure accident (again, unless some other facts come out). Hopefully that was clear, haha.thepepperman said:
And furthermore, I agree with you that that alone would not clear him. I don't think most would argue that point.
Joined
·
944 Posts
Definitely!
Joined
·
7,901 Posts
No...its not legal. But EVEN IF THAT CAN BE PROVEN...the driver should get a ticket for no headlights. They are not going to be able to prove that the driver turned his headlights off and sped into a crowd of people. I see people drive without their headlights on all the time...they either get pulled over and ticketed or someone flashes their lights at them and they get turned on.BoomBoy said:
There is no way the kid should be held accountable for the deaths of the retards in the middle of the road JUST BECAUSE his headlights MAY HAVE BEEN off.
You even said yourself it may have been impossible to avoid. Had that been the case then YES...you should not be held accountable for plowing through and saying "they shouldn't have been there."thepepperman said:
Again...there is no motive that he set out to kill people that night. It was a freak accident that was caused by people standing in the middle of the road.
If someone runs across the freeway and gets hit by a car...should the driver be held accountable for hitting/killing that person?
Joined
·
944 Posts
Really? That sounds f'd up.KonaZXIII said:
Of course here in Ontario we have wonderful 'no-fault' insurance so then they're both to blame no matter what!
Joined
·
4,790 Posts
^^That's why these signs exist:
![Image]()
:lol:
:lol:
Joined
·
544 Posts
I almost want to say that most of us seem to be in agreement. Just coming to the same idea from different angles.
That might be a first I've seen on [FJ]. Haha.
That might be a first I've seen on [FJ]. Haha.
Joined
·
7,901 Posts
I think the key words here should be:91stang302 said:
UNAVOIDABLE FREAK ACCIDENT
Joined
·
944 Posts
Again, I do agree that he might not have been able to avoid them, depending on the timing etc. As in your last example, where the driver would not be at fault. However, if you're driving down the freeway and someone is just standing in your path, its the same as if a tree has fallen across the road. A stationary obstacle.
Hopefully while you are driving you are prepared to avoid stationary objects on the road instead of assuming that the road is clear. You can't just assume the road is always clear.
181 - 200 of 310 Posts
- Status
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
