Another young life needlessly lost.

[mongoose00]

A friend of mine... A car full of friends.

He was showing off his new WRX by doing 160kmph in a 60 zone and ended up locking up the brakes and going backwards into a stobie pole. Now one of his mates are dead, another in intensive care and the other three with minor injuries.

Driver walked away and doesn't know Dimmi is dead yet

Story here.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...006301,00.html

When will young people learn that there is a time and place for everything! They are not playing with their own lives but others as well!

Tom (ducati119) was also in the car. He was sitting in the front passenger seat and walked away with minor injuries.

[Sprint347]

A car full of 19 year olds in a WRX + Macdonalds carpark + Thursday night = recipe for disaster

Condolenses to the family

[Fev]

thats terrible.. he deserves whatever he gets!


RIP to Dimmi and i hope everyone else recovers swiftly

[ten[A]cio[U]s]

Two thread above this was a thread titled "'Speeding Laws in NSW too harsh', says minister "... Its not really irony.. but thats not right.

Bloody shame.. 160km in a 60 zone.. What the bloody hell was he thinking..

With passengers too.. WTF!

[mongoose00]

Originally Posted by Fev

thats terrible.. he deserves whatever he gets!

That was my first thought. But everyone got into that car knowing full well why they were getting into the car. I feel sorry for the driver (who I will not name) as I know him and I know how hard he was trying to fit in with that group. Peer pressure can do so much.

[uranium_death]

To be part of a group, you should not have to show off...

People should accept you for who you are, not what you have.
Fundamental point of friendship, family, and love.

A sad story that will be constantly repeated by others.

[Hillbilly F Truck]

I thought i saw a similar story in a qld paper. Silver wrx 150 ks. Happened at Gold Coast. Don't know the outcome of that one. Young people placing too much confidence in the safety of modern vehicles maybe. Very sad regardless.

[TadKa]

Originally Posted by crazy-au

Two thread above this was a thread titled "'Speeding Laws in NSW too harsh', says minister "... Its not really irony.. but thats not right.

Bloody shame.. 160km in a 60 zone.. What the bloody hell was he thinking..

With passengers too.. WTF!

I know what you mean but 1 idiot doing 160 in a 60 zone is different than your everyday motorist terrified of creeping 3k over the limit.

It's very sad that one bad decision can affect so many lives.

Condolences.

- Steve

[XR6_661]

RIP to the deceased.

As for the driver. What an idiot.

[blueoval]

this is terrible. My thoughts got out to Dimmi's family

[krt10]

people who speed with others in their car are just not thinking. now he had the burden of knowing he killed on of his mates. he will have to live with that for the rest of his life.

10 seconds of glory. not this time

[StookEB]

I'll never feel sorry for people who act like that to fit in, they obviously dont know anything about friendship.

I feel sorry for the family of the guy killed, nobody else. The passengers would have known the type of situation they were getting into (an unexperienced driver in a powerful car). The driver deserves what he gets and maybe more.

I realise some poeple will say knowing that he killed a mate is punishment enough. I actually dissagree. I grew up with people who like to show off (like we all do most of the time) but luckily nobody died, but a few cars were written off over the years.


I'm sorry if this sounds cold hearted but its how I feel. I have alot of emotion (anger) to let out over a certain tragedy.

[Hunter]

Ten bucks says the driver gets disqualified from driving for only 3 years, gets a fine and no conviction. IMO he should do time, about a year ought to be enough time for him to think about what he did. Its really crap how drivers who do these things are the ones who walk away rather than those who were merely in the car and not in control of it...

[Whitey-AMG]

It's funny how the more we hear about these things, the more I feel like ZERO Tolerance is the answer.

SOCIETY as a whole should stand up and scream that WE"VE HAD ENOUGH OF OUR ROADS BECOMING MOBILE CEMETERIES..............WE'VE HAD ENOUGH.

Wouldn't it be great, if we could collectively all band together and it became accepted that if we saw something like this brewing we could as a group perform a citizens arrest.........get these ignorant people off the road and GET THEM SOME HELP.

[Pete from Port]

Unfortunately went to a lot of fatals years ago. Re people living with the guilt forever etc ...my experience is that most of the drivers will convince themselves it was not their fault in short order. I don't mean manufactured excuses to beat charges. I think it is some sort of mental defence mechanism at work. Quickest one was a double fatality at Richmond Rd and Grange Ave Schofields about thirty years ago. The female driver who ran the stop sign got really stroppy about an hour later because her car was siezed for a look. These days in NSW there is such a thing as the Spiegelman directive (Mr Justice Spiegelman Chief Justiceof NSW) which states that a driver who causes death by dangerous/intoxicated/negligent driving should be sentenced to not less than three years gaol. However as Hunter points out it does not always happen.

[snappy]

High Performance car and a p plater thats the problem I know this could happen in any other car but i doubt that the bunch of blokes would be going come on man lets see how fast your magna is .
Unfortunately the wrx was to quick for the people involved doing 140-160 kmph in that car is very easy to do .
1 life gone and 4 lives destroyed . My heart goes out to every one involved including the driver for being so dumb to cause this.

[MITCHAY]

I bought my WRX when I was on my Ps and IMO the car is only as dangerous as the driver. The guilt would be endless and I'd hate to live with that on my conscious.

[customEL]

im on my green P's and even i think thats stupidity at its finest and yes there is a time and a place i have rolled a vehicle trying to swerve a kangaroos that blind sighted me i walked away fine but i thought to myself that scared the crap out of me why would you want to put 4 other people through that

[flappist]

Originally Posted by ESP

It's funny how the more we hear about these things, the more I feel like ZERO Tolerance is the answer.

SOCIETY as a whole should stand up and scream that WE"VE HAD ENOUGH OF OUR ROADS BECOMING MOBILE CEMETERIES..............WE'VE HAD ENOUGH.

Wouldn't it be great, if we could collectively all band together and it became accepted that if we saw something like this brewing we could as a group perform a citizens arrest.........get these ignorant people off the road and GET THEM SOME HELP.

Unfortunately vigilantism is not the answer. People die. It is not good but that is life.

The only way to prevent deaths on the road is to ban roads and cars. While there are human beings behind the wheel people will die in road accidents. People died when cars could only do 60km/h flat out, nothing is simple.

And really that last thing YOU want is for mob inspired anti car hysteria, after all there is no reason why anyone NEEDS a V8 or turbo falcon except for hooning is there? You can tow your boat/caravan/trailer with a 4 cylinder diesel.

[5L]

this used to be the local hoon spot for when i first got my license. it was only about 2 blocks from my school. and the carpark used to be filled on friday and saturday nights with people doing burnouts and other stupid stuff in it. it is all innocent until someone gets hurt.

unfortunately no matter how many times it gets said, or how many lives end short. there will always be someone whos luck runs out. i know when i got my license i thought i was invincible and nothing would ever happen to me. hearing about one of my friends whom i went to school with and then attending the funeral was one of the most heart wrenching times of my life.

i feel for the family, and for the driver of the car. for the rest of his life he has to live with the fact that he has killed someone. the way to fix the problem is not by banning high proformance cars, hell i could do 160km/h in my ford escort. but proper driving training should be required to obtain a license. fix the problem of low proformance drivers first.

[Bucknaked]

It's time they made the laws tougher. Time to introduce the LAMS scheme for learner drivers. This should be the penalty once their break the law, so they know, they get only 1 chance, and they break it, then they are going to go through several years of motoring pain. It won't stop all P Platers, but it might just make them think twice before taking the lives of their passengers into their own hands, a responsibility that they are obviously not ready for.

So they get their P's under the same methods they do now, but as soon as they are caught speeding or breaking the law, then it's onto the scheme.

Things like

Nothing over 1.6 litre.
No passengers
Restricted to driving during certain times of the day.
Have to go through 5 stages of testing (1 test at the end of 12 months) before being allowed to obtain a full licence. So this means after 12 months of driving they have to sit a test, if they fail, then an extra year is added onto of their restriction process.
A different colour P Plate attached to the car to warn other motorists of the dangers that this P-Plater is to society

If they get to this stage, then they only have themselves to blame.

[au2sw]

Originally Posted by AUXR8220

but proper driving training should be required to obtain a license. fix the problem of low proformance drivers first.

and here we have the argument....Why is it not compolsory for ALL schools to have Drivers Education in their curriculum? It may not stop these kids from showing off, but they will have a better understanding that a car is a weapon if used incorrectly and can kill or seriously hurt them or others. At least with a compolsory driving course run through schools, kids can learn how to control a vehicle and get themselves out of trouble in different situations in a controlled environment, instead of trying to learn when its too late. And I know it wont stop the carnage, but it will definitly reduce the numbers of fatalities among younger drivers.
And before anyone says "Thats why we have defensive driving courses"....yes we do, but are they complosory to obtain your license? No. So theres another thing that can be looked into. Perhaps a combination of Drivers ed in school and defensive driving courses is required before you're able to even sit for your learners permit? Of course we need the Federal Government to actually get off their a's to actually do something about it, so the sad truth is, untill they do something along these lines, the carnage will continue on our roads.
As for the driver and passengers and young man who lost his life...they all could have done something about the speed long before the accident....long before the vehicle reached 100km/h, let alone 160. I do feel sorry for you all. Put it down to a BIG learning experiance and hopefully you will obey the road rules in the future and be more aware of your fellow drivers and passengers on the roads, thats all we can ask. Its a hard way to learn, and probably the worst way, but currently it seems the only way.
My condolences to Dimmi's family.

[Pete from Port]

You are on the right track TXR. No passengers is the biggie to get over. In the US a lot of states allow unrestricted FAMILY passengers, I reckon because they'd lag the driver to dad instead of cheering them on. The only workable way to change the actions of the beast if not his nature is constant surveillance and heavy handed reaction. Amongst other things I own an aeroplane and have flown extensively for many years. Now I can tell you dear reader that the heart of a Qantas pilot is NOT that of a bus driver but the rearin' to go one of a wheelie popping bikie. Why do you think he learnt to fly in the first place? FUN...FUN...FUN. A hang glider, ultralight or real aeroplane has more possibilities for FUN than any ground pounder can imagine... and performance too. Speed restrictions?? Under 10000 ft 250 knots (approx 460km/hr) above 10k, the sound barrier!!! Why are we not in the news much for VISIBLY having FUN?? Because there is a very strict training and subsequent operational surveillance system in place. If you play up you walk....it's that simple

[phoenix99]

Personally I don't think it really the car, its driver mentality. Young people are too cocky and way over confident in themselves but have no idea what to do in the event of a dangerous situation (situation mostly created by themselves).

Limiting speeds, engine capacity will help but people will still find stupid ways to kill themselves. Either way the cars will still do a minimum of 100-110 km/h and those sort of speed in 60 zones are gonna have consequences.

I am only 23, and used to speed and do all sorts of stupid things until my best mate died in a car accident and forced my to rethink.

Personally people caught doing these sort of things need to be taken to a fatal accident and handcuffed to the mangled wrecks with the bodies until they get the point.

[aussiblue]

but proper driving training should be required to obtain a license. fix the problem of low proformance drivers first.

Unfortunately there is some research that suggests this just increases the risks related to one of the real cause - driver over confidence and a naive belief in their immortality. Advanced driver and defencive training courses can make them think they are more expert drivers and so they are more likely to drive on and beyond their limits. Perhaps we need courses that brain wash new drivers into thinking they are incompetent novice drivers.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by phoenix99

Personally I don't think it really the car, its driver mentality. Young people are too cocky and way over confident in themselves but have no idea what to do in the event of a dangerous situation (situation mostly created by themselves).

I believe it's a combination of both.

My first car was a 1.3l British Escort that couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. To begin with, its top speed would have been a touch over 110kph and it would have taken a few minutes to reach it. There would be no way in the world I would be tempted to throw 3 mates into it and drive like a bonehead when I was 17. It would have been downright embarrasing to begin with but most importantly, it would take one hell of a brainfart to get into trouble in it short of driving it off a cliff.

A modded WRX? Would only take about 9 seconds to get to 160 and complete that brainfart, plus the temptation to do it would be several magnitudes more than if you were behind the wheel of a 1.3l Escort.

True, you can get into trouble in any car but some cars are easier to cause trouble in than others. You'll surpass the limit of your abilities in a WRX far quicker than you will in an Escort.

[vztrt]

Here's another two young one's lost.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/do...1116-67tl.html

I do this road a couple times a week and where this happened is quite strange as you should be able to see a car coming at you at 80kph. So I'd think there was another factor that could have caused this.

[Pete from Port]

Good idea ausieblue. This follows on from the school system with so many courses that none can be taught in depth. The victim gets used to the idea of being considered competent following minimal instruction and bugger all experience. Gone are the days when a carpenters apprentice had to hang about two hundred doors before the boss was happy. With advanced driving courses being expensive as well as time restricted the victim again emerges feeling like Fangio but with real ability somewhat less than his mother.(sorry girls)So when his mates get in and ask about his shiny new certificate the most dangerous words in the English language follow..."watch this"...I think the only cure for this scenario is fear. Be it licence loss, money loss, car loss, freedom loss it needs to be severe enough and immediate enough to be a real head turner. In an earlier post by phoenix99 he suggests fatal accident visits to bring home the reality. Going to bad accos certainly did it for me. The speeding crazy is not always in the wrong but can't avoid someone else's inattention and you're just as dead. This is why Police speed courses stress not just the mechanics of car control in a variety of conditions but how to negotiate innocent traffic with safety.

[20focus05]

cleared double post

[20focus05]

A few months ago there was a bloke in is late 20's, Had just bought a nissan turbo silvia/180sx was fairly late at night. when for a spin in the new car. Pulled up on the wrong side of road did a burnout but just ahead of him was a peadestrian island, had to swerve to miss it lost control and hit a stobie pole in the drivers door, Dead!!!
The silly thing is he had just bought a house with is girlfriend/wife who had just had their child and only had this car 5 days or so. I felt like putting a sign up with HERE DIED AN IDIOT on it!!!