OT....Overpowered cars...Inexperienced drivers

[Cobra Cory]

OK I have to post once again, a bit of a venting post.

A couple days ago 2 kids were killed in a car which was speeding down a wet road. The young driver who just got his restricted licence, hit a tree. It killed the driver and the front passenger. The rear passenger was in critical, and now gaurded.

This youngster was not even supposed to have anyone other than an experienced driver as a passenger in the car.

The car was a a Newer model Formula, or Trans Am I believe. Couldn't tell by looking at it anymore.

One of the responding firmen had to be restrained when he found out one of the kids was his. Not something any parent should have to see up close and personal like that in my opinion.

Just wanted to let every parent out there know that they really need to be aware of where their kids are, and what they are doing. It may save their lives.
Just the thought of this kid powering down the road in a high performance car, with only a month of driving experience under his belt, just plain pisses the shit out of me. He may have very well killed my Fiance, brother, sister, or whomever. Something really needs to be done to keep this type of driver, away from driving a car which is way over rated for the skills they possess. I believe it is the parents fault that these two young men are dead. If I were them I would be contimplaiting suicide. But hey that's just me!
In effect I believe the parents of the driver should be held accountable in both deaths. There is no way this kid bought that car himself at 16 years old. Obviously the parents funded their own sons death on this one. And if thye didn't buy it for him, they at least knew or should have known what this car is capable of. HIGH SPEED! I just think it is a sad reality, and one that people need to be more aware of.

So that is my early morning vent. Just wanted to bring this into the light again.

Feel free to flame me about how I drove as a youngster. I guess as you get older, you really do start sounding like your father eh?

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRe...articleid=2153

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRe...articleid=2172

[FattyBri]

Unfortunate to see CC. See it all the time though. My parents should have NEVER allowed me to have the cars i did (1st car-'70 Mach 1, then a couple 5.0s) , but at least they made me understand the dangers involved with driving powerful cars. All their lecturing made me scared to ever really drive those cars fast.....but, all my friends were constantly egging me on to "get on it". Hate to think what could have happened if i had listened to my friends in some situations......

[Klayfish]

Cory,
I agree with you 100% that putting a high horsepower car in the hands of inexperienced drives can be a danger. But on the other hand, the reality of it is that a Geo Metro is also capable of doing 80mph and getting wrapped around a pole. What if a kid is driving a Metro and tried to take a turn at more than 25mph? Right off the road. Are the odds different than in a Trans Am? Maybe...probably...

There's no easy answer. We can try to educate teens until we're blue in the face, but we all have our wild stories of youth. If we create laws and regulations, people complain that the government has too much control. When teens die, people say laws shold be made. Around and around...

Steve
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[Cobra Cory]

Steve, you know your right. I was thinking more that when you kow your car can is ahigh performance vehicle you tend to take more of a risk. Though I am sure there are many Neon drivers with little experience taking those cars to the extreme as well. Like I said I was venting when I typed it. Also I think my comment about the parents funding their own kids death may be a bit over the top as well. But I think parents should know eaxtly what it is they are giving their kids to drive... Heck I learned how to drive in a road boat. A big old Buick LeSabre. It was fat but wouldn't handle for cr-p.
I just wanted to point out the law and have everyone know what can happen with the very little experience that our drivers ed system gives in this country.

[mrmustang]

CC,

This is the same thing I've been warning people about cars such as our Cobras. If you have never driven a hi performance, short wheelbase automobile before, taking your Cobra for a spin without first learning it's handling characteristics is almost certainly going to lead to trouble. I've worked enough of these scenes to learn it can happen to anyone. Everyone who thinks differently needs to see an accident scene like this up close and personal. As for my own son, when he is old enough, he will get the very best in driver training (Bondurant, Bertel Roose, etc)............My heart goes out to those parents who have lost a child, relative, or friend to a tragedy such as this......


Bill S.

[dpmac]

I take back roads to work most days to avoid the highway traffic. These roads are very hilly and twisty through the hills. I see so many kids on their way to HS driving new "Sport Compacts" at speeds that would scare the crap out of anybody here. Wet, ice, smaller school children, buses don't matter.

Kids are invincable, just ask them.

I know I was.

[NAGA]

Good post CC,
And what do we give these kids? "2 Fast 2 Furious" and "Gone in 60 Seconds" and a driver's Ed course that teaches them to parallel park. Mixed messages.
Very sad.
One of the first things I did with each of my young neices and nephews when they got their licenses was take them out to a snowy parking lot and make them slide the car around where they couldn't get hurt. Showed them how locked up front wheels don't steer and locked up rears will spin them out.
d.

[pan61]

I got my boy a 71 chevy pickup with a straight 6.
It takes about 5 minutes to get to 45 and it will do 65 on the highway going down hill with the wind behind it. This is perfect for him. If he can drive this for a couple of years and stay out of trouble maybe I'll let him drive the cobra! Of course I'll be with him. I was never wreck-less when I was young, but maybe it was because I had to buy my own car, And I new if I wrecked it I would be walking.

Later
Larry D.

[Michael Everson]

I read somewhere that he borrowed the car from his older brother while he is serving overseas

[Nick1]

100% true Cory,

I said it in the past and I'm saying it again,

The number one killer of young men 16-25 is automobile accidents which includes road racing and DUI,

Now being 24 and with a cobra I can understand the dangers but a lot of young men don't.

I think, one of the causes is the fast and furious mentallity...ie Race on the street is cool, you'll get the chick and there is no consequences...

consequence : Here we lose 2 a week on average...which is 3 times more than all the homicides in this province.

Nick

[teamfour]

Even though my daughter wanted a Mustang, I insisted on getting her a Toyota Corolla. She managed to roll it completely three weeks later. Luckily she walked away. Just like the gun addage...cars don't kill people, drivers kill people.

[CoupeDreams]

Thats really really sad. Where I live we recently had five youths die in a car crash. They were running from a sherrif's deputy and went into the ditch doing around 90 MPH. The youngest was 14, the oldest, 18. Naturally, the NAACP got involved because the occupants were black. They tried to scream unsafe procedures on behalf of the deputy. They felt silly after watching the officer's dash mounted video camera. Horrible waste of life. Had they not ran and simply gone to jail none of them would have served more than a few months. At most, a year. As I believe the oldest of them had several warrants pending.
They were driving a 90's model interpid with one donut spare tire on. I find people with unsafe driving habits are very rarely behind the wheel of a sports car but when they are, its gets ugly, quick.

[Intake Gasket]

Just a couple of years ago, three teenagers crammed into a Porsche Boxster driving 115 MPH down the backstretch of highway that runs along the backside of our neighborhood hit a car turning left onto the highway. One young lady in the car lost her leg. The others lost their lives. Teenagers have no business in a Boxster.

I'm all for putting 3 cylinder, 1.2 liter engines in full-size pickups with rev and speed limiters for teenagers.

[Mike D]

I agree with Klayfish, my first car was a hopped up '66 Mustang I started on when I was 14. But before that was road-ready I drove various cars of my parents including a 71 Chrysler New Yorker (440!) What a boat, but guess what? It could top 130!
As to Fast and Furious movies, my mom hated the Dukes of Hazzard for the same reasons I loved it, driving fast and running from the poe-leece. (jumping the occasion washed out bridge too!)

Kids are the same now as then (ie just as dumb) and before cars kids killed themselves racing the buckboard or a fast mare. As a father of a pre-teen and one a couple years behind that I think about it a lot. I can sit 'em down and tell 'em about the crashes I've seen and attended till I'm blue in the face and hope it sinks in...then take the keys away the first time they mess up!

[AKASNAKE]

Thanks CC and everyone else. I printed this thread out and it's on the fridg for MY teenager to read. Of course I remember how I thougt as a teenager... I WON"T HAPPEN TO ME!"
I think they all still think that way.

Thanks!
Dennis

[Matt Levine]

Scary isn't it. I've got a 16 yr old boy who has started driving lessons and will have his permit in about 8 months. He is also a risk-taker as many teenage boys are. We'll be letting him drive a 6 cyl Sonoma 4x4 pick-up that shouldn't be too inspiring. The keys for the Cobra will be well hiden, although I may have to let him drive it occassionally when we're together - since he helps a bit with the construction.
I've been involved in racing and track stuff since being not much older than him and am usually pretty conservative when it comes to everyday driving. Hopefully, if I get him involved at the track, he'll get the message, but there are no garantees. When you have teenagers, it probably helps to pray a lot!

[Ed Reynolds]

Scary stuff. My younger daughter is 17, and will have her license soon. The Massachusetts auto dealers association offers an advanced, autocross style school for new drivers. Proper braking, how to handle a slide, and accident avoidance are covered. I'll have her in it as soon as I can. My big fear with her is distraction...a few friends in the car, radio playing, laughing and joking, a stop sign...

[Tnarchtct]

For a teen caught speeding the penalty for the first offense should be 100 hours of community service in the ER of a big metro trauma center. They will get a big dose of auto-related severe injury and death. All it takes is a mix of a gaggle of buddies and a car that runs, with 4 partially inflated tires. Then add a night out away from the parents. It doesn't matter who's car it is or what is under the hood. If it will go 40 miles per hour, it will kill you or someone else, under the right circumstance. Young people feel invincible. A kid with the right opportunity can get 80 out of a 36 hp VW. My oldest son wrecked his mother's car the night before he was to get his first car of his own. He has wrecked three cars in all and has matured in his driving style somewhat. His younger brother drives with a cautious fear of the other driver on the road. So far, he has not had even a close call. Fear is a good thing. I think he learned from watching the hell my wife and I went through with the late-night phone call dread when his brother left the house for another errand. My sons are two normal kids, brothers, same parents, different as night and day. My advice is to make your kids buy their own car and pay for the upkeep and insurance. If they wreck it, they walk, simple as that. We as a Nation have instilled in our youth a sense of entitlement to cars, boats, toys, of all kinds, just because they are available and we can aford them as a way of showing love and prosperity. We as parents don't even think about the long term message we are conveying to our sons and daughters in the process of trying to make their life easier and better than we had it. There IS a price to pay for how we interact with each other and move through life. Other than by example, I know of no other way to teach safe driving.
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[geneperkins72]

It happens all too often everywhere. In yesterdays USA TOday, they said speeding tickets that were issued for speeds greater then 80 miles an hour are up over 80 percent. In Colorado, I beleive we have had 7 teenagers killed in auto accidents in 2003, and I beleive we have allready had a couple in 2004. Legislation may be the only way to save our youngsters from such a sad tragedy.

[NAGA]

Read a statistic somewhere where they noted the likelihood of an accident was directly proportional to the number of teens in the car. Maybe the best thing we can do for the kids is put them in a single seater. No temptations to show off, no distractions.
d.

[Cobra3657]

This is not an OT post. Any stock roadster is way overpowered for the street. IMO, even 20 years of experience driving normal cars does very little to prepare you for driving one of these.

[Dior55]

16 year old hockey player on Long Island killed last night when he was a passenger in teammate's car and high speed wreck. Car looked like it was in pieces. Alcohol on everyone's breath (celebrating a game victory). A 3rd boy in critical condition. Charged the driver with vehicular manslaughter.

The sad thing is we will always read about these accidents. As Pat said, when you're a teenager you really are "invincable".

[NAGA]

Cobra,
Maybe CC was trying to tweak a nose or two without being rude.
Just a thought.
d.

[ February 24, 2004, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: NAGA ]

[CoupeDreams]

Here in NC there is a new law in effect that was apparently created thanks to the study NAGA mentioned. If you're under 18, you're only supposed to have one passenger. Unless its an emergency or they are family members. The law has been in effect for around 6 months now and I've yet to hear of anyone under 18 being pulled or written up because of it. I guess they just aren't enforcing it. I'm glad I drive a two seater and the only person who rides is my fiancee. Ah, the joy of not having any friends. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[imported_rkt_snc]

Lots of issues here, but my lunch hour is only 45 minutes long.
Kids today are the same as we were then. One of the differences is the cars. They are now lighter, more powerful, better handling, and have more built-in safety features that ours had. Are they safer? That depends entirely on the operator.
One of the other differences is parents. Our parents (IMHO) made sure that we exercised personal responsibility, both socially and financially, for our cars. Driving was a hard-earned priviledge for me.
I don't believe that today's career minded, two-income parents are setting enough time aside, or assigning enough personal responsibilty, to/for their kids. Besides, today's cars are disposable, and insurance will cover any losses, right?
My kids, thank god, are not yet old enough to drive. Upon nearing that fateful age, they will know from me that driving is a priviledge. It's rewards are the greatest of freedoms, but it's consequences are not just deadly, but mauling.
Maybe I'll have them volunteer in a trauma center for the entire age of fifteen.

[CNIDog]

I could have been a poster boy for DWI with a car load of idiots when I was a teen. Never had a high powered car to push the limit any faster than I did. That probably saved a life or two.

Just dumb luck that the worst thing that ever happened was getting my mom's car stuck in a ditch one night and everyone had to hitch home. Didn't get to drive again until I bought my own vehicle a year and a half later.

One of our high schools tried a different way to remind the kids about the danger of peer pressure and DWI.

They got the smashed up, gore covered wreck in which a couple kids where killed and put it on the front lawn of the school yard for a few weeks. No one complained as far as I know. Some kids just laughed at it, others hopefully got the message.

We hear from some of our friends with kids that more kids do make a point of picking a DD and have one parent in the group the designated late call up/pick up driver. Making sure they have money for a taxi is also an option.

Lead by example.

[Cobra Cory]

Here I thought I was going to hear a lot of grief from the post. Amazing!
At least I am not alone on this. I know not a whole bunch can be done. Human nature is hard to control as we have seen.
To me it is just plain frustrating that even with their friends dying on the roads, almost on a daily basis...we still have kids going out, driving wrecklessly or inappropriatly and then killing someone. Then they have to live the rest of their lives knowing that a family is minus a Mother, Father, sister or Brother(s)...

[ChrisH]

Cory,

My next door neighbor just sold his '85 'Vette to a guy who was buying it for his 15-1/2 year old kid who didn't even have his drivers license. They guy was bragging that when his kid started drivers training, he was going to do it in a 'vette. Made me sick! I told my neighbor that I would never have sold the car to that guy, who is clearly insane. I also told him that if (when) the kid wraps that car around a telephone pole that both he and the father should be held liable. The sad thing is is the kid is a victim in this, not having the judgement or experience to say "no, this is over my head". Isn't that our role as parents? My 2 boy's (ages 10 and 5) will will not see the driver's side of my FFR until they can prove to me that they have the maturity and responsibility to handle it. You have to treat these cars as you treat any other deadly weapon. You have to respect the beast. As for myself, I will be attending Bondurant before going on any excursions with the car I am building.

[pastwind]

Cory, Weird you should bring up this topic today. Dior55: The kid here on L.I. was my brother's college friends kid. My brother saw this kid grow up. He's destroyed by this.

[stengun]

Howdy,

Yesterday there were 3 teenagers killed in a car wreck while driving home from HS. They went to the same school that I went to. A school bus was turning left and was in the turn lane. They were in a Prism that was on the cross street. When the bus stopped to turn, they crossed the main road and was struck on the passenger side by another school that was travelling 'bout 55mph. It killed two of the teens instantly and the driver lived 'bout 1/2 hour.

Pray for their families, friends and classmates.

Paul