Sensible Erection | Porsche 911 Carrera Loses Control

Thursday, 23 November 2006

quote [ An Ladera Ranch woman was killed in a two-car collision on the south side of the Eastern (241) Toll Road in Lake Forest on Tuesday.

Nicole Catsouras, 18, lost control of a black Porsche 911 Carrera while attempting to pass another vehicle at more than 100 mph, California Highway Patrol officials said. ]

CAUTION! Entire article and GRAPHIC, NSFW crash pics in extended.

Changed to just links to the pics, embedded pics have been removed.

An Ladera Ranch woman was killed in a two-car collision on the south side of the Eastern (241) Toll Road in Lake Forest on Tuesday.

Nicole Catsouras, 18, lost control of a black Porsche 911 Carrera while attempting to pass another vehicle at more than 100 mph, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The Porsche crossed the center median, traveled across north lanes and the Alton Parkway southbound on-ramp, before colliding into a toll booth building.

Catsouras was pronounced dead at the scene from head trauma.

Police said she was attempting to pass a gray Honda Civic traveling about 70 mph in the far left lane, when the Porsche clipped the Honda and lost control.

The Honda then veered to the left and hit the center median.

The driver of the Honda, a 20-year-old man from Rancho Santa Margarita, was taken by ambulance to Mission Hospital with minor to moderate injuries. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts.

Police found open alcoholic beverage containers inside of the Honda but alcohol is not suspected as a cause of the collision, CHP officials said.

A toll booth operator was believed to be in the structure at the time of the accident. There were no additional injuries, CHP officials said.

Unconfirmed pictures of the accident scene:
(GRAPHIC! Embedded pics removed for the squeamish... Sorry, folks.)

http://img109.imageshack.us/my.php?image=4gd7.jpg

http://img74.imageshack.us/my.php?image=5rq1.jpg

http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3sl2.jpg

http://img476.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2kn5.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1pz8.jpg

Thanks to "boburanus" in the comments for these extra pics:

http://img119.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wreck2ew5.jpg

http://img49.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wreck1rp9.jpg

http://img247.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wreck3ho5.jpg

Original News Article:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/communities/rsm/article_1340232.php

[by baulsaak@10:04pmGMT] [+10 WTF]

Comments

nibbon said @ 10:12pm GMT on 23rd Nov
god shes hot

bushons said @ 10:14pm GMT on 23rd Nov
was?

leezurd said @ 10:15pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:1 Funny]
is?

leezurd said @ 10:16pm GMT on 23rd Nov
:/

/me appologises.

assbastard said @ 10:16pm GMT on 23rd Nov
She ain't got a pretty face no more.

Rage Optics said @ 11:04pm GMT on 23rd Nov
I love these family themed Thanksgiving posts and comments.

assbastard said @ 10:14pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Hey, that's right near where I live! Hooray tragedy!

baulsaak said @ 10:35pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Is ocregister.com a reputable news source over there? They can't seem to decide if she was going 100 or 70 mph. Even in the same article. At least we get the point that she was travelling at insane speeds near a toll when it happened.

assbastard said @ 10:40pm GMT on 23rd Nov
it damn well better be a reputable news source, since my family is and was heavily involved with the company that owns it.

baulsaak said @ 11:02pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Are those EZPass (or your equivalent) lanes? That would explain the high speeds. Sorta.

b said @ 11:30pm GMT on 23rd Nov
way i read it was porsche got up to 100 mph to pass a honda going 70 mph. lose control. you know the rest.

baulsaak said @ 11:35pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Thanks. makes sense that way. i totally read that wrong.

Bodnoirbabe said @ 1:43am GMT on 24th Nov
You misunderstand the article. And yes, it's a very reputable newspaper.

She was doing 100mph when she lost control of the car. She was doing 100mph to pass the Honda, which was going about 70mph.

pserafinhk said @ 7:12am GMT on 24th Nov
About as reputable as Fox News.

assbastard said @ 2:03pm GMT on 24th Nov
Supposedly, it's libertarian, but god damn if it isn't heavily right-leaning when it wants to be. Which, of course, goes along with the heavily right-leaning county and my heavily right-leaning family. Ahh, to be the voice of dissent in a neverending downpour of republican shit.

oth3r said @ 10:20pm GMT on 23rd Nov
sso what line of business are the catsouras' in?

benjamander said @ 10:20pm GMT on 23rd Nov
My first thought was "She totally deserved it."

My second thought was "No, she didn't deserve this at all. She hadn't yet begun to reach anything amounting to her potential in life. She was still a child. Her parents totally deserved it."

Narrenschiff said @ 8:44am GMT on 24th Nov
No, she totally deserved it.

Narrenschiff said @ 8:44am GMT on 24th Nov
To some extent.

Narrenschiff said @ 8:44am GMT on 24th Nov
There goes my misanthropic humanism again.

Baxter_UK said @ 11:23am GMT on 24th Nov
No, no, my friend; by all means, climb back up there on your high horse. She did deserve it.

No, seriously.

baulsaak said @ 10:22pm GMT on 23rd Nov
The cars some people are letting their kids drive today are basically well apportioned race cars. I definitely think it's better to have a car that can accelerate well (ie avoiding an accident, power for merging), but you can't hand over keys to 300-400hp vehicles to people without some kind of training.

baulsaak said @ 10:26pm GMT on 23rd Nov
I'm assuming she didn't have any training, going fast enough to do that to a car right at a tollbooth.

teknokracy said @ 11:07pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:1 Underrated]
I drive toys like this all the time... Porsche turbos, Audi RS4, Mercedes E55/CLK63, Lexus IS350, Mazdaspeed series, BMW M roadster and coupe, 650i, and not to mention the overwhelmingly fast 335i twin-turbo..... and I have NEVER even come CLOSE to crashing.... you know why? Because I keep the car within the limits of limits. I speed sometimes, but it's in a straight line, with no other cars around, down a road where i can see for two miles and it's 5 lanes wide. The cars I drive are entrusted to me for a whole week each and I'm free to do what I want. Most of the time I stick to the speed limit. Why hasn't this happened to me? I have control over the vehicle. I can reach the pedals, I can yard on the shifter when needed. A little girl CAN'T. Sorry, but she shouldnt have been driving this car. A civic maybe, but since she was also probably on the phone and listening to music at the same time, she didn't have control of the car. I don't have sympathy for her or her family. I'm just upset that such a nice car was destroyed by an idiot who was going too fast in the wrong conditions.

Rage Optics said @ 11:16pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:1 Funny]
I agree, I've spent way too many hours cumulatively going above 110 mph+ in a straight line down a road where I can see extremely far, interstate highways outside of cities are choice. There are too many fatal accidents here, just a few weeks ago a 15 year old girl lost her three siblings and two parents in a single crash. The drunk who hit them going 135 mph+ in the wrong lane going the wrong direction died too. Shit like this screams natural selection, if not to sound too vindictive...

Going above 100 mph is always a split second decision basis. There is absolutely nothing to say that when you've floored it and you're peaking that there won't be a cow around the bend outside of your field of vision/headlights. BAM, you hit it, you die. That simple. Hit a hedgehog going fast enough, I'm sure that'd kill you too. Don't even get me started on the red turtle shells.

foobar said @ 11:44pm GMT on 23rd Nov
+1 red turtle shells

teknokracy said @ 12:20pm GMT on 24th Nov
I think she just chose the wrong place to speed. That and she shouldn't have been driving that car. Absolutely no respect for the capabilities. I have friends who say and think they are good drivers - and sure they might be good at shifting or drifting or all that jazz, but any of them who have ever even dented a vehicle, let alone totaled one, lose all respect as far as i'm concerned. if you get to the point where you lose control of the vehicle and it gets destroyed, you are a bad driver.

Muirwylde said @ 6:38pm GMT on 24th Nov
Cow? Hell, in Europe 'cow shit' is a well known cause of fatal and serious accidents. I kid you not. Just ask my friend who hit a pile on his Ducati. He looked at me funny when I told him it was a commonly known and 'to be avoided' road hazard on the back lanes (read:speedways) of Europe. There... dont say you dont learn nuthin' on the intarwebnets. And I didn't look at the pictures. I've foolishly looked at road remnants before. Sad for the child and the parents will ' pay in pain' for years for their stupidity.

foobar said @ 11:44pm GMT on 23rd Nov
I have sympathy for her. I doubt very much at 18 she was mature enough to comprehend the difference between a civic and a high powered BMW. Her parents, and the dealer who sold it to them should have been.

This is not a car for an 18 year old, regardless of gender.

EPT said @ 12:26am GMT on 24th Nov
Not really a car person here: what does 'yard on the shifter' mean?

benjamander said @ 2:34am GMT on 24th Nov
ya'rd is a contraction of the words yank and hard.

::nods seriously::

bluecalx said @ 10:09am GMT on 24th Nov
You don't need a Porsche to drive at 100mph.

baulsaak said @ 10:31am GMT on 24th Nov
Yeah, but there's a big difference between getting to 100 in 10 or 12 seconds versus 5 or 6 seconds. Changes the whole scenario. Just like someone can accidentally hit the brakes, they can also slam on the accelerator. In a high performance, rear-wheel drive car that can be disastrous.

teknokracy said @ 12:19pm GMT on 24th Nov
Likewise, she shouldnt have passed someone on the WRONG side of the road.... also it's just as easy to go from 60-0 as it is 0-60 in a car like that...

Sean said @ 1:11pm GMT on 24th Nov
Then again, the fuckstick in the Civic shouldn't have been doing 70 in the passing lane on the highway. I hate it when people pass on the right, but I hate it even more when some jackass who thinks he owns the road goes just a MPH or two over the speed limit in the passing lane when there's a clear, wide-open lane to his right.

I'm assuming, BTW, that this happened on a highway with a 65 MPH speed limit.

Ubie said @ 11:21pm GMT on 24th Nov
You realize when they say speed limit, they mean upper limit, right? not lower limit...

swiggy said @ 10:25pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Well done.

flack70 said @ 10:26pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
+1 just for changing the order of the pictures

baulsaak said @ 10:29pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Yeah... I thought it would better convey the WTFness this way.

Peco Sancherez said @ 10:29pm GMT on 23rd Nov
:o

cardinal said @ 10:39pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:2 Funny]
Let's ask Conan what he thinks.

boburanus said @ 10:45pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:1 Informative]
pictures of the other car

swiggy said @ 10:52pm GMT on 23rd Nov
fuck...THAT'S "clipped?"

boburanus said @ 10:59pm GMT on 23rd Nov
looks like the honda got sprung around and hit the median backwards...

eIfish said @ 7:26am GMT on 24th Nov
But look at if from the passengers' perspective: while half the back of the car is missing, even the rear of the passenger compartment is undeformed. Even if this car was full, everyone would have walked away. And it's only a four-star EuroNCAP.

Nostrildamus said @ 10:47pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:4]
She blew her mind out in a car.

k0k0peli said @ 12:22am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 WTF]
She hadn't noticed that the lights had changed.

donnie said @ 1:13am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 WTF]
a crowd of people stood and stared...

benjamander said @ 2:24am GMT on 24th Nov
They'd seen her face before.

badgerbaiter said @ 4:07am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:2]
Every one was really sure that she's not gonna drive no Moooooooooore

teknokracy said @ 12:17pm GMT on 24th Nov
I'd love to turn you on?

JOECAM said @ 7:09pm GMT on 24th Nov
"Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da"

JOECAM said @ 7:15pm GMT on 24th Nov
Woke up, got out of bed
dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
and looking up, I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream .. aahhhhhhh.

ckfahrenheit said @ 12:37am GMT on 25th Nov
SHE'S GOT BLISTERS ON HER FINGERS

stoned_sheitan said @ 1:43am GMT on 25th Nov
She is the walrus.

Asscheeks Akimbo said @ 10:54pm GMT on 23rd Nov
"Catsouras was pronounced dead at the scene from head trauma." Well I fucking hope so. God-friggin'-damn.

Snake Eyes said @ 10:56pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Does it still count as head trauma when she doesn't really have a head anymore?

radioelectric said @ 4:17am GMT on 24th Nov
I would find that pretty traumatic, at least.

Rage Optics said @ 10:57pm GMT on 23rd Nov
I guess the airbag didn't work.

spite48 said @ 7:54am GMT on 24th Nov
Oh, the airbag deployed, but I think smashing the top of the car directly into a concrete structure at 100MPH probably exceeds the design specifications of the airbag.

What she needed was a stasis field:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasis_field

(That was my second Niven tech reference of the week. sigh. Please stop encouraging me.)

ckfahrenheit said @ 12:40am GMT on 25th Nov
mebbe an inertial damping field?

teknokracy said @ 11:02pm GMT on 23rd Nov
She just HAD to have the Carrera targa didn't she. I bet if it wasnt a soft-top she'd still be alive...

Baxter_UK said @ 11:13am GMT on 24th Nov
"Soft" seems to apply to all sorts of materials when you accelerate at 70mph into concrete.

teknokracy said @ 12:22pm GMT on 24th Nov
Well ten times more so if the material is soft and the vehicle's main upper structure (you know, the place where yer head goes) is replaced with fabric. If she had been in a hardtop, she'd be alive or would have at least made it to the hospital.

racerx said @ 3:49pm GMT on 24th Nov
To be accurate it's not a Carrera at all, never mind a Targa. It's a Cabriolet.

b said @ 11:02pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:2]
man, that just totally harshed my mellow. why did i look at that? :(

otiarstill said @ 11:12pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Ayup, I completely agree.

Dalej said @ 11:23pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Do you guys think she made it?

Black Orpheus said @ 11:33pm GMT on 23rd Nov
+1 Morbidly Interesting

black said @ 11:36pm GMT on 23rd Nov
Although there was plenty to go around, I decided to have the ham over the turkey.

eco2geek said @ 12:01am GMT on 24th Nov
Reckless Drivers: The Other White Meat.

On the one hand, it's morbidly fascinating to see someone's skull literally cracked apart, hair still attached. On the other hand, I think I'm gonna go puke now.

pestilence said @ 11:56pm GMT on 23rd Nov [Score:1 Funny]
HOLY FUCKING MACARONI

yasha said @ 12:03am GMT on 24th Nov
when you start driving, especially young, there is just an n% chance you'll die doing something stupid.

really, it's just luck whether or not you scare yourself into be cautious enough before you kill yourself.

driving a porche worsens your odds. and it makes your parents dumb. but this girl was still just unlucky.

yevishere said @ 12:05am GMT on 24th Nov
Fantastic, SE is turning into orgish.com, or maybe rotten.com

Narrenschiff said @ 12:05am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:4 Insightful]
That is not the kind of graphic NSFWness that I come here for.

k0k0peli said @ 12:33am GMT on 24th Nov
I gotta agree here. And I should have done a -1 WTF.

Jallandhara said @ 12:56am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Informative]
I had to scroll past the pictures twice just to mod you up and reply. Be greatful!

Narrenschiff said @ 8:41am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
+1 Fulla Greats

Jallandhara said @ 3:28pm GMT on 24th Nov
+1 Karma

pserafinhk said @ 7:07am GMT on 24th Nov
But are these the droids you're looking for?

blasphemy said @ 12:16am GMT on 24th Nov
Do really need this type of thing on SE, it is absolutely disrespectful and disgusting.

utah said @ 3:06am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:3 Insightful]
said blasphemy.

baulsaak said @ 3:34am GMT on 24th Nov
I apologize. I guess I'm still trying to figure out what goes and what doesn't at this site. I thought it'd be ok; this isn't exactly a family oriented website to begin with. But I guess there's limits.

My intent wasn't really the gore, I just happened to find the pics doing more research on the story. I really posted with the intent on discussing teenagers (and sometimes adults) being given these high performance vehicles without any thought to how dangerous they can be.

Nostrildamus said @ 3:47am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:5 Underrated]
FWIW I didn't think it was out of line.

People routinely watch movies with outrageous gore, but act offended when presented with the real thing, which is, in most cases, nowhere near the graphic nature that they see in special fx. They're offended by the thought, not the reality. This is quite hypocritical. I think people should be exposed to the horrors of war, violence, death, routinely. It instills a healthy respect for dangerous activities which otherwise don't seem quite real to people who haven't had that exposure. It certainly doesn't make people more violent. Most normal people react with a healthy dose of horror. I've been exposed to lots of gore, but still react with appropriate emotional response when I look at such images.

Personally I think it does a world of good to see what kind of damage the human body sustains under such conditions. Do I think that this woman had ever seen such pictures? Almost certainly not. Had she herself been exposed to such pictures, maybe she wouldn't have put her foot down.

You gave more than adequate warning. They didn't have to click the link, or even let the images load.

EPT said @ 4:42am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:2 Insightful]
The time to stop posting these kinds of images is when you stop saying "what the FUCK!?" and start saying "cool..."

lsdbeta said @ 6:19am GMT on 24th Nov
damn straight, man.

von_sanchez said @ 7:02am GMT on 24th Nov
Good show old bean.
Your're absolutely right. If you don't want to see gore, don't click the links. If you thought you wanted to see gore, but after clicking the links feel squeamish, you've learnt something about yourself! Rejoice!

hpeg said @ 7:58am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:2 Insightful]
I thought living in a first world country meant that, actually, we don't have to deal with gore and violence on a daily basis and have the freedom to enjoy them in a more fantastic setting if we so choose to.

What bothers me about those pictures is that death is something we will have to go through on our own. It's the loneliest moment for anybody, like some clever man once said. Death, even in its bloodiest and most horrific forms, has a dignity. It marks the change from human being to organic matter and whatever else there is that makes up our consciousness and self-awareness. So while I flinch at seeing those pictures, I also feel a deep sadness that someone's death, someone's passing on, in its truest meaning, has become a spectacle. It's the worst form of voyeurism. Whether someone has died as messily as her, or at old age in their bed, pictures of the dead are, to me, in the same category as pictures of your 9-year-old niece in the shower. Beyond bad taste because of the violation of privacy and trust.

13ullet said @ 3:33pm GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
It's exactly because of this, certain first world countries wage 'preemptive' wars on other nations, and the happy-go-lucky people in the first world nations don't give a shit.

Ignorance, be it willful or not, should not be an accepted norm. It is your duty as a citizen to understand woe and stand up against it. You say it is disrespectful to view death, I say it is disrespectful to ignore it.

Jakesmall said @ 8:55am GMT on 24th Nov
"People routinely watch movies with outrageous gore, but act offended when presented with the real thing, which is, in most cases, nowhere near the graphic nature that they see in special fx. They're offended by the thought, not the reality."

Arent you contradicting yourself? That the images are real is the disturbing part.

I don't think climatization to human violence is a good thing. I think part of the reason we dislike it is because we find it offensive.

I also think it's absurdly disrespectful to this girl and her family to have such pictures broadcasted.

Jakesmall said @ 8:57am GMT on 24th Nov
I mean you're drawing a bit of a weird line between gore in movies and gore in reality; don't you think they're equivalent on some level? Personally, I don't like gore in movies and I don't like seeing it in real life, either. Does this make me ignorant? IMO it originates in a powerful empathy for other human beings.

Jakesmall said @ 9:00am GMT on 24th Nov
Imagine if this was a friend of yours, or your daughter. "Hey Bill, I saw the pictures of your dead little girl on the net last night"

ckfahrenheit said @ 2:10am GMT on 25th Nov
I don't know about anyone else, but personally I think movies and real-life are actually different. I am conscious of the fact that movies use special effects even though the images in movies may look realistic.
However, when I do flinch at a certain type of scene (either from movie or real-life) it's actually from identifying with the trauma, ie: I flinch because I can't stand the thought of that kind of injury happening to ME (usually with cutting-type injuries; I specifically don't like severed blood vessels). Frankly, I can't say it has much to do with empathy with others, in my case. Probably because pictures are in the past - can't change history. The present is different though. If I ever do see someone in real-life with a smashed arm, I will try to assist, and won't pay attention to how interesting his compound fracture looks.

I wouldn't say you're ignorant for not wanting to see gore shots; I'd say it's evident that you're not into it. Perhaps it simply puts you off; maybe your empathy with others, as you say, is very strong indeed. Nothing really wrong with that. I'm not into ultimate fighting (which I find depressing for some reason), or hunting game. Go figure.
If there's any comfort in it - to me, these particular pictures actually indicate that this girl died instantly, with very little suffering if any; honestly, this is far better than burning to death.

ckfahrenheit said @ 2:16am GMT on 25th Nov
BTW we're assuming (probably correctly) that the family prefers these pics not be online, but there are occasional exceptions where the family wants graphic pics made public

mrcookieface said @ 12:40pm GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
"Personally I think it does a world of good to see what kind of damage the human body sustains under such conditions. "

I know a couple of combat medics who pretty much drink themselves to sleep every night that would most emphatically disagree with you.

Archer6379 said @ 7:53am GMT on 24th Nov
Kudos for removing the inline images.

I think that this sort of article DOES go well, on occasion, here. We like to read about people that have been spectacular fuck-ups, on occasion. Many of us (well, ok, maybe just me ;)) are interested in reading more, even if we (I?) don't want to see the pictures.

Don't take the +1 WTFs as a bad thing. There's both a + and a - WTF rating, hehe. I moderated +1 wtf, because I think it's good to see warnings about this kind of shit (I speed way too often, and on not-so-safe roads), and WTF due to a variety of things:

WTF, her parents let her drive a porsche?!
WTF, I can't believe she was THAT dumb (OK, I can, I've done stupid shit too ;))
WTF, thank god she only killed herself (as someone else said here)
WTF. A porsche. Wow. I'm amazed they didn't ensure that she had a buttload of training.

WTF, someone will make a joke about her getting a "buttload". ;)

Keep up the good posts, IMO. We tend to prefer pr0n here, but a nice mix of things is good to. =) Welcome to the community, you've certainly contributed more than I have.

k0k0peli said @ 12:31am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Interesting]
When I was 18 I had a very used '62 Pontiac Tempest, 4-cylinder engine, 2-speed (slow and slower) trans-axel, cost me a whole US$450. Drunk enough, I could have done precisely the same amount of damage -- more, cause I'd have had a load a drunk friends with me. Ditto while sober, depending on the slope and slickness of the road. And 150 years ago, popular songs told of wild kids speeding with 'borrowed' horse-and-buggy rigs. It ain't the power or price of the vehicle, it's the judgement of the driver, that determines LIFE or DEATH in cases like this. This girl isn't even a good Darwin Award subject.

foobar said @ 1:59am GMT on 24th Nov
It's much, much easier to create a dangerous situation with a high powered car.

k0k0peli said @ 6:28am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Underrated]
There exist many more stupid drivers than powerful cars. Drive a Zamboni down the 405 and find out.

leswilkerson said @ 4:44pm GMT on 24th Nov
As a certified Zamboni operator, I would simply like to say that your comment is absolutely absur--

Oh... SHIT

pserafinhk said @ 7:04am GMT on 24th Nov
I tend to agree; I don't have a lot of experience with high performance cars, but when I drove my cousin's BMW when it was new, I found it very easy to not even realize that I was suddenly going 80 with very little effort.

eIfish said @ 7:44am GMT on 24th Nov
I disagree: 40mph applied to an immovable object is plenty dangerous enough, and any car can do that.

Rather than power, I'd be looking at the lack of safety features that mid-range sports cars have, when compared to family cars (and the very high-end). A crash like this would probably not have been fatal in an M3 or an AMG E-class, because of their airbags, crumple zones, and all-round passenger cage.

* When you pay enough, you get speed and safety: remember that Enzo crash where the whole back of the car was detached from the intact passenger compartment, and smeared over a mile of highway?

Baxter_UK said @ 11:21am GMT on 24th Nov
It's much, much easier to create a dangerous situation ~~with a high powered car~~ when you are a moron.

ckfahrenheit said @ 2:21am GMT on 25th Nov
I found that out back in GTA 1 when I carjacked the lamborghini - kept crashing into shit. Then I asploded the car when I drove it too fast into the police barricade. The sedan was a lot easier to drive

Adam said @ 12:47am GMT on 24th Nov
NO.

Hardrada said @ 12:50am GMT on 24th Nov
Since when is someone dying in a car crash postworthy?

pserafinhk said @ 7:06am GMT on 24th Nov
C'mon, you've been here long enough to realize that everything is fair game.

Trench said @ 1:10am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:3 Insightful]
I fucking hate cars.

Rage Optics said @ 2:11am GMT on 24th Nov
You'll die in a car that will be dropped in to the bottom of the ocean. Your passenger will be Richard Simmons. You will greet death with a smile.

Trench said @ 8:58am GMT on 24th Nov
You have a post-it stuck to your monitor with trench-fears listed on it, don't you?

cardinal said @ 4:36am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
Agreed entirely. Too many friends killed/paralyzed.

badgerbaiter said @ 9:15am GMT on 24th Nov
1 out of every 90 Americans will lose his:her life in a moter accident by the age of 75. nd that is a fookin statistic, you can take that to the bank.

cardinal said @ 11:08am GMT on 24th Nov
JOHANNESBURG — A new review of the World Health Organisation report on road accident deaths released earlier this month shows that South Africa has contributed to Africa having the highest rate of road accident deaths in the world.

It says the continent has the world’s highest road traffic mortality rate of 28,3 per 100 000 population. It is followed by the low- and middle-income countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region, which has a 26,4 per 100 000 death rate, followed by South East Asia (18,6) and the Americas (16,2).The department of transport notes that the South African average mortality rate of 26,9 is only a few percentage points below the continental average.“These observations illustrate the fact that low- and middle-income countries carry most of the burden of the world’s road traffic injuries,” the report said.The report says that road accident deaths are expected to gradually drop in high-income countries of the world, but for low-income and middle-income countries are projected to escalate over the next 20 years and beyond.

The total annual costs of road crashes to low-income and middle-income countries are estimated at about US$65billion (about R440billion), exceeding the total annual amount received in development assistance. This is particularly costly to countries that are trying to build their economies and struggling with matters of development, it adds.

KwaZulu-Natal, the province with the highest number of deaths on its roads annually, is said to incur a cost equivalent to five percent of Gross National Product (GNP). The cost of road traffic collisions in South Africa for 2000 were estimated at approximately R13,8billion. Most road deaths in low-to-middle income countries are among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, the report shows.

____________________________

Two weeks ago I drove about 8 hours to and 8 hours back from visiting my parents for the weekend. On the way, I saw at least 3 accidents that were fatal and about 2 others that were fender benders. It's a combination of guys without drivers licenses driving minivan taxies with 30 people in them, pedestrians from the townships (most townships are built along or around national highways), and fuckhead bmw/mercedes drivers who can't seem to afford indicators.

badgerbaiter said @ 2:25pm GMT on 24th Nov
To be honest I dont drive and have never gone for my licence, I live in a city and use public transport, and am happier that way. However, I am an aggressive pedestrian, and will challenge cars for my rights on the crossings, so I will be a statistic at one point I suspect.

cardinal said @ 3:57am GMT on 25th Nov
Fuck that dude, seriously, I respect your right to be an aggressive pedestrian, and I know people, in cars and out of them, can be cunts to other road uses, but it's not worth losing your life over. I just try and be as zen as possible about it. If some idiot's tail gaiting me, speeding like an ass, I just pull over to the side and let him pass, he wants to die, I let him. But he's sure as fuck not taking me with him.

On another note, I'm incredibly jealous of your ability to get around without a car, if I had the same system in place, I'd sell my car tomorrow.

luluchan said @ 4:04am GMT on 25th Nov
dont do that if you go to asian countries. In asia, car drivers overruled pedestrian rights. Just to be safe.

Baxter_UK said @ 11:19am GMT on 24th Nov
Cars are just vehicles. Some have better specifications than others. This girl did not deserve to live if she was the kind of person to be this reckless and irresponsible. From a purely utilitarian perspective, it is a good thing that she is dead now, before she can endanger the lives of a person who is in better control of their reason: and that she lost her life without taking anybody else's. Indeed, natural selection can work.

Jakesmall said @ 11:38am GMT on 24th Nov
All people that die deserve death.

Bodnoirbabe said @ 1:45am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:3 Insightful]
This is really bitchy of me, but....

Stupid fucking bitch.

The world is lucky she only killed herself driving the way she did.

It's a tragedy that she's dead, that she was so young. But thank GOD she only killed herself.

Stupid stupid selfish bitch.

david_the_bumblebee said @ 2:57pm GMT on 24th Nov
bah!
supposed to be 1+ Underrated, not Funny.
:(

Crysallis said @ 5:02am GMT on 25th Nov
You've never driven that fast before?

webbery said @ 2:22am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:2]
Read the comments, decided not to click the link. I don't go to ogrish either.

Jallandhara said @ 3:10am GMT on 24th Nov
*sigh* Goddamnit.

Vampire_X said @ 5:13am GMT on 24th Nov
i'd hit it

insanemonkey said @ 5:17am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:2]
someone beat you to it

insanemonkey said @ 5:17am GMT on 24th Nov
why am i even reading the comments? I really don't want to know.

n0ah said @ 5:43am GMT on 24th Nov
I have to say, I feel sorry for her family, that is all. That's quite the trauma to be put through..

and..
poor, poor car..

eIfish said @ 7:30am GMT on 24th Nov
The damage is interesting, though: because all the weight's behind the back axle, the car's essentially intact from the front to the rear axle, at which point it bends like a banana.

sua_sponte said @ 7:09am GMT on 24th Nov
Someone should have given her a heads up.

Oh, wait...

asdf5678 said @ 7:32am GMT on 24th Nov
Underrated because people seem to be downmodding you for posting the pictures. If you don't want to see it, don't click the damn links. You shouldn't be downmodding someone for providing information, however graphic. Overrated by Moleculor and Boring by Hardrada are the only two appropriate downmods, imo.

Trench said @ 9:01am GMT on 24th Nov
At one point the photos were embedded in this post... they were changed to links later. If I've deciphered the comments correctly.

baulsaak said @ 9:18am GMT on 24th Nov
You're correct, they were changed, but a lot of the downmods occurred after the change. Guess this just isn't SE material. Now i know...

blackpsypher said @ 10:03am GMT on 24th Nov
Nah, your intentions were good. Too many people are going to focus on the great tragedy of a young life being snuffed out before its time instead of focusing on the fact that an inexperienced 18 year old driver should have never been given a car with that much power to begin with.

mtnmonkey said @ 8:56am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Interesting]
why why why did I look at that goddamned picture? What is the basis for the universal human impulse to gawk at the tragedies befalling others, at pain and death and gore???

The first time I opened the extended page, I read the comments and resisted. Then I came back and clicked to see the girl's head split open like a giant bleeding, bright pink orchid. And now it's going to stick with me forever, just like the poo eating German nun.

I have even been involved in a fatal car accident, know all too well the pain and grief associated with such tragic events, and even then couldn't resist clicking. Is there some ancient biological imperative for this impulse? Is the Darwinistic benefit of gawking at somebody else's tragedy, lest something similar happen to you, hard-wired into our genes?

Can I resist clicking on the picture that says "Worst job ever" when I can sort of imagine the scene therein?

Must . . . . get up and . . . . walk away from . . . . computer . . . . OMG WTF AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!

sua_sponte said @ 9:49am GMT on 24th Nov
"...just like the poo eating German nun."

This makes me want to laugh hysterically. Then again, I'm extremely tired, so it may just be knucklehead fatigue laughter coming on.

ckfahrenheit said @ 3:02am GMT on 25th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
Well look - we're naturally curious. Inquisitive. (Yah I know the Inquisition was hardcore medieval gory too.) Possibly this is a side effect of wanting to know about things. Who knows if all humans didn't want to see dismembered bodies maybe we don't get penicillin or radio.

Viewing car accident pics online is benign. You know what is really fucked? Rubbernecking at car accidents. The only time I use my horn is to wake up these dipshits. They're not avoiding obstacles, they just wanna stare. I do have a decent ogrish.com collection of accident pics/videos (until they recently went kaput), but I have NEVER slowed down just to gawk at an accident scene on the side of the road in all my 26 yrs driving. Reason being a traffic jam doesn't help emergency crews and the victims if they're seriously injured. Lookieloos also are allowing themselves to be distracted from driving. Not to mention that they're fucking making everyone late for work for no important reason. I get curious too but driving responsively comes first

the9thcircle said @ 9:00am GMT on 24th Nov
well at least she didn't kill anyone else with her stupidity

editor in chief said @ 9:22am GMT on 24th Nov
damn, what do I go with for the front page headline: "One Dies In Car Crash", or "Slow News Day Leaves Paper With Nothing To Print"?

genius internet employee said @ 10:25am GMT on 24th Nov
Both: we'll just treat them as two unrelated news stories!

ramwatcher said @ 9:44am GMT on 24th Nov
Who the fuck is so sick as to take such images and post them on the
internet? I suppose that it ain't the authorities that gave those pictures
free. So, some sicko comes by, says cool, starts taking pics and finds
it so amusing as to post them?

What's next?

oth3r said @ 2:27pm GMT on 24th Nov
what's wrong with posting them?

maryyugo said @ 10:57am GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
these pictures and more like them should be shown to every new teen age driver and then again once a year until they are about mid twenties. but as part of a mandatory annual driver training class, not casually on the net as "entertainment".

otiarstill said @ 7:16pm GMT on 24th Nov
Fuck yes.

My Boy is two, but I'm tempted to save them for when he is old enough.

13ullet said @ 12:48pm GMT on 24th Nov
I'll say it because no one else will.

Fucking Woman Drivers...

phunkeybuddha said @ 7:37pm GMT on 24th Nov
Fucking Woman Drivers... what?

I hate it when someone doesn't finish their sentences. I must know, WHAT ABOUT FUCKING WOMAN DRIVERS? Are they just as fun to fuck as regular women or do they have a kinky skill that regular women don't have?

black said @ 8:02pm GMT on 24th Nov
YEAH!!! My Mom's a fucking woman driver, and who cares is she wrecked my '98 328i.... *sniff*

bboy0185 said @ 12:52pm GMT on 24th Nov
I have always been fascinated by this sort of thing. I don't get off it, nor do I archive these things let alone encourage the posting of them... I suppose in the current state of the world plus out of curiosity I view these images. Once in a while I'll get grossed out as much as the next guy but this isn't such a case... People usually freak out to the point of not being able to move at times, and I suppose I don't want to be one of those people... I view these kinds of images as education... and in essence, prepping myself for if I should be thrust into a situation where I must act with fucked up shit going on around me?

It's a weird thing, but I watch gratiuous violence in the media all the time without even flinching, but yes, as nostrildamus said it's the thought that puts people off. I was introduced to rotten.com in '98 as a first year highschooler and I don't hate my friends for it... some people laugh, others throw up... I have done neither, and I hope that I don't ever do the latter. (Or crash a high-performance sports car for that matter)

@las said @ 12:54pm GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Underrated]
This is why everyone should take advanced driving school classes. You're going to drive fast, you might as well learn how to do it right on a race track.

baulsaak said @ 1:11pm GMT on 24th Nov
I think the driver's license we get now should simply be a certification that you have the mental and physical capacity to operate a vehicle. My driving test never went over 10mph and lasted about 5 minutes. Not nearly enough training considering how fast we travel and all the hazards we'll encounter.

baulsaak said @ 1:04pm GMT on 24th Nov
This post got more traffic than anything else in the past two days except for X's pr0n post. Not trying to show off, just thought it was interesting considering how many comments there were against the post.

Jewbacchus said @ 1:31pm GMT on 24th Nov
so, uh, controversy merits attention, good point?

lollepop said @ 4:02pm GMT on 24th Nov
linked on SA

baulsaak said @ 7:26pm GMT on 24th Nov
Link?

black said @ 8:06pm GMT on 24th Nov
Y'know, I went to work after seeing this post in its original state of pictures in comments as opposed to links, thought about the gruesomeness, etc. But the worst picture is the thumb.

This poor girl barely got a start.

bboy0185 said @ 3:00pm GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Insightful]
Catsouras was pronounced dead at the scene from head trauma.

That was a fuckload more than "head trauma".

thumble said @ 3:40pm GMT on 24th Nov
Where I live there are laws against new drivers getting behind the wheel of light, powerful cars. I consider it a good law.

monkeytooth said @ 4:11pm GMT on 24th Nov [Score:1 Funny]

JOECAM said @ 5:05pm GMT on 24th Nov
I've been in (I think) about eight car accidents, broken orbits, broken right leg, broken right wrist, and two fingers, broken collar bone, rupturted kidney, bone bruisies. The orbital fx's had a nerve impactation that put me into a semi-coma. People always ask me, "You still drive" I say "Yeah, I die, I die, WTF, I really don't give a fck. It's not like I die and I say I died, trust me you don't know about it, after the fact. And in my defense, none of the accidents were my fault................six were caused by women...........and I'm hundred of thousands of dollars richer.......yayayaayayyaya.

dali said @ 7:02am GMT on 25th Nov
I think it's an appropriate and timely post, but the images should have been linked from the beginning - otherwise, you wouldn't be able to read the comments without looking at the pics.

I just returned from a Thanksgiving road trip on I-75, and speeds of 100 mph were not uncommon. I personally kept my speed down to about 80-85, but caught myself travelling at 90 every now and then, and that's in an old Civic. Many of the people flying past me were on cellphones, weaving in and out of traffic, tailgating, etc. Interspersed among this are elderly people traveling for the holidays who obey the speed limit of 65, and who probably shouldn't be driving in the first place.

I've been in plenty of accidents myself, and I've seen the carnage of other people's accidents in person. I've got enough images in my memory banks that I'd like to be able to forget, so I didn't take a look at these pics. Pictures can be pretty bad, but being a few feet away from a dead, bloody, contorted 16 year old, smelling the odor of death and spilt gasoline, is something that's hard to forget. Take my advice and pass on looking at something like that if you're given the chance.

Some of the other images in my memory banks are from gory films I was shown in high school that were intended to "scare us straight". It didn't work - I still drive faster than I should, and even if I did drive more carefully, it wouldn't protect me from someone like this girl. And I still have those images in my head.

So I question the value of pics like this, but maybe it will make someone here slow down today so that they can be here to post pr0n tomorrow. In that scenario, I suppose it's worth it.