Five Young Men Dead As Car Smashes Into Tree

[Flukey]

Very very sad event. What an absolute waste.

The accident site is 2km's from my place - road is good and straight and wide so something went seriously wrong.

As I drove past yesterday I remembered back to when I was 19 or 20 and what I used to do with my mates and my car.

I can tell you I bounced 200 km/h several times around Melbourne - Eastern Freeway, Springvale Rd etc so I am not going to preach about what they should or should not have done. Thinking back it was my mates egging me on etc that usually started it. My car was quickish for its era and I exploited it.

At the ripe old age of 45, I would be lucky to exceed 120km/hr these days and in some ways I am glad the T is gone. I just can't get myself into trouble in the 325.

I actually felt relieved driving past yesterday that I survived my early days of driving.

How you conduct yourself on the road changes with age and maturity. As long has young guys have cars, there will be races and speeding.You cant change that.

I just hope these graphic images are enough to get the next P plater to just be a little more reserved the next time an opportunity presents itself.

[Rootster]

I.B just a quick question please...Have you any facts on fatal car accidents...

Like the number 1 cause..would be speed???? number 2 DUI????3 the roads???4 animals...and so on and so on????

It made me think about the tv show on fox....can't remember its name.....gave you a time break down..like 10 minutes before this happened...and 6 mintues before that....and it usually showed that many things needed to go wrong before the disaster took place...

Really this event is much like that.....there where many wrong decision made...and speed really only made up for one of the wrong decision made on the night...

His mate could of been pissed and pulled the handbrake up....who really knows what happened..

All I really know is the older I get...the more my eyes see on the road....and what I mean by that is I'm more aware of my surroudings...more aware of people in there cars....cause I believe that's where most youth get caught up....distractions while driving....

Guys keep safe....our cars aren't worth dying for......

[PAH]

Its about time kids up to 21y/o being required to drive speed limited cars with GPS tracker.

Be careful what you suggest mate. Sounds like the thin edge of the wedge to me. How little would it take for our Nanny State fearless to decide that such an idea is good for ALL drivers? Too many fearless leaders specialise in spending tax payers money and / or banning things. It's what they do in lieu of meaningful achievements such as build the Snowy River scheme and kick start the Australian auto industry (thanks Ben Chifley).

PAH

Edited 18/01/10 12:40 PM by PAH

[xr_velocity]

I myself have done very stupid things in a car from the age of 18 to 20. One night I potentially could have killed myself and 4 others, all that needed to be there was a power pole or a tree, the only thing that changed was that I no longer did silly things with others in the car. I still did silly things with only myself in the car. The event that stopped me from doing silly things was losing all the points on my license and choosing to drive for 12 months without losing any points. The consequences of losing a point meant that I would lose my license for double the time. So for one year, I drove like Mary Poppins flying around under her umbrella. That one year was long enough to enforce habits in myself, that rather than looking for speed cameras, I looked to obey the law because of the consequence I would suffer if I did not. I do not always obey the law now, I do speed at times, but by a marginal amount, never in residential areas, never in the wet. These days, I would never do the things that I used to do on a public road, I just cannot see the sense in it. I don't see the point in it. I would rather hit a track and spend hours with my foot down than 20 seconds of madness down a public road.

Not all young drivers are irresponsible, but almost ALL young drivers (and older drivers for that matter) have not developed the skills to avoid an incident or recover after an incident has happened. For this reason there should be driver training as part of a license. Also zero tolerance for all L and P platers. That is, you have zero points until you are full licensed. One demerit means your license is gone for 6 months. You will lose your job because of that, oh well, you should have thought of that before running that red light like so many stupid people do here in Sydney.

I think there should also be some more emphasis put on parents rather than government, they need to become more educated on the dangers their young children are encountering when they get into a car. You cannot expect the government to do everything for you. Government can and should impose far tougher power to weight restrictions on P platers. With enough runway, a Daihatsu Charade will hit 140, but you do not always have that run way, people need to learn how to handle an under powered car before learning to steer with the throttle. Parents can easily control the type of car they are allowed to buy, they can educate them by driving responsibly. I used to think it was cool when my step dad drove fast or did a burnout, but when I look back now I know that influenced my pathetic attitude behind the wheel. There are so many drivers out there I see in Sydney that have no patience, that run red lights all with their kids in the car. What has the child learnt from this? You should be teaching your kid how to control a car, but not on public roads, if you do have a bit of fun out there, it should never be with your kids in the car to impress them. They might end up in a tree one day because they were mimicking you. It is very hard to control the impulses of an 18 year old boy, but parents need to be a lot more proactive in the car, the driving skills and the attitude they give their kids.

Edited 19/01/10 12:35 AM by xr_velocity

[Shark]

I.B just a quick question please...Have you any facts on fatal car accidents...

Like the number 1 cause..would be speed???? number 2 DUI????3 the roads???4 animals...and so on and so on????

Road Safety Facts, Safety Not Revenue Raising Speed Cameras -

Lots of links to studies and statistics .. (which are facts)

[rockafellqeinstien]

It’s been touched on here a few times, but parents need to step up and do more.

You look at how much effort people put into their business with strategic planning and reviews ect, but these same people just let their kids grow up as it happens.

If I remember back to school, the blokes who spent alot of time doing stuff with their old man, (Hunting/Fixing up old cars/sporting matches etc) seemed to be on the right track.

They had the best cars with good power but would never drop a burnout in the school carpark it was always the guys in their mums commodore (me).

These same kids would drink a couple of beers at parties from the age of 15 when everyone was getting smashed(me again) and getting all the chicks as well. They had been having beers with their old man for a few years but also saw the consequences of people getting maggot (spend all your time drinking you don’t have time or $$ to have cool stuff).

Spend quality time with your kids (actually doing stuff) and lead by example and the results are always good.

now whos responsibility is the other 2 million kids??????

[Shark]

If the car was a hyandai, no one would be saying a fkn thing other than R.I.P in this thread.

Stupid really.. as has been stated time and time again, that even a piece of sh*t hyandai, and basically any other P plate legal car, could have reached this speed (and especially given the road he was on).

People will die. Kids will die. It's a fact of life given todays society.

I agree whole heartedly with rockafellqeinstien that the parents of todays children should be doing more to instill the correct values and attitudes in them. Too bad wankers almost certainly breed wankers (refer to 'role models'), and there are that many of them these days that the 'correct attitude' is instilled by no more than a few, and witheld by even less.

It's a sad, tragic event, yes. But everyone getting their panties in a knot over 'young kids in high performance cars' really need to wake up.

As I said before, People will die. Kids will die. It's a fact of life given todays society. And it's only a matter of time before we see more kids dying on our streets, rather than putting their cars into trees.

It's already scary enough walking through the city at night.

The government has this whole thing backwards, as does the media, as do most of the people in todays society.

I've seen so much critesising of young and old, not only in this thread, but against young guys who cruise around in nice cars.

"Make more restrictions" , "make the tests harder" , "speed limit cars" , "make driving courses compulsory"

Okay.. these are all suggestions. Some with alot more benefit than others. The government will do what the government will do. No one can seem to change that these days, because really.. the suggestions that will prevent the most fatalities, cost the most, and won't bring in as much revenue. Because that's what this is.. a money driven government. Just as our state police are all 'money driven organisations.'

Everyone should seriously just shut the f*ck up, and worry about their own family and friends instead of B1TCHING about everyone else.

If the government doesn't bring these initiatives in, then so be it. As a friend, parent, or what have you, TAKE the initiative and put your son or daughter on the track or skid pan days. TAKE the initiative and make them attend these defensive driving courses. TAKE the f*cking initiative and MAKE SURE you lead by example and instill the correct driver attitudes in them, because it is every one of our responsibilities to help create a safe environment for each other.

[our06t]

This is a timely thread for me, I was in the middle of tossing up new FG turbo or wait another year and pick up a thrashed out BA and build for racing drag/track . As was said above you seriously can not use 300+rwkw on the street and not be taking above average risks.

So it looks like the BA will be the go pure racer , Because I know if I get an FG and do a little bit to it I will go out and do silly sh*t on the road

[nang3]

Firstly I would like to express my condolences to the families.

why is the state and federal governments pouring money into penalising p platers and fully licensed drivers with advanced speed and red light cameras when they could be putting that money into educating younger drivers.

because that would cost a lot of cash for the government to outlay with no fiscal return.. cameras on the other hand reap millions with the appearance of doing a massive amount for road safety when in effect it has a much smaller effect on road safety.

That is why the majority of bleating from the road safety sheep is always the "speed kills" mantra rather than "DUI kills" - there is no camera that can detect DUI drivers.

[Flukey]

It's just been reported the driver was 4 times the legal limit.

0.19

Edited 20/01/10 12:40 AM by Flukey