trent

This racing incident was discussed on BMW M3 forum a couple days ago, it was a members cousin that was involved, and sadly passed away at such a young age.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

This happens all the time when there is a death with ilegal street racing involved. It is nothing new and people have been going to jail for it long before this particular case came up.

The reason why they go to jail is because most states have passed laws that make street racing or excessive speeding a crime. If you are commiting a crime and a death occurs everyone involved is liable. If two guys commit a robery and one guy is only the get away driver, but the other guys kills someone, they both get charged with murder. What is wrong with that?

Either way, no matter if people don't like the law or not I'm glad it exists and that other driver will probably go to jail. It has happened many times before even in my state. Typical jail sentence is usually 5-10 with paroll, and they usually only serve about 3 or so years anyway. Too short if you ask me.

skeet94

Thing people lack nowadays is the sensibility to make a decision based on their own capabilities. If you're not capable of doing it, don't do it...otherwise there will be nobody but yourself who will be responsible for the consequences. There's too many people who think they can drive at insane speeds whilst being absolutely safe, where they don't realise the limits of their reactions, tires, brakes, suspension...and if any one of those things, especially reactions, were to "fail" you've had it. People don't realise that when doing silly speeds you have to have lightning quick reactions to make even the slightest change in the direction your steering is, when to let off the throttle "gently" and when to start braking instead of braking late.

Kids such as these two are:

1) inexperienced...they think they can do anything since they've driven a 1000bhp Skyline GT-R in Gran Turismo

2) immature...where they will think trying to stop someone passing them is safe and nothing will happen

3) do not realise the consequences...I myself, know everytime I get in my car, to streetrace that I could do something stupid, if not me then someone else might do so when racing me, but I do know that there's always the risk of something like this happening. No matter what anybody says, when you're 18 years old, you will NEVER realise how serious the consequences of street racing are, as it's just "fun". It's later on, when you've lost someone in such a situation, that you realise what can/could/might possibly happen . I doubt these kids had any idea of what they were doing...it takes ALOT of skill, consideration, talking to other experienced high speed drivers, intuition, practice, etc to even get an idea of what's involved at speeds over 70mph .

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Hang the judge? A little harsh? Remember "accessory to murder".

Well yes it is. If they hadn't BOTH chosen to race, neither would be dead. It's pretty simple. You choose to race, someone dies, you're still liable.

Harsh, but wrong. Not to mention your $600 fine and license pull won't act as a deterrant to others. Put him in jail and maybe his friends will think twice about racing.

kietlander

not to be mean but u think an 18 year old with a m3 drives like a granny? u think he drives the speed limit? anyone dumb enough to think that this was a first time thing is retarded. that kid raced the crap out of the car. he knew what he was getting himself into. what im trying to say that there are consiquences to everything u do. he knew what the risk were, but that didnt stop him. he messed up and met his maker. his fault. i seriously dont feel sorrry for the kid or his family. his family bought him a race car, come on how stupid can u be to spend 60k on a car for an 18 year old.

Inabj2

So someone with track experience and autocross experience should be limited to driving 220 hp. But my mother who has NO racing experience whatsoever can have a 600 hp vehicle? Thats ridicoulous. I guarantee you im a much better performance driver then she is.

JZA80MHU38

When I first read the header of this thread, I was a little upset about someone being killed. But later when I read that person's blog and his friends' blog, knowing more about what this person and his circle are up to... I don't really feel that bad at all.

chuckb

just because driver A crashed and burned racing driver B, doesn't mean it's driver B's fault. if driver A lost control (unless driver B cut him off or something, then that's different) that's his fault.

tuddy

Yea it was a member of e46fanatics..He was from miami,fla

bruce van

I agree. Driver B should have his driver's license revoked for 5 years. Having to take the bus and depending on friends to get around will certainly show him the mistake he made.

It sucks to have such an obvious privilege taken away.

toneman

I'd have to respectfully disagree with that; these folks definitely know what the risks might be when choosing to partake in an illegal street race...the problem is they have the mentality that it can't happen to them because they either believe that they're skilled enough not to get themselves in such a sticky situation, or that they know their limits--you know, the "immortality" attitude that seems to be fairly more common among younger folks.

Edit--I see RX_330 beat me to it and basically said the same thing...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

But that won't work - he'd just drive without a license.

matsarge

I hate to say it but youth is a big factor in the tragic case. I can tell you from experience that the M3 is a beast of a car that will scare the ***** out of even the most experienced of drivers if you're not paying full attention. The main difference is the "respect" the car is given. Most of us have all been 18,19,20 and "bulletproof" before and youth is more apt to not give the car the respect it deserves and in those cases, tragic conclusions can be the end result. I feel very sorry for him and all the families involved and wish them all the best. If they had been 5-10 years older, I doubt very seriously that the same decisions that led to this would have been made.

foofighter

i have no sympathy...you see this so often down here (south oc) rich parents buying their kids or lending their kids these high powered cars and testoterone gets the best of them. Sorry to see a life get extinguished but you know what one less idiot for the gene pool

kietlander

and one less on the road. i have this thing where i dont feel sorry for stupid people.... yes im a stupidist