Sad ending for this Triumph & driver

[GilsTR]

We were just a few miles away from this accident .... traveling small 2 lane roads of Sonoma County. I did not know the man....but a sad ending to his life and his Triumph. There is no room for road rage on the roads!
Gil NoCal
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120715/ARTICLES/120719742/1350?p=1&tc=pg

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Hard to feel anything at all for the woman who did this.

So sad.

 

[Andrew Mace]

<restraint>I agree, Mickey! Perhaps pity and scorn...for anyone who cannot begin to understand the possible consequences of their own recklessness, etc., etc.</restraint>

 

[tdskip]

This is utterly terrible.

 

[Brosky]

What a terrible story.

As the guy on Hill Street Blues used to say to the officers before heading out for duty....."Let's all be careful out there".

I find myself looking around me more than I ever did when I'm driving either car these days. Someday I hope to find it enjoyable and carefree again, as it once was.

 

[JohnB]

I literally live around the corner from the accident site and travel that location almost every day, although not in my TR2.

That road is one of the safest in the area. Straight for half a mile, nice and wide with large bike lanes. But none of that helps when fools drive like this.

Came upon the scene about an hour after the accident and was re-routed around the block to get home. Paper says Spitfire but looks more like a TR4 in the photo. When I saw it, it was covered with a tarp so I couldn't tell.

I can't think of a worse way to go than upside down in a burning car. Todays article says witnesses could hear the poor soul calling for help!

Girl has been arrested for manslaughter, but only got $50K bail!

BE CAREFUL PLEASE!!!!!

 

[Gliderman8]

A horrible accident... I feel bad for his family.

 

[DougF]

Awful. Thoughts and prayers to the family.

The woman, at 28, has a long life ahead of her to remember the utter stupidity of that moment.

It's a TR6. The story really hits home.

 

[PeterK]

Horrible.

Now I'll carry a fire extinguisher and going to wire in a inertia switch and manual OFF for the fuel pump.

Just horrific to think about. Poor soul lost.

 

[sd80mac7204]

That is just terrible...

 

[GilsTR]

I was just wondering....Those you you with no roll bars... how many of you wear a seat belt? From my college days I knew of a LBC driver who was wearing a seat belt and no roll bar who rolled over and died because he had the belt on and MAY have survived if thrown clear. Thus...for 50 years I have driven the LBC with no lap belts...and only put them in this year so my grandkids could legally ride with me. Just curious about the rest of you....with no roll bar...belts or no belts? (not that this would have saved this poor chap!) Gil NoCal

 

[sd80mac7204]

Gil,
I wear my belt because it is the law in PA. And also because I'm actually very uncomfortable if I don't feel the seat belt on me while in any car. Plus I slide too much on the Spit's vinyl seats.

 

[tomshobby]

This is a terrible accident. No good seems to be found in it for any of those involved.

I did roll a TR4 with no roll bar in the 60's. The short story is that while the car was airborne I released my seat belt, opened the door and got out. That action surly saved my life. The car rolled three times before landing on its wheels.

 

[drooartz]

Seat belt here, Gil (and no roll bar). Still a safety improvement even if it may not be the best in a rollover -- there are lots of other accident types where it will help.

 

[GilsTR]

UPDATE.....She got charged with Murder.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120717/ARTICLES/120719627/1350?p=1&tc=pg

It will never bring this man back to life....but there has to be a penalty for actions like hers!

Gil NoCal

 

[70herald]

Somehow I really doubt that rollovers are more than a TINY percentage of accidents. Not wearing a seatbelt because of rollovers seems to be worrying about a rare accident type and putting yourself at risk for the majority of likely accidents.

 

[Darrell_Walker]

Also, unless you have a full race-type roll cage, I doubt most of the roll bars would do much to protect you in a roll over. Maybe if the car was gently tipped over it might hold up, but the kind of speed and forces needed to roll the car over would likely just rip the bar off.

 

[justin_mercier]

Exactly what Darrell said, the vast majority of 'roll bars' attached to clasic cars are more or less nothing but decorative. Unless you actually bolt through the frame and with plates and whatnot, you're not adding any structural rigidness in the case of a rollover. That was why I never put a bar in my TR6 (and now a bar would not work in the hathaway hunter)

I do however always always wear a seatbelt no matter where i'm going.

 

[TR3driver]

Also, unless you have a full race-type roll cage, I doubt most of the roll bars would do much to protect you in a roll over. Maybe if the car was gently tipped over it might hold up, but the kind of speed and forces needed to roll the car over would likely just rip the bar off.

 

[TR3driver]

Not wearing a seatbelt because of rollovers seems to be worrying about a rare accident type and putting yourself at risk for the majority of likely accidents.

We've had this argument before, I'm not really trying to reopen it. But I have personally been involved in a moderate number of accidents over the years, including my TR3A getting totalled in a 4-car collision, and wearing a seat belt would not have been an advantage in a single one of them. And in one of them, wearing a seat belt would very likely have subjected me to serious injury; while I escaped with only a minor bruise without one.

I was riding in my Mom's station wagon when she got T-boned by a Buick likely doing over 70 mph. The impact pushed the entire side of the wagon in, and crumpled the seat where I was sitting. A lap belt would have cut me in half. Without it, I was just thrown across the car, up against my Mom in the driver's seat. My shoulder was bruised where the crumpled door hit it. BTW, the wagon was also thrown clear across the intersection and up into the yard of the house opposite. We later found grass inside one of the tires!

My Dad was also involved in an accident that likely would have cost him his life IF he had been wearing a seat belt. Lost control of the car in the fog and ran into a pole barn. The 12" log that formed the eave of the roof came through the center of the windshield and took out the steering wheel and B-post on the driver's side. Dad escaped with some minor cuts, where he dove into the broken glass in the passenger's side floor. With only milliseconds to duck when he saw the log coming, I doubt he could have found the buckle and released the belt quickly enough.

Seats belts are certainly an advantage in some accidents, but not even the majority of likely accidents IMO. But then, I'm not in the habit of driving into stationary objects, so YMMV