So you think street racing is not stupid ?

[ratter]

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http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/02/16....ap/index.html

ACCOKEEK, Maryland (AP) -- A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch a drag race on a suburban road early Saturday, killing eight people and injuring at least five, police said.

Police investigate the accident scene Saturday in Accokeek, Maryland.

1 of 2 Police said the white sedan was not involved in the street race but accidentally drove into the crowd of about 50 people that had spilled onto the highway to watch two racing cars speed off.

"There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible," said Crystal Gaines, 27, whose father was among the dead.

Gaines said she grabbed her child but could not help her father, William Gaines Sr., 61.

"He wasn't breathing, he wasn't moving," she said. "His body was in pieces."

Gaines said the car did not have its lights on, but police could not confirm that.

The white sedan hit people standing on the side of Route 210 around 3:40 a.m., Prince George's County Police Cpl. Clinton Copeland said.

A tractor-trailer that came by shortly afterward may also have struck someone on the road as it tried to avoid the crash, he said.

"It's probably one of the worst scenes I've seen," Copeland said. "This is a situation that could have been avoided, and it's a very tragic situation."

The victims ranged in age from their 20s to 60s, police said. Seven people were pronounced dead at the scene, and an eighth died later at a hospital.

Hours after the accident on the divided highway in Accokeek, bodies covered in white sheets were scattered along what police were calling a 200-yard crime scene. Some were in the road, while others were on the shoulder. Watch sheet-covered bodies lying along road »

The sedan came to a rest on an embankment about 150 feet from where the crowd had been. It had a crumpled front and hood, and the roof had partially collapsed.

The driver of the white sedan had been interviewed and did not appear to be seriously hurt, Police Capt. Donald Frick said. Police said a body found in the car was one of the spectators and not a passenger as they had previously reported.

According to police, two cars had lined up for a race on the smooth and relatively flat and straight stretch of highway. They spun their wheels, kicking up smoke, then sped off, Copeland said. Learn about street racing »

The crowd then moved into the road to watch the cars drive away. The combination of the smoke and the dark morning likely meant the driver of the approaching white sedan could not see the crowd. No charges were pending.

Authorities were looking for the drivers of the two cars involved in the race.

Authorities were working to identify the victims by showing digital photos of them to bystanders who said loved ones had been hurt. John Courtney said after viewing one of the images that his brother, Mark, 33, was among the dead.

"He liked going to the race track, watching races," Courtney said. "It's going to take a toll on my family for a long time."

Investigators had "more questions than answers," Copeland said.


Route 210 has two lanes in each direction and traffic lights about every 150 to 200 yards in Accokeek, about 20 miles south of Washington. In that area, the road is flanked by some businesses but has little traffic in the early hours, Copeland said.

Frick said it's common in the summer for police to deal with reports of motorcycles racing on the highway, which is relatively smooth with long straightaways, but he said they have not had as much of an issue

[Laminge]

We still have people here who dont have insurance, I hope you dont think they are capable of squeezing out a rational post at the same time?

[Keepleft]

I'd safely say 99% of folk would find street racing 'stupid', just as many more find 'driving like an idiot', also stoopid.

The bottom <10% again.

the white sedan was not involved in the street race but accidentally drove into the crowd of about 50 people that had spilled onto the highway to watch two racing cars speed off

Oh dear oh dear - 'can't see where I'm going, I'll just go regardless, not above the limit afterall'.

[Daymoe]

Why are they standing in the middle of a highway anyway?

[Nikked]

sound like general stupidity to me.

[Green X]

Look im not saying that street racing is not stupid, but if ya going to stand on the middle of a dark HWY that has a tyre smoke haze shielding you from being seen then perhaps your are lacking some of the basic brain activity that keep you alive day to day, and to top it all off the car that crashed was not even involved in the Race.

[Stefan]

Lets stand on the highway and watch cars take off....

Darwin Awards?

[syko4d]

i dont think it was street racing that cause this crash it was someone driving blind simple if i was driving along a road and seen heaps of smoke and couldnt see id stop thinkin maybe some one had crashed but then again apperently the white car didnt have lights on either so dont blame the street racing blame the real problem ,

fookin drivers

im sick of politicians and people blaming street races for everything when clearly this accident was the fault of someone that wasnt racing

i dont mean to have a go at you but if you think you can say street racing is stupid because some idiot that wasnt racing killed some admirers then you should join up with johnny howard

if you read it clearly the racers didnt hurt anyone some spastic with no idea did

[Keepleft]

Not related really, cept stars inoccent bystanders as victims.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080216/2/15uy2.html

[sprjenkins]

Yeah, I gotta agree that walking out into the middle of traffic is a lot more stupid. Have a look, it wasn't even one of the cars that was racing that caused the carnage.

So maybe before blaming people who were racing you should have a close look and think about who is really stupid here.

[Walt Kowalski]

Originally Posted by Laminge

We still have people here who dont have insurance, I hope you dont think they are capable of squeezing out a rational post at the same time?

LMAO Quote of the year.

(Unless you are referring to people with so many toys and so much money they just self insure)

[bangm001]

Haha! OK so it wasnt the guys that were racing that hit the people on the hway, who were apparently watching an illegal street race earlier?? Sorry to the people but street racing was blamed before anything. I dont agree with it at all..
There was an article in the paper earlier this week that said that Adelaide may be getting a brand new drag racing complex.. This would prevent a little of this type of thing happening I guess.. Cant wait..

[RIPGMH]

So it was the gathering of people and an uncontrolled vehicle not the street racing that caused the incident?

[KBBossedXR]

Originally Posted by syko4d

i dont think it was street racing that cause this crash it was someone driving blind simple if i was driving along a road and seen heaps of smoke and couldnt see id stop thinkin maybe some one had crashed but then again apperently the white car didnt have lights on either so dont blame the street racing blame the real problem ,

fookin drivers

im sick of politicians and people blaming street races for everything when clearly this accident was the fault of someone that wasnt racing

i dont mean to have a go at you but if you think you can say street racing is stupid because some idiot that wasnt racing killed some admirers then you should join up with johnny howard

if you read it clearly the racers didnt hurt anyone some spastic with no idea did

Are you for real mate, Here we have a bunch of absolute Morons "Drag racing" on the Highway with all there mates standing on the side of the road watching. Due to this not being at a race track there is no fence to keep there mates of the road they all want to get the best veiw so as 1 moves forward they all move forward and before they all know it they are standing on the road.
As for the white car that hit the crowd, the spectators are the ones saying it didnt have its lights on, what i found funny listening to the video clips was the spectators could see a white car coming but couldnt get out the way, i think there was a bit of guessing going on out there to whether the lights were on or not.
Before you go blaming the driver of the white car that was driving down the Highway and suddenly had people bouncing of his car everywhere and also had one land inside his car, just take a second to think who would you trust a bunch of illegal street races and there mates or this innocent person driving down the road.
You can always tell the type of people they are as when something goes wrong like this everyone does a runner and leaves all the injured/dead behind.
When Troy Critchley crashed his Pro Mod into the crowd and killed those people there were still people there 24hrs later but that was an organised event its a little different this.

[fmc351]

Spectators are crazier than Euro Rally spectators.

Originally Posted by Keepleft

Oh dear oh dear - 'can't see where I'm going, I'll just go regardless, not above the limit afterall'.

You stop for fog or mist? Stop, not simply slow down. There was nothing said that suggests the driver didnt slow down or that he knew it was tyre smoke as opposed to say side of the road burnoff smoke, or fog etc.

Tell me you actually stop for patches of fog, or roadside burnoffs, you know, the ones where theres signs saying 'smoke hazard' its a regular enough part of driving.

Coming up on tyre smoke as in this situation its doubtful there was half a kilometre of smoke. Its more likely the driver came across the smoke and bang, it would be close to the start point where the spectators were.

Originally Posted by syko4d

fookin drivers

im sick of politicians and people blaming street races for everything when clearly this accident was the fault of someone that wasnt racing

i dont mean to have a go at you but if you think you can say street racing is stupid because some idiot that wasnt racing killed some admirers then you should join up with johnny howard

if you read it clearly the racers didnt hurt anyone some spastic with no idea did

If it wasnt for the street race, the 'spectators' wouldnt be there, and the white car would have used the road as per normal.

Its the idiots attending the street race that claim the white car had no lights on. Given the trashed front and the circumstances its likely the idiots with their back to it didnt notice them until they were broken.

The rest of the population are sick of street racers and the various imbeciles who justify their actions and blame others for their own ineptitude despite the masses of clear evidence.


Look at your own logic. The idiots on the road were in your words 'admirers', a driver just driving along who came across smoke and bang in an instant, and you call him an idiot? Tell me again, you stop for patchy fog, mist, side of road burnoffs. Come on Nanna.

[Nikked]

You can have a street race without crowds, or crowd intelligent enough to stay off the road.

If stand on the middle of a road for any reason, your an idiot with no one to blame but yourself.

Street racing didn't kill these people, But just general idiocy.

[J_Tank]

"Currantly"? Your car was injured by a raisan?

[syko4d]

as for being a nanny well im not going to comment as i dont need to if the dude had his lights on and he couldnt see thats some serious smoke so you tell me youd drive through it? go on say youd drive through the summernats burnout pad just as gary myers or someone is half way up the track and you cant see a thing?

if it was a little bit of fog or smoke he wouldve seen outlines

you wouldnt because you cant see yes you are both right the idiots are the ones in the middle of the road and yes i do feel sorry for the guy that run them over it would be hard to deal with

either way you two obviously are going to argue bout stupid street racers causing death when they didnt and lets face it accidents happen and you dont need street racers to cause in fact if you really do look at the stats old people cause a lot more crashes then street racers

im not arguing again with you two as you are obviously way to superior to the majority of us that have partakin in street races and so i guess im just not that noble hahahahahahaha

[syko4d]

and since you to are so politically correct show me your stats to say that street racing takes more lives than normal driving you cant

oh and he obviuosly didnt slow down look at the car

[syko4d]

and lets just end it now it wasnt the street racers fault

it was the people in the middle of the road and the guy that drove blind the drag racers didnt hurt anyone

[ED Classic]

If I wanted to comit suicide Id go stand in the middle of a dark highway, its as sure as jumping off a bridge. Only I wouldnt do it cause the poor person driving the car and I dont want to comitt suicide also.

[syko4d]

Originally Posted by Keepleft

Not related really, cept stars inoccent bystanders as victims.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080216/2/15uy2.html

now thats stupidity and is a higher cause of accident

[AUIII XR8 MAN]

This was a very sad event that went very, very wrong. Large groups of poeple are like sheep. If one doe's it the rest follows. Now alot of pople will have to live for the rest of their life with what happen that night. All i can say about this accident is that i hope poeple have learnt that thing can go wrong with out warning & the mistake that happen will not be repeated again. Stop & think before acting.

[XRQTOR]

Originally Posted by KBBossedXR

Are you for real mate, Here we have a bunch of absolute Morons "Drag racing" on the Highway with all there mates standing on the side of the road watching. Due to this not being at a race track there is no fence to keep there mates of the road they all want to get the best veiw so as 1 moves forward they all move forward and before they all know it they are standing on the road.
As for the white car that hit the crowd, the spectators are the ones saying it didnt have its lights on, what i found funny listening to the video clips was the spectators could see a white car coming but couldnt get out the way, i think there was a bit of guessing going on out there to whether the lights were on or not.
Before you go blaming the driver of the white car that was driving down the Highway and suddenly had people bouncing of his car everywhere and also had one land inside his car, just take a second to think who would you trust a bunch of illegal street races and there mates or this innocent person driving down the road.
You can always tell the type of people they are as when something goes wrong like this everyone does a runner and leaves all the injured/dead behind.
When Troy Critchley crashed his Pro Mod into the crowd and killed those people there were still people there 24hrs later but that was an organised event its a little different this.

What so if you see 5o people standing on the road you just plow through them, regardless of weather they should be there or not. Wouldnt all the cars parked on the side of the road be a dead give away that there may be something wrong or a good reason to slow down.

[Walkinshaw]

Originally Posted by RIPGMH

So it was the gathering of people and an uncontrolled vehicle not the street racing that caused the incident?

Finally, somone with 1/2 a brain.

[boxo]

Originally Posted by syko4d

i dont think it was street racing that cause this crash it was someone driving blind simple if i was driving along a road and seen heaps of smoke and couldnt see id stop thinkin maybe some one had crashed but then again apperently the white car didnt have lights on either so dont blame the street racing blame the real problem ,

fookin drivers

im sick of politicians and people blaming street races for everything when clearly this accident was the fault of someone that wasnt racing

i dont mean to have a go at you but if you think you can say street racing is stupid because some idiot that wasnt racing killed some admirers then you should join up with johnny howard

if you read it clearly the racers didnt hurt anyone some spastic with no idea did

Mate this is a really simple equation... NO RACERS = NO CROWD = NO DEATHS!
And NO innocent guy having to live with taking the lives of eight people.
I imagine the fact he did nothing wrong will do little to comfort him.

[XRQTOR]

Originally Posted by boxo

Mate this is a really simple equation... NO RACERS = NO CROWD = NO DEATHS!
And NO innocent guy having to live with taking the lives of eight people.
I imagine the fact he did nothing wrong will do little to comfort him.

How the hell can you say he did nothing wrong, he ran 8 people over. If a kid had run out in front of him then you could say he did nothing wrong, but to plow through a large crowd of people is completely his fault.

[ReVd_uP]

no one forced the spectators into watching.... If I decide to jump of a bridge tomorrow is everyone gonna blame the builders of the bridge???

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by syko4d

as for being a nanny well im not going to comment as i dont need to if the dude had his lights on and he couldnt see thats some serious smoke so you tell me youd drive through it? go on say youd drive through the summernats burnout pad just as gary myers or someone is half way up the track and you cant see a thing?

if it was a little bit of fog or smoke he wouldve seen outlines

you wouldnt because you cant see yes you are both right the idiots are the ones in the middle of the road and yes i do feel sorry for the guy that run them over it would be hard to deal with

either way you two obviously are going to argue bout stupid street racers causing death when they didnt and lets face it accidents happen and you dont need street racers to cause in fact if you really do look at the stats old people cause a lot more crashes then street racers

im not arguing again with you two as you are obviously way to superior to the majority of us that have partakin in street races and so i guess im just not that noble hahahahahahaha

There are only idiots from the group of spectators saying he had no lights on. So lets not get carried away as if thats fact.

Would these clowns be on the road if if the street race did not take place? Nope. Funny thing about laws and responsibility, you should make yourself aware of them, you will be held to them even if youre ignorant to them.

There is no evidence there was a burnout pad of smoke, just smoke from a race. If you want to suggest these clowns sat there and did pre-race burnouts in the middle of a highway, well you wont be enhancing their role in the event or effectively shifting blame.

Given its early hours, the suggestion headlights even need to be on suggests even a little smoke would make it impossible to see people standing within said smoke. You can hardly blame a driver who most likely hit the smoke about half a second before he hit his first idiot. Yet in that first post of yours, you tried to. Even went so far as to say the racers were not responsible at all, and the poor 'admirers' were victims of a ruthless law abiding driver what was it, a 'spastic'.

[XRQTOR]

Originally Posted by ReVd_uP

no one forced the spectators into watching.... If I decide to jump of a bridge tomorrow is everyone gonna blame the builders of the bridge???

No one made them watch, thats not the issue. You just dont run through a crowd of people because they are in the middle of the road.