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Darwin award what speed was he doing?
britishtrident - 29/3/14 at 07:01 PM

BBC Scotland news link

Looks like 120+ mph impact into something very solid to me.


jollygreengiant - 29/3/14 at 07:15 PM

At a guess, I would have suggested that he possibly hit a tree if no other vehicle was involved and to the left of shot is a tree, so possibly, he hit one just out of camera shot.

Edit bit, Just had a look on google maps/street view,
55deg 49min 34.07sec N
4deg 31min 26.59sec W
Just outside the garage, could have ricocheted of the garage/low wall and the tree in pic, that would have been enough, possibly.

[Edited on 29/3/14 by jollygreengiant]


theduck - 29/3/14 at 07:17 PM

Not even sure what that was...


focijohn - 29/3/14 at 07:17 PM

Doesn't look a million miles away to the test that 5th gear did in a focus at those sort of speeds.


MP3C - 29/3/14 at 08:33 PM

Defiantly looks like he hit a tree. Somebody was maybe pulling out of the petrol station and he tried to miss them or something and hit the tree.

Matt


Matt21 - 29/3/14 at 08:53 PM

i can usually tell what anycar was.... but what was that?!

kind of looking like an older punto?


David Jenkins - 29/3/14 at 09:05 PM

Mind you, most cars look bad after the fire service have dismantled them to get the occupants out...


theduck - 29/3/14 at 09:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Matt21
i can usually tell what anycar was.... but what was that?!

kind of looking like an older punto?


I thought that, really can't be sure though.


scootz - 29/3/14 at 09:30 PM

Darwin Award? A mans lost his life there and you don't really know much about what's happened !

Yes, he may have been speeding. Yes, he may have been driving like a nob. But you don't know! He may just have been unlucky (I've seen many cars that had literally disintegrated even though the speed wasn't particularly outrageous).

Also, what makes that car look (even) worse is that it's had its roof and side cut open by the fire service.

I note the mature tree at the roadside and would add that If it had hit such an object, then there's not much flex there. Cars v Trees always end with one winner (and a very sorry looking automobile).


bi22le - 29/3/14 at 09:47 PM

Im generally quite good at identifying cars and I think it's anewish civic. There is no bumper on it which makes it hard to work out.


sebastiaan - 29/3/14 at 09:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Darwin Award? A mans lost his life there and you don't really know much about what's happened !

Yes, he may have been speeding. Yes, he may have been driving like a nob. But you don't know! He may just have been unlucky (I've seen many cars that had literally disintegrated even though the speed wasn't particularly outrageous).

Also, what makes that car look (even) worse is that it's had its roof and side cut open by the fire service.

I note the mature tree at the roadside and would add that If it had hit such an object, then there's not much flex there. Cars v Trees always end with one winner (and a very sorry looking automobile).


Almost exactly what I was thinking. Even if he'd been driving as a knob, it still was someone's son/brother/father.... You might want to delete this thread.


scootz - 29/3/14 at 10:20 PM

... and if it's left the ground and rolled (which is perfectly possible given the extensive panel damage), then remember that the spin can quicken violently depending on a number of factors unrelated to the vehicles pre-collision speed.

We can all make amateur guesses, but unless we were there and saw what happened (or have read the Accident Investigation report), then guesses are all they are.


johnny chimpo - 29/3/14 at 10:27 PM

At a guess.... A civic type r?


sdh2903 - 29/3/14 at 10:42 PM

I can see where previous comments are coming from but that road is 10 mins from me and it really isn't a road to be speeding on. It's pretty residential and next to a school. Even if the driver has been unlucky for whatever reason the evidence is clear to see speed has been a massive factor, that is very substantial damage to render a vehicle unrecognisable.


britishtrident - 29/3/14 at 11:28 PM

quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Darwin Award? A mans lost his life there and you don't really know much about what's happened !

Yes, he may have been speeding. Yes, he may have been driving like a nob. But you don't know! He may just have been unlucky (I've seen many cars that had literally disintegrated even though the speed wasn't particularly outrageous).

Also, what makes that car look (even) worse is that it's had its roof and side cut open by the fire service.

I note the mature tree at the roadside and would add that If it had hit such an object, then there's not much flex there. Cars v Trees always end with one winner (and a very sorry looking automobile).


The road concerned is well known to me also , to do anything over 30 on is more than stupidity, if he had killed an innocent bystander it would have shown such a lack of concern for the safety of others a lot of people would class it as murder.
What ever way you look at it impact was at 3 figure speeds, if the B pillar moves that far in an impact it is a good indicator of 100mph plus, even when Mythbusters crashed tested an old Kia against a 30 ton concrete block at 100mph it didn't suffer anything like as much intrusion of the passenger del and shortening of the vehicle. Doing that kind of speed through 20mph school zone on a Saturday lunch time is not trivial?

[Edited on 29/3/14 by britishtrident]


scootz - 30/3/14 at 02:34 AM

The road may be well known to you, and yes, you may well be proven right that it was a high speed crash. However, the fact remains that (irrespective of what you may have seen on Mythbusters) you are guessing, and to use guesswork as your basis for taking the p!ss out of a recently deceased young person is not really good form (at least not in my book).

Experience has taught me that what can seem utterly obvious on first impression can sometimes be proven utterly incorrect following thorough investigation.

Finally, regarding your 100+mph assertion, I'll end by saying that I've investigated plenty of single-vehicle accident cases where there was similar (and worse) damage caused at speeds well within the national speed limit. I recall in particular a Citroen clipping a pavement whilst cornering at 40-odd mph, rolling violently due to the way it dug-in, and disintegrating spectacularly to a condition that made the car in your linked news story look salvageable!


BenB - 30/3/14 at 07:08 AM

I think the police sign is a bit superfuous no sh!t !


Ninehigh - 30/3/14 at 08:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by BenB
I think the police sign is a bit superfuous no sh!t !


Oh no that's because the copper had an accident when he arrived (I know poor joke)


coyoteboy - 30/3/14 at 08:32 AM

Judging crash speed by damage to the car is futile, car to car and impact to impact differences render the "estimate" pointless. Not to mention the cutting job by the boys in a big red truck. My sub 30mph (corner to corner head on) impact with my old pug205 saw the engine shoved through the bulkhead, the a pillar bent and a kink in the roof at the b pillar, foot well realignment. The person who hit me (much more modern car) saw zero passenger space intrusion and little more than panel damage. In the same car I had previously been rear ended by a Suzuki baleno, I saw a cracked bumper and tail light. He took out bonnet, bumper, front wings, front doors and a pillars.

[Edited on 30/3/14 by coyoteboy]


sdh2903 - 30/3/14 at 08:52 AM

Scootz, I wasn't taking the wee at all it's tragic that someone has lost his life. However lets face it by the image it was almost certainly a high speed incident. The road is a well known rat run for the local boy racers so I would place considerable money on the fact there was another vehicle involved even if they didn't collide.


richardR1 - 30/3/14 at 12:53 PM

Tragic waste of life whatever the circumstances. Would say definitely an EP3 Civic, judging by shape and location of the filler cap and rear light cluster position.