Subanoobie

Driving tests should include practical experments with the laws of physics.

So many drivers simply don't understand F=MA and other important stuff about driving many hundreds of pounds of metal at high speeds.

Inertia is a cruel mistress.

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Aliens? Us? Is this one of your Earth jokes?

Ntalsbn

I wonder in the aftermath of incidents like this why any intelligent parent would decide that a WRX STI is an appropriate car for a first time driver. I can understand that you want your son, who you are justifiably proud of, to have the very best. The same thing happens all the time, the vehicle changes (Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers etc) But the results are almost always the same, and never happy. The take away is that we need to teach our children how to drive first, then worry about what kind of car we will put them in.

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Now engaged in the pursuit of 300K

emarch

Obligatory (and well stated) XKCD:

xkcd: Warning

GreyingJay

I can understand the sentiment for wanting your kids to have the best. I've seen some spoiled kids in my time. Sometimes it's the parent overcompensating for their own personal issues. Sometimes it's out of honest but misguided love and generosity for their child.

But understand that at this age teenagers are still learning to take responsibility for their own actions and consequences. It's literally not quite wired into their brains yet. They're barely out of the dual mindsets of "I'm immortal, nothing can stop me" and "Hey, I didn't pay for it, therefore I don't care about what happens to it", let alone getting used to good driving habits and emergency maneuvres.

Don't buy your kid a car for a graduation or birthday present or whatever. Don't buy your kid a car, period. Give him/her some money, and guide them through the process of buying something for themselves. Teach them how to shop and negotiate. Buy a beater, not a shiny powerful new one, because they WILL crash it (hopefully not so spectacularly, but fender-benders will happen). Get them to pay for their own insurance, gas, and maintenance so THEY understand just how much it costs to take care of their own stuff.

I speak from experience. I got my full license in November 2000, and I was proud as punch. Dad bought a second car "for the family" but it was really for me, since he and I were the only two drivers. Sure enough the week after Christmas, on my first solo freeway drive, I was involved in a serious accident because I didn't know how to drive for blowing snow conditions nor how to do emergency reactions at 60 mph. (I WAY overcompensated for some slippage and sent the car into a spin.) Luckily nobody was hurt but it was a humbling and expensive lesson that I was NOT as ready as I thought I was.

gibbgsxr

Who gives a 17 year old a new sti? So sad for the passengers families. The driver should be sent to jail for sure. Where were the parents at 3 a.m.? What a shame.

Timbaru

very sad. what a shame.

fast car + young driver = accident waiting to happen

glad i learned to drive in a sluggish automatic legacy wagon

upflying

Hopefully Beer's parents suck some huge civil liability lawsuits for the fatalities.
Kid also needs to juvenile hall and spend a few years behind bars for vehicular manslaughter.
When my son was 16, I had him witness the autopsy of a motorcycle rider. He is accident free and now 29.

forester06x

Although I went to driving school and watched those "Red Asphalt" videos and visited the funeral home and such, I only truly learned to respect the danger of driving when I almost got killed myself. I was on a new ADHD medicine and became so focused on a daydream that my eyes blurred out and I didn't steer through a corner and shot off the narrow, tall left shoulder of the highway at 70mph. I awoke from the dream and the car- a Saturn Vue, which is a tippy, big awkward SUV that handles like a bathtub full of water- was nearly perpendicular to the road and skidding sideways. My response was automatic- I truly and seriously believe it was from playing so much Gran Turismo as a young child.

I didn't touch the brakes at all, but turned the steering wheel sharp left to bring the nose of the car back in the lead, and the car shot up the embankment again and onto the highway, skidded out, and came to rest on the right shoulder. If I would have braked, it would have flipped, if I had not done anything, it would have flipped, and if I had moved the steering wheel to the right, it certainly would have flipped. There really wasn't any reason it shouldn't have flipped.

It genuinely scared the life out of me. I've barely blinked my eyes behind the wheel since, let alone do something stupid like texting, and loud droney exhaust + window noise don't make a good environment for daydreaming anyway. Respect the vehicle and what it can do.

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'06 FXB AWP- The GolfBall

The Sub

Anyone have any links to updated news about this story?

I read one a few days after the accident that said a stong odor of pot was all over him, the car, and the scene.

Terrible shame. Just graduated high school.