Sigh. Be safe everyone. Please.

http://www.wftv.com/news/15582086/detail.html

 

Very, very sad. Contrary to popular myth, MINIs are still plenty fun when not speeding (assuming the story is accurate).

 

Yikes. I hope was no one we know here. Not that it's necessarily any better that it's anyone.

Yeah, we all like to have some fun, but be safe.

 

How terribly sad for his family and friends. One lapse in judgment. One mistake. One spirited on-ramp too many. Very sobering.

 

This is my sad story of the day ...

 

Rats. A tragic testimonial for keeping it under control.

 

Thats terrible

 

That looks bad! I watched the video, it looks like the driver hit the curb,grassy area next to the sidewalk, got some lift and then hit the top of the wall with the bumper, rotated over and fell onto the roof (it looks compressed in the photo's) bad way to go! That is often a very busy area with tourists, park and hotel workers. bad scene for sure.

 

It's sad some one lost their life. A MINI is only as safe and secure as the driver behind the wheel.

 

Friend sent me this link..There are pics at the link.

http://www.wftv.com/news/15582086/detail.html

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando police are still trying to identify the man who plunged more than 80 feet into a pond when he lost control of his vehicle early Thursday morning. Eyewitnesses said they never even saw the driver's brake lights when he sped off the Universal exit along I-4.

A tow company pulled the Mini Cooper from the eight-foot pond Thursday morning. Investigators said the driver was going way too fast when he got off on the I-4 Universal exit. Eyewitnesses said he cut off two other vehicles, flew over a grassy median, crashed into a guardrail and went airborne.

“It came out with the roof down and the wheels up,” said Lt. Robert Anzueto, Orlando Police Department.

The car fell more than 80 feet into this pond

"It's amazing we didn't have more fatalities because if that vehicle would've struck the victim's vehicle it could have been catastrophic," Anzueto added.

The same two eyewitnesses the driver cut off called 911. Traffic homicide investigators said divers were in the water within minutes after they arrived. Investigators found the car submerged underwater and the driver already dead.

"We had at least five or six divers that were actually in the water at the same time. They pulled the victim out and immediately tried to resuscitate him, but unfortunately it was unsuccessful,” Anzueto said.

Orlando police haven't released the driver's name, but they said the man is in his late 20s or early 30s. Traffic homicide investigators hope their investigation will unveil exactly how fast the driver was going, but they may never know why.

Investigators said they don't think the driver was drinking. They said he was wearing a seatbelt.

 

Exit and entrance ramps can be enticing for those who like spirited driving.

Me... learned an expensive lesson cheaply back in the mid 90s when I took a ramp going xx MPH and went up on two wheels in my Acura.

Took 2 years off my life... could have been a lot more.

 

ouch.

 

Sigh, Ill be thinking good thought for their families and loved ones. Drive safe people... please.

 

yikes..sad

Be careful out there!

 

They've released his name. I won't post it here but you can go to the news site above and get it. 37 years old

 

Tragic, indeed.

Minor side note, that MINI is in remarkably good condition, given the events of the last 10 seconds of its life.

 

actually, it looks like several lapses in judgment.

I'm as guilty of anybody of moving past slow moving cars and then diving onto an onramp to have a bit of fun, though never so brash as to cut others off. Always a calculated risk though. Sad day for his family for sure.

 

I heard about this when my mom called me this morning to make sure I was okay. I was in Orlando last night and she saw the news today. Very sad story.

 

Man, I always joke about "launching" off the curve on my exit ramp on my drive home...this story makes it not so funny

 

Very sad story.

 

Have they determined that it was absolutely driver error and not some sort of malfunction with the car or possibly a health problem with the driver?

 

They have said they don't believe alcohol to be involved, and are leaning toward the theory of a possible health problem. Two eyewitness were on hand and noted the vehicle did not brake before hitting the guard-rail, which backs up the possibility of a health problem. He was wearing his seatbelt.

 

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A driver of a Mini-Cooper was killed early Thursday when his vehicle flew off an Interstate 4 overpass in what police said was one of the most horrific single-car crashes they'd ever seen.

Orlando police said the driver, Scot A. Morrison, 37, was traveling east on I-4 at a high rate of speed. The driver exited at Universal Boulevard, drove over the center median through six lanes, went airborne over a cement and metal guard rail and fell into the pond.
Witnesses said Morrison never applied his brakes.

Divers were needed to find the driver's body in the pond.

Officers said they were not sure whether the impact of the crash killed the man or if he died in the water.

Officers called the crash the most horrific single-vehicle accident they have ever seen, Local 6's Tiffany Tift reported.

"From straight down was a little over 80 feet but from that point to where the car landed, you are looking at another 30, 40 or 50 feet," Orlando police Lt. Robert Anzueto said. "Like witnesses said, the car was airborne."

The driver was not identified Thursday morning.

So tragic...

 

Did you know him, or was he a NAM member?

 

I did not. I was just checking myself to see if we may know him by another name.

Such a tragic way to go.