Spotted on a local news break, really bad, fiery accident on Hwy 52 in San Diego. Cooper v. pick up truck. 2 fatalities, both in the MINI.

Touch base people, let us know you're ok. Or if you know who it was.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/traffic/3931850/detail.html

 

Not good.

 

More info:

Unfortunately, it seems racing was involved. Female driver, male passenger, both burned beyond recognition. According to news reports, MINI was travelling at over 100 MPH, and attempted to pass truck it was racing by using the left shoulder. The MINI then crossed the median strip, ran into oncoming traffic & burst into flames.

 

Thats really sad. I guess this can be used as a lesson for everyone... keep racing on the track. I know its easy to get going fast, but we all need to try and save that for the track days or autoX.

 

I'm sure that didn't help either. People just don't get it do they?

 

This is really bad.

Has anyone heard who it was??

Most of that road has a very wide center divide. MINI had to go a long ways to get to the other lanes.

Question, picture two shows what appears to be the MINI steering wheel? Not burned, but broken off. Any idea how that could happen?

Earl

 

I am planning on holding a moment of silence for these two victims, not only ecause they died in a Mini but they were burnt beyond recognition. Unfortunately for me I am a burn survivor, but I don't dwell upon my past, I look to the future and take everyday fresh, renewed and full of joy, with or without the Mini. This moment of Silence will be held tomorow morning at 11 a.m. eastern time. Any of you may join me.

BTW the steering wheel broke off during the crash, it must have rolled quite a few times I suspect, wheels must've broken off also. I know this because I was a volunteer firefighter also, worked in the fire investigator's office.

 

Oh no! This is terrible! What a shame! Zack, your moment of silence will be 8 AM, Pacific time. I will observe that, as well.


Clover

 

I agree with Gold!!! The roads aren't designed for racing; the other folks on them and most of us do not have the driver knowledge to maintain control of an "out of control" vehicle!!

Being a cop for 29 years, and the survivor of a BAD motorcycle wreck, I've seen a few of these. Be safe and lets all have a moment of silence for these victims!

 

Maybe I'm just being the callous one here, but to me the only possible victim here is the passenger in the MINI (and who knows, he may have been encouraging the situation as well). The driver a victim? Give me a break. Racing recklessly on the street is worse than driving drunk. If people who think it's acceptable to drive in this fashion are no longer on the road, then it's a safer world for everyone else. At least she only took one other person with her. What if, instead of the pickup, they plowed into a school bus and killed a dozen kids in a fireball?

Tragic for the families, and a cautionary tale for everyone else.

 

I must say, I saw the posting and I felt sick to my stomach. I just got my mini a week ago and selfishly thought of my safety, and how safe am I? Then I tried to settle my nerves by telling myself that I don't ever drive drunk or race on the road, and I have 6 airbags. But the bottom line here is that everyone has made a bad decision at some point in their lives, some worse than others, unfortunately this bad decision is one that someone made that they won't be able to learn from. But those left behind, (us) can. I will definitly be driving more cautious, and who knows, maybe because of this, I might avoid an accident.JJ

 

Very, very disturbing......


Count me in on the moment of silence. Such a pity.

 

It also goes to show that no matter how powerful you make your MINI, it's how you drive that counts. A Cooper travelling 100MPH into head on traffic will kill you instantly. I couldn't tell the color of the MINI from the pics, but did you notice the frame is bare? No rear tail lights, exhaust twisted, glass seems to be removed as well. I mean, it looks like a twisted shell. I'm guessing it literally exploded upon impact.

I've heard stories of Corvettes doing the same because of their fiberglass shell, but don't be fooled that our MINI's are any safer. Please drive responsibly.

It's very sad.

Got another report from a WCM member:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...m19fiery1.html

"Witnesses told the CHP that the Cooper driver may have tried to speed past the Chevy pickup by using the left shoulder. Others said the pickup cut off the Cooper, causing it to swerve and spin out of control...... Firefighters discovered two bodies in the Cooper after dousing the flames. The charred car had been crushed in the collision. The pickup also had been damaged by the impact, then totaled by the fire. "

 

This is very sad indeed. We saw it on the news last night and again this morning.....life is just too short - we should never take anything for granted...our thoughts are with our extended MINI families....

Donna

 

Very sad. However the racing thing doesn't sit right with me. Racing a pick-up? Or trying to pass and cut off?

I have been behind trucks that go slow and then when passing you wake them up and they speed up. I usually just fall back, if they are jerking with me I try to put distance between me and behind seems easiest.


My condolences.


Paul

 

I got a bunch of phone calls from relatives and friends checking on me! Evidently it was big news on all the networks. Nice to know I have people who care.


BCNU,
Rob in Dago

 

Believe me, I've seen pick up trucks try to race me on the highway in Michigan and they will go to the extreme. A lot of this is due to Road rage and their superior feeling of them being better than you because they have a bigger vehicle.

 

I haven't seen the news, so this is the first I've seen of this accident. I live about 5 minutes from the accident scene. Very sad, but a reminder that when you hit anything, especially head on, especially at 90 to 100 mph, you're going to lose.

Ted

 

I have said this on other threads in the past, and I'll reiterate it here now. There are victims here that NO ONE ever mentions. They are the first responders, and clean-up teams in incidents like this. I know people get tired of hearing how careful one must be and how street racing is foolish, but until you have to witness and clean-up the horror of one of these accidents you will never really understand. And it doesn't stop at the scene. If bodies are transported to an emergency room, or morgue, then there are still people, who because of a chosen profession, who get to deal with distraught family members. My husband is one of those people. You will never know how many times he has had to tell a family memebr thier loved one has died. And then to tell them it was their fault is even more terrible. They blame the messenger usually and the messenger has to respond with empathy and caring. It is a difficult job, done by policemen, fire personnel, social workers and medical people.

Let's all remember the invisible victims to these types of crime too.

 

See link for the story and photo of the aftermath. Here are the first 2 paragraphs:

"Two people in a Mini Cooper who may have been racing a pickup down a freeway in University City died yesterday when their car collided with another truck and exploded in flames, authorities said.

The Cooper was traveling about 90 mph east on state Route 52 when the driver lost control, spun across the divider and slammed head-on into a large Ford pickup in westbound lanes just west of Interstate 805, the California Highway Patrol said."

Let's practice safe motoring out there.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...m19fiery1.html

 

There's already a thread on this topic.

 

Threads Merged

 

Very safe considering the size of car you're driving. I'm no expert, but it seems likely that anytime a large truck broadsides an oncoming car at highway speeds, it's not going to turn out well for the passengers in the car.

www.hwysafety.org has crash test info on the Mini.

If you look at the pic OctaneGuy posted, the Mini got hit on the driver's side by oncoming traffic, and the wheels are about full lock to the left. The car had to have been pointed back towards the lanes of traffic it came from, which indicates it was spinning at impact. The wheels point to the driver trying to steer out of the spin.

If there is a wide median on that road, they were probably going -very- fast to end up pointed backwards in the opposite lanes.

 

I just found this while surfin' the net:




That car in front was a MINI! Apparently, the driver of the MINI and a pickup truck were racing, and the driver of the MINI hit another pickup truck coming the opposite way. For story details, click here.

Please folks, take it easy out there!!

-Paul!

Admin Edit: This post has been merged into the existing thread.

 

ya, keep it on the track