Speeding teen kills- (in a skyline)

[dale]

On a sad note page 9 of the Sun-Herald Jan 11 2004 a speeding teen ran down a guy in a 60 zone near a pub. It was said he was going about 115km/h and it was blamed on his overpowerful car, a skyline.

The mate of the guy who died said he wants changes made for younger kids in NSW to have power restrictions on the cars they drive and power to weight limits. I find this upsetting as there are a lot of responsible people who enjoy having performance veachles who may be younger and drive safe, while keeping their fun on the track.

All car speedos go to high speeds so any car could have been zooming along at 115km/h in a 60 so the publicity for skylines was very bad in this article. I would scan it in but my copy is pretty ripped and most of the stuff torn etc.... due to someone else readin the paper first.

Anyways just letting you all know, and as skyline drivers (which I am not but a big enthuasist hoping to get one soon) we should all be aware of things happening around the publicity of the car.

[Villainous_J]

I suppose we'd have to hope that the public in general has some common sense and realises that all cars can reach 115kph in a street, not just the hi-perf 'lines and such. Failing that, it's our responsibility as drivers (as I plan on being a skyline owner sometime this year) to set an example to those people, and disprove these assumptions that people like ourselves who enjoy cars and driving are hoons.

My condolences to the man who was killed and his family, but let this not set an example for the responsible majority who drive sensibly.

Drive with your head, not the big pedal.

...just my two cents all

[leech_]

yea this was on the pulsar forum as well bad news supposedly it was a black skyline racing a 200sx or something along those lines not cool also My condolences to the man who was killed and his family

[dojobi]

I have to say I'm in favour of red P platers having power/weight restrictions. When I was a P plater, I know I wasn't the best driver, and if I had my Skyline then, I would have had an accident for sure. Now I wasn't so stupid as to do 115 in a 60 zone, but many new (usually young) drivers do think they can do this. It may upset the good drivers if this rule came in, but to be honest I think when you're new to driving you're better off in a low powered car anyway.

I know I'll cop a bit of flaming for this, but it's just the way I feel. I've seen to many dickhead P platers to think otherwise.

[Villainous_J]

I'd have to agree with you in part with this one. I know I was bit of a nut when I got my P's and thanks to having a not-so-powerful car and a bit of luck, I haven't had any problems (touch wood).

I'd support restrictions, but only for the first 12-18 months of being on Ps. By this time most people have experience and the wisdom to drive safely, I know I did. Any thoughts on this?

[dale]

Yeh i'll flame u :zap: !! I don't feel the laws are necessary as a P plate driver ive done my fair share of reckless things and im not proud of it but the performance of the car had no factor in what happened.

For me my dream is to own a skyline and do it up my self and stuff and i dont plan on being a hoon on the road or racing around but the law would prevent me owning one if the rules were changed. I find that the law would be stupid as then there would be kids trying to prove themselves in these slower cars and still reach the high speeds that the fuss is all about.

Basically everyone has nearly an equal chance of causing the same horrible things in cars no matter the engine, all the rule will do is limit people owning their dream cars who actually are responsible on the road.

I believe that the first 6 months of having Ps there should be a limit but beyond that makes no difference as after a P plater has made their decision the engine of the car will make no difference on the speed people go.

[Villainous_J]

Just to facilitate the discussion here; okay, so the problem's not the car, or power and such, but the drivers. So education is the solution here. But how do we weed out the reckless drivers, or furthermore, educate everybody and get these tendancies out of people. Doing 115kph in a 60 zone is just ****ing dumb, I know that, everybody does. Is this kind of stupidity beyond the problems that better driving training and education can solve? In that case, do we accept that these things will happen, or do we impose a power-weight restriction that will hopefully prevent things like this?

[Nexus9]

But the power restrictions have been implemented and works with Motorcycles i.e you must start on a 250cc bike or lower.

I think this is a much better idea than say "curfews" which some public interest groups are touting.

I would have much rather put up with driving a less powerful car for a couple of years, if it meant that today I could drive my Skyline without getting pulled over by the cops every bloody week because they have a bad impression from a few irresponsible P platers.

And if it saves lives (not saying that it necessarily does) how can it be a bad thing.

( Put's on Asbestos Flame Retardant Suit and waits gingerly for replies )

[predator]

A guy in front of a pub killed? whats the bet he wasn't sober? but still, tragic nevertheless.

well the difference between say a skyline and a camry, is that you can get to 110km from 0km/hr in a skyline is about 6seconds compared to about 15 in an old camry so the car can make a difference.

I think power/weight ratios are a good thing, and something probably should be done as it is getting a bit out of control, even i'd admit. However, there are better solutions than "curfews", and the unofficial policy of defecting any p-plater in order to drive them to a different car.

But how do we weed out the reckless drivers, or furthermore, educate everybody and get these tendancies out of people.

Unless we drug every p-plater with "reckless de-enhancing" drugs, then its not ever going to happen. Education and better driving training are the key, and ALL drivers i think in australia need some type of regular driving education, not just young people. If anything, young people know the rules better than anybody else, as they've just spent weeks learning all the little details to get their license. After that it kind of fades out year by year.

I'd support restrictions, but only for the first 12-18 months of being on Ps. By this time most people have experience and the wisdom to drive safely, I know I did.

:werd:

[Villainous_J]

Yeah I'm weird, normality's overrated

But in all seriousness, you can't deny that in the first 12-18 months of driving on your P's, you're in a far better situation and have better capabilities than when you started out. Maybe it's a good idea, maybe it'll just encourage people to take other's fast cars out for a spin and get into even more trouble.

And with education, we're not talking about road-rules here, it's driving skill and sensible, safe driving. You don't need to know road rules to know that 115kph in a 60 zone is a dumb thing.

[dale]

I believe that education can also affect the situation in an extreme negative way. If all these P drivers are getting out onto skid pans and advanced driver training it buffs up their ego therefore thinking they are more invincible, and they think now they know how to control it in all situations, therefore exempting themselves from the rules.

Just my opinion as a 17 year old i see this regularly.

[Villainous_J]

True, but education goes beyond spending days at the track and skid pans. It's about driver awareness and teching better driving techniques, not necessarily advanced techniques, my interpretation anyways

[ron]

my feeling goes to the poor family.

the nissan in the question just happened to be in the wrong hand, place & time.

since the driver chose to race and speed, now he has to face the consequences, and to live with what he's done.

there is no such thing such a hoon car, only hoon drivers. any car, any speed can proved to be fatal.

government and the RTA have done MORE than enough to educate, look at the new log book for Learners, the aim is to get young drivers ready for the road hence the 50hour driving before going to P's.

look at the adds on TV, lots of our tax money goin into adds like speeding kills, drink driving etc. and not to mention our increasing number of police on the road.

if there is a better,cost effective solution, im sure it would have been enforced.

So rules are rules and it can only be broken when one choose to. So we have all the choices in the world.

enough said, im not a perfect driver, but a very good one. for the last 7 yrs of driving i have covered a lot of ground, 250,000klm+ & i m still learing new things about driving everyday. i have taught many young Learner drivers to be a good driver who follow road rules along the way.

so "there is no such thing such safe speeding" thank you for reading

[ron]

Backup; I also agree with you that training can also end up in a neg.way.

your 17yr old opinion is right on the ball mate! good one

[justinfox]

I agree with a few points made. I've been driving since 1994, not as long as some I suppose but long enough to have had some pretty bad accidents, all of which were in the 1st couple of years of driving. I then had an 89 model celica. Very underpowered.. thank God.

I only just bought a Skyline. It scares me a little. It's the most powerful car I have ever owned. It's a beast of a car and really.. it's almost useless on the road because at 60km's an hour it feels damn boring in comparison to smaller cars which are revving high at 60km's. (I bought it for track days).

[Kaido_RR]

I think it is 90% the driver, and 10% the car.

I have own my r33 gts-t for about 4weeks now and have being driving it around on my L's, and i think the driver has to respect the cars power and know how to think about the risk before doing something like speeding, draging, drifting ect ect.

I find that most of the time i drive just under the speed limit and well contiune 2 do so on my P's as i know i am young and dont have yrs of driving behide, so if i speed/drag/drift and something goes wrong i will not know wat 2 do and therefore be more likly 2 do the wrong thing.

I have done some wrong stuff and learn from them and will never do that stuff again untill i know i am able 2 controll wat happens

just my 2cents

[Roy]

Condolences to the poor bloke that was killed, and sympathy for the poor bugger that hit him, i dont hink he will be forgetting the experience in a hurry?

Interesting to read what is said about power/weight vs age etc etc. It doesnt really matter at the end of the day with even std family cars these days having 220-250hp, with crappy brakes and boat susp... trouble is never far away if you want to overdrive a car.

Perhaps higher performing cars can be safer because there is that level of respect, "this car can bite me" sort of thing. In a runabout car that respect for 1400kg of moving metal may not be there and be overdriven with horrible consequences.

[GTRgeoff]

Backup; I also agree with you that training can also end up in a neg.way.

your 17yr old opinion is right on the ball mate! good one

Only been racing since the mid 80's and driving instruction since 89 so maybe I've got this wrong but skidpan is not initially about control. It's about showing how easily a car becomes unstuck and what a passenger you become afterward. Then you teach anticipation and are establishing limits in adverse conditions...working out how long a light has been green and instead of speeding up to make it, preparing to slow and stop, trying to control a slight slide, understeer and oversteer, front/rear/all wheel drive.

Then the control and advanced stuff comes. I have never done a wet drift training day, never felt a need but I will soon as a mate is a director at driver dynamics so might as well. I do have plenty of rally experience tho. And my last track day I had the rear step out at 160kmh when i hit a puddle in the belting rain, and i powered through the slide to smoothly regain control. Coulda been worse...lots. Later I was exploring my traction limits....getting wheelspin in fourth at over 180 kmh on the main straight at sandown.

To say that it can be adverse, yeah only if the trainers try to let you run before you even know how to sit up, so don't generalise just yet. I would counsel defensive then advanced then drifto over the course of a coupla years with lotsa practice in between.

Condolences to the family. I wish the boy had been educated properly and seen the stupidity of the actions.

[HSVKLR]

Sad story but as one of you said any car can do 115km/h not just a "souped up Nissan".

How many times have we Skyliners had this sort of backlash whenever a similar incident has occurred?

[SKY031]

I think it is 90% the driver, and 10% the car.

...and I think comments like that are 100% ignorance.

If the car is parked on the side of the road, it can't hit someone at 115kph.

It's not until someone gets behind the wheel that it becomes a 1200kg lethal weapon.

Yes, any car has the capability, but cars which are able to reach high speeds very quickly are just an accident waiting to happen when there is an inexperienced driver behind the wheel.

~K