This is an upseting story because of the sheer stupidity and callousnous of the offending driver. But the story has an interesting twist. This is a true story that I just read about, it occured somewhere in Florida.
A 17 year old girl and her best friend were leaving their house to go shopping. They lived on a suburban quiet street. As they were pulling out of their driveway, they were struck on the side of the car toward the back by another driver. The two girls were killed. Their car was ripped in half and completely mangled and destroyed. The offending driver was a 28 year old man who was speeding down their street. How fast he was going and why the girls didn't see him remained somewhat of a mystery for investigators. The speed limit on their street was 25 MPH. The police know that the man was speeding, but how fast was difficult to tell. The mangled girls car easily told them it was too fast. The man claimed he was only going 50 mph. The accident investigating team had no skid marks at the scene because the man never hit his brakes. (the man claims the girls shot right out of the driveway to fast). The fact that the man was going twice the speed limit by his own admission allowed the D.A. to charge him with Reckless Endangerment, but not the more serious charge of Vehicluar manslaughter. The evidence just wasn't concrete enough to justify the serious charge. They all knew he was going faster but couldn't prove it well enough for court.
As the court date approached, a good friend of the family of the girls killed approached the A.D.A. in charge of the case. He said he was extremely upset about the case and wanted to help. The man was a safety engineer for a major car manufacturer. He said he worked alot on the air bag systems for cars and could possibly aid the investigation. The man explained that on almost all cars that have been built over the past few years there have been "second generation" air bags installed. The air bags are different then the ones before because they have a microchip inside that helps the computer determine the force with which the air bag is to deploy in an accident. The lower the impact the slower it deploys. The man explained that in order for the microchip to do this it monitors the cars speed and rpm's as well as some other factors. The microchip also records the last five seconds of stats before the accident. The A.D.A. armed with this knowledge secured a search warrent for the microchip on the mans car. Upon downloading the information with help from the Safety engineer, it was found that the man was going 118 Mph and had his foot still planted on the gas when he struck the girls car. Thats why the girls never saw him, he was going so fast that what looked to be clear one moment was not in the next. The 118 Mph in a 25 Mph zone allowed the A.D.A. to charge the man with aggravated vehicluar homcide. The man recieved 15 years in prison. The man never apologized nor offered any explanation as to why he was going so fast. There was no drugs or alcohol involved. The car he was driving was a Pontiac Grand Prix.

 

He should've got 15 years for each year of life he took away from the two girls !!

 

wow....its cool to know that kind of information can be obtained after an accident. Unfortunate for the girls and thier family

 

They should've given him 300 years, up for parole in 260.

Things like this disgust me - but I'm glad they found the microchip.

XXL

 

NO he should get the DEATH Penalty. People like this have NO right to continue living.

 

No, put him in a car and let it get hit by another doing 118 with him knowing it going to happen. Then make the person complete some runs at the car to add to the tension.

 

i read that too, it was in car and driver. it was an interesting article, it also talked about how maybe in the future, the on-board computers can automatically alert the police if you are speeding.

 

They've already got something along those lines - a bunch of car rental places have GPS trackers built in, and they'll deduct certain penalties from your checking account. I read an article about a guy who rented a car, and after turning it in, found his checking account was empty. Turns out the rental company (Hertz or Budget or something like that) took out some pre-determined amount for excessive speeding (the computer clocked him going 90MPH a couple times). Turns out, the whole thing was covered in thre rental contract that he signed.

IMO, that's what you get for doing 90 in a car that's not yours

XXL

 

That would suck and who read the fine print?

I agree with you Matt, that is what you get when you play that
type of game, but that does seem like a double wammy. If you get caught speeding and have to pay that fine while also paying the rental car company. That would equal one expensive trip.

 

28 year old man, going 118 mph in a 25 mph zone (city street) hits car and kills two 17 year old girls. By the time you are 28 you are a full man and fully responsible for your physical actions.

He should have been eligible for the death penalty and the fathers and mothers should have been allowed to vote on it. Then we would have seen how fast he weeps and begs for forgiveness.

 

YES!!! That's what I'm talking about. After judgement has been passed, the sentence should be handed down by the victim's family. Get the judge out of it.

 

this guy should should just be made into a crash test dummy
if he wants to point his car at things at 118 mph, let it be a concrete wall and lets get some real acurate data
oh and if he should survive-no painkillers untill his next crash test

 

i saw an episode of forensic files where some drunk guy swerved off the road, into a group of about 7 young girls walking home. He killed 3 of them, and injured 2, then he just took off.

This guy painted, cleaned and sold the truck. The police later started suspecting him. They tracked the truck down and were able to obtain dna from the girls on the truck, even years after it happend. Also the damage to the truck which had been repaired with bondo actually gave them a clear view of exactly which girl was hit by what part of the truck.

He got life in prison.

 

Having an onboard black box in your car is an excellent idea. It can help dispute or convict you based on your actions. Do all car manufacturers put this in their new cars. There should also be an insurance reduction for having one onboard. Maybe have an add on black box for cars that are more then a few years old. That way you can get the insurance reduction.
This could be a huge tool in solving accidents.

 

Big Brother is watching......

Anyojne in favor of this scares me.