Laws of physics and mechanical features of the car aside there is a larger issue here. Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens too often among very young drivers who have parents that don't parent. That is not to say that there are not some very young drivers who know how to drive responsibly and are strong enough about who they are to resist taunts and temptations by friends to do something foolish; however, those young people are the exception, not the rule. It isn't about trashing young drivers, part of being young is that sense of adventure and feeling of invincibility. Those traits, which all of us have lived through in our youth combined with the need to be respected and admired by one's peers all too often over-ride good judgement. A car like the rx8 or anything else like it is really not a good idea for the vast majority of young drivers. Too bad so many parents aren't strong enough to let their love for their children enable them to say "no".

 

In Louisiana the drinking age was 18 for years. I can't believe how stupid I was and lucky I am to be alive.

 

I agree with this statement 100%. I grew up in Houston and Rankin Rd was a big thing when i was in highschool. Some of us don't learn until it strikes close to home though. I have friends that sold their car over night after seeing bad things happen like this. I will say that its not the parents fault nor the cars fault. I have a friend who crashed his honda civic into a pole at 120mph on his way to work because he wanted to race a girl in a civic. He lived less than 2 miles from work wasn't wearing a seatbelt and managed to get the car airborn where it hit the center of the pole. Fortunetly he lived, unfortunetly he didn't learn.

Drinking and driving is a whole other topic.

 

Another student from Wakefield High is dead.....killed in a car crash.

http://rdu.news14.com/content/school...3740&SecID=136

 

Too fast, too young.....no seat belt.

 

That last one could have been too fast, and too little experience. Sad.

 

Sad. Really. Both for the families of the kids involved, and for the original posters in this thread blaming the car and conditions... and NOT the driver.

--kC
"Alcohol... the cause of and answer to all of lifes problems." H.J. Simpson

 

I live in Raleigh and drive along this stretch of road occassionally for work. We have 2500 Suburbans and that curve is tough to handle at only 75 mph. I've never taken the curve in my RX-8 but it would be tough to stay on the road at 115 mph sober, much less with a BA level three times the legal limit. The curve was not properly engineered and wasn't designed for highway speeds in my opinion.

 

We have some curves in my area that look about the same or even less than that one and the speeds posted on them usually say 35-45 MPH for the curve. Not sure why they would have left that one at 75 MPH then. We don't have a single posted speed in the Portland area for 75 MPH.

 

Well the speed limit posted there was 65 but of course everyone goes 75-80 then. They've since installed signs about 1/4 mile from the curve for 55 mph and then another set of bright orange signs for 55 mph right as you arrive at the curve. 65 mph would actually be appropriate for the turn if people went the speed limit. In this particular instance, the speed limit was really irrelevant anyway because the kids were intoxicated and disregarded the recommended 65 mph.

 

Very true. At our posted 35-45 MPH curves traffic seems to go 45-50 MPH so at least they are slowing down a little and not going too ridiculously above the speed. I suppose that isn't the greatest accomplishment since the traffic flow at a good portion of the day in these locations usually hovers around 45-55 MPH anyway with everyone having to slow down a bit to merge onto other freeways. There aren't a lot of times throughout the day here where we can drive above the posted speed limit due to traffic volumes. A lot of times we are amazed when we can hit the speed limit.