The Engineer

8 Killed in Drag Race on Suburban Road

ACCOKEEK, Md. (Feb. 16) - A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch a drag race on a suburban road early Saturday, killing eight people and injuring at least five, police said.


http://news.aol.com/story/_a/8-kille...16110009990001

Stephen 87 IROC

Damn news media still doesn't get it. Even CNN has mis-described it. It's a street race, not a drag race. Drag racing is a controlled event on a closed track ie: dragstrip.

Every time the news media calls street racing drag racing, it gives legal drag racing a bad image.

PWR-TRIP

No matter how you spread the message, some people will never learn. They think that it's gonna happen to them...But it does.

The Engineer

I think Fox News at least said; “an illegal street drag race.” I also wish they would not refer to street racing as drag racing.

Some of these Youtube and other online street racing videos are completely crazy, with racing into “heavy” on-coming traffic.

WD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvUAScHv6HA

mdacton

the race had nothing to do with what happened. I thought the car that plowed everyone over was a drunk driver in a crown vic

Stephen 87 IROC

That's the indication I got also. First of all, who would race a Crown Vic?

mdacton

street racing is bad...but this is just another case of the media turning this into something its not. They make it sounds like the racers lost control and killed the people...until you hear what really happened

ws6transam

There's nothing to indicate the driver of the crown vic was anything but an innocent motorist who happened to be driving down a dark stretch of highway in the middle of the night. He blundered onto a deserted stretch of highway at 3 AM and ran into a herd of people milling all over the road hidden in a cloud of tire smoke. I feel bad for that driver, he must feel awful.

I hate to sound cruel but those people had no right to assemble in the middle of a highway at night like that.

mdacton

heard it was a drunk driver with no headlights on.....

ws6transam

Quote it, then.

The line about the lights off comes from one of the street racer participants. Since it's a late model Crown Vic, I'd wager to say that it probably has auto headlamps that turn on for you. Nothing written that I've yet found says anything about the driver bring intoxicated .

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/8-kille...16110009990001

Quote:

Copeland said the Crown Victoria appeared to have been traveling north on Indian Head Highway before striking the spectators near Pine Drive in Accokeek, which is near the Charles County border. Those hit appeared to have been thrown and the Crown Victoria had run off the road and into an embankment, said Copeland. He said there were skid marks on the pavement from where the driver apparently tried to stop.

buzz12586

I know some of the people who were out there that night and I will believe them over what some news source tells me. If you think that what the news puts out is always 100% correct you are a freaking idiot.

sn8ke eatr

Don't Street Race (8 killed)!




or just dont be retarded and drive drunk...

rskrause

Honestly, it is terrible. But it is stupid to stand around on a road in the middle of the night. Fox seems pretty clear on the fact that is was not the racers involved in the accident. Apparently the police are looking for "drivers of the two cars involved in the race". I am guessing they are somehow going to be blamed.

ACCOKEEK, Md. — A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch an illegal street race on a suburban road early Saturday, killing eight people and injuring at least five others, authorities said. Police said the white Crown Victoria was not involved in the street race but accidentally drove into the crowd of about 50 people that had spilled into the northbound lanes of the divided highway to watch two racing cars speed off.

Rich

FASTFATBOY

The way I read it is the cars had left the starting line and the people watching fell in behind the cars as they left to watch, through the tires smoke the Crown Vic driver could not see and hit the people standing in the road. Reports are the Crown Vic driver had the headlights off.


Sounds like that was not a good road to run on as an 18 wheeler came through shorlty after.

IF, and I say IF you are gonna run on the street, do it smart...GEEZ, have someone watching both ways.

We have ALL done it, dont make out like we are all goody two shoes. I still do it from time to time....But I WILL NOT agree to race on a road I KNOW is not safe.

Bad deal all the way around.


David

The Engineer

The fact that the cars racing didn’t actually kill and injure those people, really doesn’t diminish the fact that the fatalities and injuries were “directly related” to the illegal street racing.

And, I’m sure charges of some type will be filed on the two racers once they are identified. And, they will be identified! People with dead and injured family members will be more than willing to tell everything they know, not to mention all the videos that are always taken at these races.

For example; Locally, a driver who was involved in a high-speed with the police was charged and convicted of “first degree murder” when one of the police cars involved in the chase lost control, crashed and the officer was killed.

You could rationalize (as above) the person being chased didn’t directly cause the police car crash. However, just like the illegal street race, had that person not been engaged in an illegal activity, the police officer would not have been killed. And, it's the very same issue with the street racing.

WD