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Hate to sound like a jerk, but I'm just glad he didn't hit an oncoming bus full of kids in the oncoming lane, or anyone else of course.

Reminds me of the terrible incident with the RX8 full of high school kids about 5 years ago going off the end of 264 above 440. One of my good friends lost her younger brother in that tragedy.

Had that been the type of guardrail that ends at a post instead of the ski boat jump style that they apparently have in Ohio, I don't think the kid would have made it.

They probably didn't see the oncoming car (camera car) if they were dashing across from the other lanes to the right at 100. Probably thought the passing lane was open or maybe they thought they could pass on the grass.

I'm leaning toward saying it's a suicide too after arriving on the scene on my mountain bike of a similar situation two years ago on the beltline at the Wade Ave. pedestrian bridge. Someone drove straight into the bridge on the outer beltline and as I was riding over I noticed smoke below (couldn't see the upside down car below) and say a bunch of debris, mostly textbooks and shoes scattered in the grass below from impact. I'm glad I wasn't directly overhead when it hit! Scary stuff...

http://projects.daytondailynews.com/cac ... 2310crash/

As more info comes out some are saying it may have been a suicide attempt based on things posted right before he left home.

Amazed he survived.

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Marty Howard
2011 NASA SE Factory Five Challenge Champion
Track Events Logistics Coordinator - TZC/THSCC
2007 Factory Five Challenge Car.
http://www.mh-motorsports.com

What happened to the "good old days" when suicides were personal instead of "see how many other folks I can kill when I kill myself"? Still lots of bridges, guns, bridge abutments to hit head on, etc. Hard to find a tall building with windows to jump out of but that was pretty much just "stock brokers" in 1929 when bankers took personal responsibility.

FYI if the cop hadn't been in the fast lane, somebody else would have at some point.

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

The fact his car was torn into a bunch of little pieces (NASCAR style) shows how much force was dispersed away from him--he only had to survive landing on the ground after being ejected, hence probably how he landed in the ICU and not the morgue. If he hit that bridge head-on and without spin....

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Steve Carter
1972 Datsun 240Z-- resto pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/srcartermd
2007 GPW Honda S2000-- STR 86

Maybe it was a suicide attempt. I didn't see any brake lights until after he hit the barrier/guard rail and that might have been due to the impact.

Regarding the cruising in the left lane. I despise it, but don't think it had any influence (good/bad) on this or similar accidents. The police officer could have easily just have pulled out to pass someone.

Bottom line is that the accident shows how thing can go bad really quick.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Maybe my hatred of how SOME cops act is showing through, but go back and read what I said. I'll try to word it so that it doesn't assign blame. Basically this illustrates why it's a bad idea (one of many) to cruise in that lane. IF the cop had been in a different lane, he/she would've been able to pull the speeding driver over and hopefully taken his license, instead of peeling him off of the pavement.

Of course, that's assuming it was a joy ride and not something more sinister.

Additionally, had the driver decided to not swerve off the road to avoid the cop camping out in the passing lane, this story would've been considerably different as well.

I'll stop arguing this point now.

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In need of car.

I am with you on the cruising thing Jason, but the argument of "If nobody is in the left lane, it prevents wrecks because maniacs have a dedicated high speed lane for their own use" is not an argument. I am putting words in your mouth, but as far as I can tell that is pretty much how I think your argument is coming across.

If we want to play the "what if" game, "if" the police had not been cruising in the left lane, maybe he would have driven a few more miles, lost control on his own and then crashed into a bus full of orphans in the far right hand lane. Then again maybe the crash caused enough of a disturbance in "The Force" that in a galaxy far, far away Jimmy didn't fall down a well.

I hope the driver recovers.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Speed doesn't kill.

Speed differentials do.

I agree that a lot of people cruise in the left lane too much, but in this case, if the cop is doing 75mph in the left hand lane and the kid is driving 100mph, that's 33% faster and the closing rate will be pretty severe. My guess is by the time the cop would have saw him, it wouldn't have mattered. - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

First, I agree completely that too many people camp the left lane then ignore the string of drivers behind them weaving a tapestry of profanity. It's worse than green group at a vette club event.

But the issue is that it's not a law. Not here. Not in Ohio were this guy tried to eject himself out of the gene pool.

It's not the best source, but it's the best I can find. Essentially you can be in the left lane if you're doing at least the speed limit. So it's not a brass pass situation here or in Ohio.

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Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

Nice find David.

I had to look at Virginia's code for heck of it, especially since it's the only state that prohibits radar detectors. Strangely enough, their statue almost sounds like it condones speeders.

Virginia slower* 46.2-804(1) 46.2-842.1 requires vehicles in the left lane to yield to faster traffic; State Police say this applies even when faster traffic is speeding.

I guess that means if you can ride your bike at 55mph you can pedal your bike in the left lane in Ohio

Either way anyone in the left lane, cop or not, is not at fault when some idiot does that

Wow, that's kind of....awesome.


--Donnie

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My Blog

Yeah, the "Knight Rider" and "KITT" references showed up pretty quick. In fact the first video I found for this on YouTube the other day was the raw video, but with Knight Rider theme music.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.