Just heard about a Ferrari Crash in Pierce County

Whenever there is a ferrari incident, I always get these emails from people asking if it's me or I know the person. And, even though I don't know these people, it is still sad nonetheless. I always find it interesting how large the number of NW ferraristi are outside of this forum. But, at the same time, tragedy seems to bring everyone together. Yes, it could have been a Ford Focus - but I doubt the response would be the same as it is here.

Drive safely.

 

These types of comments by the media REALLY pizzes me off. Speed is a factor in 4 to 7% of collisions depending on whose statistics you want to believe -- and yet this is ALWAYS the first possible factor the media jumps on, even in the complete absence of facts, to make it their agenda. I never read "Police are looking at whether texting whilst driving was a factor in this incident", or whether the driver was feeling ill, or attempting to eat a cheeseburger, or trying to clean up spilt soda, or arguing with a spouse, trying to find a ringing cellphone, or even the #1 cause of all accidents -- "driving whilst mentally deficient". The media, when reporting on a collision not involving alcohol/drugs or a teenage driver, automatically jumps on speed as the possible blame....

 

While I would tend to agree, I do believe this to be the case here. The road
this happened on is curvy, and much of it is a 30-MPH limit with 35 tops
in a couple sections. Given the extreme severity of the crash (double
fatality), it is entirely plausible to suspect speed and investigate
accordingly. While I don't have the statistics, I would suspect the
odds of a double fatality (even in a head on with a shuttle bus) where
both die at the scene (rather than hours or days later) is very, very
low at 30 MPH. I'm not impugning the driver without facts. But it's certainly
a reasonable assumption in this case and I'm sure is being closely examined.

Jedi

 

Don't shoot the messenger. According to the latest Federal Highway Statistics I could find, it is more like a third, not 4-7%. And of those, 40% occur while negotiating a curve. Inattention, as you point out, both visually and mentally, is usually the prime suspect. Couple those together with speed and you have a very serious problem. Another interesting statistic mentioned in the following report is that Saturdays have the highest number of speeding-related accidents, following by Sundays and Fridays.


Interesting reading: www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/Rpts/2005/809839.pdf

 

Wow,

Prayers to the family and for the rest of our families when we drive(regardless of car)

 

It is sad to see, my condolences to the family . I rolled over my 512m a few years ago, hit some gravel on a corner, and it went pretty fast. I was surprised at how much damage was done as a result, the front end crumpled pretty bad, with a mid engine, there is not much to absorb in the front.

 

These statistics refer to accidents involving fatalities. Paul, you may have been referring to accidents in general.

 

Shouldn't this stretch of road be busy enough that quite a number of people witnessed the moments leading up to the accident, and the accident itself? Why should there be any doubt if speed was a factor?

It's a terrible shame that young lives have been cut short in this way. It happens much too often. My condolences to the families. And spare a thought for the police and the rescue workers who have to deal with the aftermath.

 

I think this car was the Auction car at Murphy . red / black F512M. I was standing next to the winning bidder.
sorry about hearing this bad news today..
my prayers to his family.
john

 

My regards to the families as well. The spouse of a gal I work with came in this morning sharing how upset her husband was to be the first on scene.

 

True. On a Sunday, there would be a fair amount of traffic. But I've had
runs myself there where it was just empty road in front of me. Very pretty tree
lined street with scads of super-rich mansions. Linda Evans lived on
Gravelly Lake drive for several years.

Also remember since it's a fatality the police will have interviewed
LOTS and LOTS of people and certainly won't divulge what's said
to the lame press standing around gawking.

I plan to drive over to the 11600 block this afternoon to see the exact
stretch where it happened. If circumstances permit, I'll take a photo
of the stretch of road.

Jedi

 

more info about the driver here:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=8&f=15&t=306647

 

And more here:

http://www.tacticaltailor.com/

Jedi

 

My family send there prayers to all the families..

 

it sucks when stuff like this hits so close to home...

 

Very sad indeed.

I notice one of the guys on that blog, had access to the "incident response" report and posted the following two items:

I looked up the accident in our system. Several calls came in from civilians reporting a VERY bad accident. Speed was definitely a factor. When our units arrived on scene they were reported as unconscious and not breathing. According to the system they both were pronounced at the scene.

Somebody then asked him if anyone was wearing seatbelts. Here was his response:

No seatbelts were worn and no airbags deployed (pre 95 car). I just saw the pictures of the accident. The side of the car was smashed completely in, due to the impact with the bus. The official ruling was that the speed and point of impact caused the fatality. The witnesses on scene reported the car was skipping across the roadway when it impacted the front end of the bus.

Mike

 

Speaking of close to home... I believe this occured in front of his house?

 

This REALLY sucks now. I have known Logan Coffey for many years, back when he rented a little two bedroom house in Tillicum, owned two crappy sewing machines and drove a Suzuki Samurai around. He modded my Alice ruck for me, and did a bunch of other work, and I have several early versions of his equipment that has gone on to be very popular sellers. I've watched him grow and expand his business into the large corporation that it is now, and impressed what a guy with next to nothing, right out of 2nd batt, 75th rangers, but with hard work and determination, could become such a sucessful entreprenuer.

A terrible shame.

 

I guessed you would have a connection with him.

 

I see near misses from ALL of the above mentioned. Infuriating.
Mention the word Ferrari and speed is synonymous........................................

 

The NHTSA and IIHS are organizations with an agenda to reduce speed.
If you're in a collision you're more likely to be seriously hurt or killed at 100mph than at 30mph -- that is obvious. But speed is rarely the *cause* of a collision, or a factor of one. The problem with US media, industry groups with an agenda, and the government that benefits from inducing drivers to speed is that in order to further their goals, they have to perpetuate the myth that speed is a common cause of traffic collisions. So, if someone changes lanes in front of you causing a collision, and one of the parties were speeding, then immediately the collisions is "caused" by speed or considered to be a factor. It would be just as silly to label all accidents with passengers as the passengers *causing* the accidents (indeed the government does this, and bans certain young/inexperienced drivers from carrying passengers).
Anyway, here's a good article on an objective review of speed being a factor in traffic collisions (a UK police incident investigation unit)
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/lie.html

This is probably not the thread to discuss this topic.
Let me reiterate my deepest sympathies to Mr Coffey's family.

 

BTW, this is totally out of character with the Logan I knew. Soft spoken, and all around nice guy. Not one I would consider to do risky things.

 

I hope all this isn't morbid. I just had a lot of curiosity, so I drove
3 miles to the site on Gravelly Lake Drive (11600 block). Looking
at the pink 'skid markers' I see no way other than to say very high
rate of speed. The skids have the classic 'lost traction in the
curve' look and start over 200 feet from the crash site. It was
a very long slow curve, coming right after a long straight section
for almost a mile. I'm no investigator, but easily 80 - 90 MPH or
greater, based on how long the skid is. Just guessing from my
own experience. First picture is looking north - you can't see
the pink skid mark (paint) but they start WAY up the road and slowly work
towards the shoulder where the people are (the Ranger was
a friend, the other two are with the bus company). The speed limit
on this section is 35, not that it matters.

The pink paint skid markers seem to confirm the 'skipping' that
was witnessed. It's like 'dot dot dot dot' then just a long
twisting skid from there.

By the way, the news report is wrong. He was heading south
and hit the bus that was going northbound.

I placed a bouquet with a note 'from your friends at Ferrarichat.com' - just
seemed appropriate.

LOTS of people stopping by. And yes, it was literally right in front of
their house - 11526 Gravelly Lake Drive, as confirmed by the Army Ranger
friend I met.

Jedi
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A very nice gesture Dave, thanks.

 

Yes, a very thoughtful gesture Jedi.