Accident

Let's hope and pray it has nothing to do with anyone at Fox Valley.

RocketBoy

 

The 355 was driven by Mattew Lane of Wheaton. Sun Times had details. Something to think about, its easy to get carried away (no pun intended).

 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-threedead12.html

355 ripped in half? Sounds like a lot speed was involved.

R.I.P.

And to the rest of us: Drive carefully. Please.

 

Thanks for the concern RocketBoy. Unfortunately, it was one of our local customers who owned the Ferrari. Tragic for all involved. As Enzo used to say, " A Ferrari owner is not always a Ferrari driver. " Thoughts and prayers to the families. Drive safe everyone. We'd hate to lose any of you!

 

Wow. I did some research to see if I knew this guy and I found:

13. Fleeing and eluding: Matthew Lane, 27, 1362 Shady Lane; 9:10 p.m. on the 1300 block of South Main Street; charged with fleeing and eluding, speeding, disobeying a stop sign and failure to signal. 09/16/05.

From: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/sunpub/wheaton/police/ws16blotter.htm

Unfortunately, sounds like an accident that was waiting to happen.

 

Exactly.

See more details here:

http://www.dailyherald.com/search/printstory.asp?id=104421

"The 27-year-old Wheaton man had been cited for speed violations at least 20 times in DuPage County alone since 1996, court records show.

Court records show Matthew Lane had at least 40 traffic-related cases in his court record in DuPage County, though in some cases charges had been dropped"


Its certainly "tragic" for the young mother and her 4 year old son who were both killed.

 

Please drive safe guys, I don't wanna read about tragedies like this.

 

Amen to that.

On my way to work today I came across a total on LSD: Cab hit the concrete wall and disintegrated. Firetrucks and ambulances abound. Cabs are particularly dangerous as people often don't feel the need to buckle up.

 

Was Mr Lane a member here on the Fchat???

RIP to all invoved

 

Not to my knowledge.

 

Driving is dangerous.
No way to sanitize it like (some) lawyers seem to think it can be.
**** happens.... I see it ALL the time.
However, this guy seemed to have the proverbial "rap sheet".
What a shame.

 

Well, lawyers don't give out money in car accident lawsuits - juries do.

Anyway, the key issues in any accident lawsuit are "reasonableness" and "right of way". Sounds like he wasn't doing the former and didn't have the latter.

I'm surprised he got to keep his license after the "fleeing and eluding" charge.

Of course, I'm assuming it was his fault. Perhaps it wasn't.

 

Definitely a good point
The article did say it happened on a "Parkway" at "a curving intersection where a temporary stoplight has been installed because of construction in the area"

It's possible he was on a stretch of road that he was very familiar with and traveling at what would normally be a safe speed, and came around the corner and there was a car stopped at the temporary stoplight. Were there sufficient warnings on the road leading up to this that there was a new stoplight?

I know I've had some scary moments traveling on routes I was familiar with when I discovered a new stoplight or sign almost too late. He was a young guy with a Ferrari and a bunch of speeding tickets. That doesn't mean he was a dangerous driver per se. We all have driven over the speed limit. And a young guy in a fast car is probably a lot less likely to get a warning than a 50 year old businessman or a young girl. I once got 4 warnings in one day.
I guess the best thing I can take from the news of these deaths is the lesson that it's never safe to assume around the corner is always going to be what it was the last time I went around it.
My condolances to all involved.
Chelle

 

Hey Andreas. What was the name of the guy we met a few years ago with the blue 348? Funny guy, license plate "spdmetal" or something? For some reason I thought of him when I read it.

 

Probably another wonderful IDOT (they must have left out the extra "I" for SOME reason) block it off, divert traffic, let it sit for WEEKS and WEEKS during great road-fixing weather kind of project.

 

SOB has murdered two innocent lives!
Let him rot in Hell!
Too bad A##holes like that get their dirty hands on Ferraris!

 

Forgot his name, but I think it was a different name. His nomiker was something weird like "Bakalakala". Campen knew him.

 

That's Chris Falco

 

Anyone with 42 citations (Tribune report, today) is NOT a safe driver!!! Getting caught that many times means he drove like a maniac ALL the time. The car was ripped in half; that doesn't happen travelling at normal speed on a non-divided highway. This guy was a jerk and I'm just sorry his death resulted in the deaths of innocent people.

Ken

 

I read that trib story (it's on www.cltv.com) and that's a disgrace. No one should get court supervision when they have multiple tickets in a year, never mind 10 or more. Also inexcusable that the prosecutors don't know the driving record on all the defendants. A simple computer printout reviewed the night before could tell the prosecutors who the troublemakers are. Hell, just run a filtered search through the database and spit out a list of all peeps with more than one ticket that year. Obviously the prosecutors were more interested in getting that fine paid and getting on to the next case than in preserving the public safety. Perhaps now people will understand traffic court for what it really is - a government profit center.

Just watch - this will haunt Birkett, especially if he runs for Governor. In the article he seems to try and lay it off on the Judge as the one who sets the court supervision, but I bet a review of the files would indicate that all or most of the court supervision arrangements for Lane were made with prosecutor deals.

Too bad he couldn't just crash into a tree or something. I wonder if the two innocent (probably) victims ever saw it coming.....

 

Accidents with forces involved strong enough to rip a Ferrari apart happen in the blink of an eye. Fade to black for everybody in an instant. A good thing.

 

I don't know. That may be worse. To vanish into non-existence (religion aside) without even knowing what happened to you would seem especially cruel.

 

Agreed on the Birkett tap dancing:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0510130114oct13,1,6149031,print.story

It will be interesting to see the details of the police investigation as to the cause. On its face, however, you have a guy who appears to have received an average of almost 5 tickets a year, every year, in his home county alone, since he'd (presumably) gotten his license at 16. Why he was driving at all seems a relevant question.

Who in the world insured a guy in his twenties with 42 tickets and a 355??

 

I read in one of the articles that he still lived at home with parents as well.

My understanding of the way court supervision is supposed to work is that if, and only if, you complete the court supervision period (6mos-1yr or whatever), then the ticket is dismissed. If on the other hand you get another ticket during the supervision period and are pled or found guilty on it, you get convicted on BOTH tickets.

I've seen where prosecutors now have "court supervision terminated immediately" which means there is no probation-type period at all. A really sick way for the prosecutors to plea bargain tickets for cash with no assurance of future remedial behavior whatsoever.