hope this was noone on here :(
 

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/993420.html

R.I.P whoever you were, and RIP rx-7 :(

Sounds like RHD may have been a factor here.

I dont think RHD would have been that much a factor. Most of that article detailed how horrible that stretch of road was, and that cars come flying down the hill and dont realize how sharp the turn is.

They also detail 5 other fatal crashes in the last few weeks.

But alass, its always a sad time when anyone passes, especially an RX-7 pilot.

Ouch ... this sucks.

Sucks to be the driver too. I wonder if he was wearing his seatbelts. As per the report, he was thrown out of the car and got ran over by the 3rd car ....

The politicans on there suggested more radar ...
More radar != more safe
More radar = more money from speeders ...

What they really need is to put a center divider and guard rails in.
Rumble strips close to the turn would help. It would signal drivers to slow down.

They have this already on the 401 to 400 on ramp right before the sharp left onramp.

combination of rhd, challenging road and more so a driver with too much car for his experience.

+1

car full of morons; driver for driving that fast on an obviously shite road, passengers for not wanting out of the car or yelling at the ass to slow down.. I feel for the families and the other vehicle not for them.

darwin's laws in practice right there.. unfortunate it had to include innocents in another vehicle.

Wow, I live here and didn't hear about it but i don't get the paper and don't always have time to catch the news. What a tragedy. I don't know of anyone here with a RHD, but one guy has a black FD.

seriously, RHD is a non-issue after you've been driving for like two hours.

left turns are actually EASIER in some situations, and this wasn't a left turn situation at all...

and if you are smart about it, passing is no more difficult either.

Fact of the matter is, we only know about 1% of the facts.

We know what the journalist knows by asking around, and seeing whats laying around.

We dont know what happened because the driver is dead. Could have been anything. Hell, I've sneezed in my car on a track day coming around a corner and totally lost control.

When you assume, you make an Ass out of U and Me.

I still stand by my statement. Inexperienced driver likely in a recently purchased rhd too powerful for his skill.

When we did our meet in in Black Diamond this past summer most of the cars were rhd. I moved into the passing land to let them pass safely (and fast!) since the fd's and one fc were much quicker topend cars and more capable (tires, suspension, etc). Leading the pack was Anthony in a rhd fc. Similar comparison "except", he has had his car for over a year and "know it's limits" and is capaple of pushing it up near it's limit. """"that's the difference""" in the 2 scenarios. And of course, my condolences to "all" the injured, those who passed away and their families, no matter who's at fault.

Couldn't agree with you more. People have died there is no need to call them names based on assumptions.

Sucks, likely true the driver had too much car and not enough experience - being thrown out (and subsequently dieing by being run over) pretty much says he wasn't wearing his seatbelt - definitely a dumb move, with all due respect to the deceased and grieving families.

+1 that we know little about the circumstances here - no speeds are cited, although one cop at the scene says speed may have been a factor. Since they were in the middle of the investigation, the reporter probably would have got the same "may have been a factor" response to any suggested cause of the accident - the fact it involves a sports car immediately makes everyone more likely to assume that speed was an issue, however. Maybe he swerved to avoid a deer? Little real facts are offered, just lots of speculation.

There's quotes from locals that speeds "as much as 60 over" are often seen (and if speeds are regularly anwhere near that high, it suggests the road could have a higher limit, not more enforcement - otherwise more people will just be trying to pass where it may be unsafe to do so). But as I've ranted on ad infinitem, speed restriction/enforcement seems to be the only answer to safety issues in this country - even worse than the States, where the "speed kills" lie was created to justify the national 55mph limit in the 70's and 80's. By the time some real facts (or at least empirically derived guesses) are available, the story will be old news - and the only thing that will be remembered by most readers will be that a sports car was going 60+ over the limit and and tried to pass on a corner that's why the accident occurred - which will reinforce the dangers of speeding message, regardless of what role, if any it actually played.

Not arguing for or against RHD, who was at fault, or anything else. I just have one question:

On a narrow stretch of road like that, how would RHD be equal to LHD in terms of passing ability? I just don't buy that.

I've had a RHD for 6+ years now and it's still tricky to drive on narrow roads. It's just too easy to have some of the car hanging over the other lane without noticing. One moment of inattention and you've drifted 1/2 way into the other lane because that's where you're used to being as a driver.

Oh and left hand turns are brutal... I usually get the passenger to help me out with those.

Appears alot of people here assume he was trying to pass a car or cross the centre line for some reason.


I've seen guys in $350,000 exotics crash their cars driving attentivly and appropriate to driving conditions. It could have been any number of factors contributing to this accident. I hardly think his car was 'too much for him'.

I have like 12 hours of RHD driving experience and I don't think it's bad at all. At first I did find myself drifting over, and I had some difficulty remembering what side the turn signals were on (since they're on the opposite side of the wheel) - but it wasn't hard to grow into and now I don't think it's any worse than anything else.

the trick to driving anything is to think about what you're doing.


passing in an RHD isn't significantly more difficult - you have several options for seeing around the vehicle infront of you.

1: hug the right side of the lane, and look past them on the right.

2: DON'T TAILGATE, and you'll be amazed at how much better you can see.

Honestly, in 99.99999% of passing situations I'd rather be in a powerful RHD car than in a slow LHD car... slow cars are far less safe to pass with IMO.

as far as left turns go, you have several options as well...

1: stay as far to the right as is safely possible, and you can generally see right around the other people in the intersection and what's behind them.

2: if that isn't possible for whatever reason, stay as far to the left as you can, and you can see just as well as you can in the "normal" position in most LHD cars- because you're sitting in about the same spot on the road.

3: passengers can spot for you.

4: if ALL else fails, just wait for the yellow... if you follow the rules of the road, you should never be presented with an unsafe situation.


as far as this accident goes, I wouldn't be passing judgment on anyone because noone here knows what happened. It's easy to claim pilot error - and far more difficult to look for the facts.

My comments are based solely on "probable" assumptions based on limited details.

I met the victim at a car show this summer. Really nice guy. Was 23 as I recall, and actually worked as a truck driver, so was certainly experienced on the roads.
Talked RX-7s and rotary's with him for about a 1/2 hour. I was actually emailing back and forth with him about buying an FC project from him for parts for my race car. He was focusing on his FD and was looking to get rid of the FC.

A real tragedy and nothing else. From those who know them, all involved were nice young responsible people who normally drove responsibly. Apparently he was taking the car out for a last run before storing it. He was thrown from the car, and was hit by the 3rd car on the scene, which was actually driven by 2 girls who were friends with the victims. I can only imagine what they were going through.

RIP Mark Faulkner. A rotary fan who seemed like a great guy in the brief time I knew him.

My Condolences to family and friends. Not good to assume anything regarding this accident. No comments will bring them back and only upset family and friends for nothing.

R.I.P.

Ace IIB

+1... I almost bought it at the front of this years niagara cruise on a road I know well, in a car I've owned forever. My crime was checking the rearview to see if everyone was keeping up.

My condolences to the family.

This post clears and eliminates my "assumptions" and nobody will ever know the exact details. I consider myself a skilled driver however I have had close calls too. Who knows? Thanks for the input none the less.