Please take down the following site steve! I'm learning way too much about you T.I.T.S guys, like Stormbringer being the car that passed on a double yellow line on your unfortunate outing! You might also be putting a face to the poor owner of the crashed car.

http://128.200.136.106/steveuci/videos.html

I liked the following video that shows DarkCrow blocking traffic so his buddies can catch up by passing the blocked cars by crossing a double yellow with oncomming traffic:

http://128.200.136.106/steveuci/MOV02969x.MPG

You guys are going to get someone killed if you keep this crap up.

 

For those who would like this discussion to die, do exactly what all the politico spin doctors recommend these days.

When a possible scandal starts, get all the information you have to the public as fast as you can. When there are no secrets left to dig up, the story will very quickly die.

IMHO, the only way this discussion is going to die is when all the information is on the table, when the video and photos are commonly available and an explanation of what actually happened is put forth. If that had happened at the start, these threads would already be dead.

BTW, I saw the video and stills on Kazaa (grockster) as well...
s2000crash.mpeg

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RandyP
[B]Please take down the following site steve!

 

Can a moderator please close this thread?

 

I am obviously new to the forum and freely admit that the current topic is what brought me over here. I am a Miata owner and I am a co-founder and active member of the San Diego Miata Club. Having served as SDMC's first president for 2 years, the concern over events such as this crash is nothing new to me. It comes with the territory, as it were.

The reason I registered to participate in this forum is because I wanted to share the "insight" and education I received from a couple of attorneys and police officers concerning accidents that might happen on a club or group run..

California has some specific laws in the vehicle code that deal with two or more cars playing "chase" or "tag" on California roads. (I am unable to quote the exact section of the vehicle code and have never looked it up but I found no reason to doubt the officers and attorneys.) Anyway, under these laws, if one or more participants become involved in an accident, ALL of the other participants could possibly be held legally liable (both civil and criminal).

Three cars are racing along the highway, weaving in and out of traffic, trying to get the jump on one another. Bam, an accident happens with car #2. The drivers of cars 1 & 3 could be held partially responsible for being involved in playing the game that resulted in the accident.

The legal "experts" I consulted told me that it would NOT be much of a stretch for these laws to be applied to a group fun run where one car is following the other (rather than passing) and driving in a more spirited manner than the normal flow of traffic. A "chase" if you will.

In my own personal experience, this possible liability by the other participants has not become an issue. But, the minute somone were to get seriously injured or killed, then all bets would be off. You can be darn sure that the family of the injured/killed driver would be looking for someone to blame!

Be careful out there!

Mark

 

Hi MBooth

I think what you said is correct. But I got a question. How do you know if someone is in the group drive or not? For example, if we have a sign up sheet with a number of names, when we really start the drive, some random people show up and follow us or put themselves in the middle of the pack. Do they count as part of the group if an accident happens? BTW, how do we define a group? Sometimes I follow some other cars without the person know about it, is he/she and I constitute a group?

 

If a cop see's you playing "tag" in traffic, he's not going to care about groups, sign-up sheets, "offical group member" or "hanger on".

If the cop says you're in the group, you're in the group. It will be the officer's word (or the word of his in-car camera) against yours.

 

Just saw the video from kazaa. Ok, that was lame. What's the big deal? "Oh my god. Oh shit." Too bad we didn't even see anything. To those who haven't seen it: Don't bother!

 

I was looking for a site to watch the movie. Here is the mirror I've found:

http://www.alltel.net/~sb32511/s2000crash.mpeg

 

Just saw it and I don't understand what the big deal was all about. You can't even tell who was driving or what the license plate read. You can't even see the crash. BTW It didn't look like anyone was driving recklessly as some of the people have assumed.

And altiain, you need to get your f@#%ing facts straight before you accuse all the so. cal drivers as jackasses. I've been on a recent drive with some of these guys and no one drove like a jackass!