Ritter v4.0

In the driver's own words:

"I completley understand where you are coming from assuming that I am irresponsible..that is definetly understandable. I do sometimes make bad decisions but I am young and I do drive safe and I will not endanger the lives of others.."

friar93

Sad. how many think the parents who lend/buy their 18 yr old a 500hp car are the ones who really need to take responsibility here?

a 5 series for the kids because of safety I can buy, but not an M5 supercar(I can attest for safety...i totalled a 540 on black ice at about 50 mph when i got rear wheel spin-my only accident in 9 yrs- got hit by a Mack truck and walked away without a scratch, the engineering is unbelievable but the rear wheel drive w/o winter tires is a bad combo in boston...I stayed w/BMW but I now have an X5)

pcar964

I don't think it's fair to blame the kid's age. There are 18 year olds piloting F1 cars...

Sure, we've all made irresponsible decisions. But there are degrees of irresponsible. This kid was just plain stupid, reckless, and had no regard for his life or the lives of his friends. To blame his age or his parents is missing the point. Ultimately the driver is to blame. As ALWAYS.

banzai993, I think you're probably right - at least one of those kids was probably smarter than the others, thought to himself "this is stupid, as soon as this is over I'll know never to ride with him again."

cabrio993

+1...I wouldn't be surprised if the parents of the other 4 kids take some sort of legal action against Josh parents.

Regardless, this is a tragedy for all the families involved. I feel for them.

Peter R.

Next thing that will happen is the parents will sue the board for condoning this kind of activity.

Mark in Baltimore

itllneverhappenit'samerica

banzai993

true that.. there is a lot of blood in the water so therefore there will be a lot of sharks schooling nearby.

No one wins except the lawyers...

scat

As always the blame for this tragedy will be shifted to the owners of the airstrip(deep pockets) and not the person who caused this to happen.
The lawyers are salivating right now...

banzai993

hey... mark my words..

John Edwards is going to use this in his stump speech ..

Hate to bring politics into this thing but that guy represents everything that is wrong with TRIAL LAWYERS and ambulance chasing!

OOPS.. hope I did not stir up some crap!

jimhsu

Only in our no-holds-barred, all-you-can-sue, no-penalty, always someone else's fault, litigious society....and in addition to M5boards, BMW better get ready.

Similar to the brilliant logic that Caterpillar can be sued for making a bulldozer used by the Israeli government to clear settlers camps in Gaza Strip, that ran over a Palestinian sympathiser/protester from Seattle who CHOSE TO stand in its way.....

("Caterillar must have known the Israeli government bought the bulldozer to run over protesters...." said her parents)

BMW will be sued for having made a vehicle that can can be driven in a way that kills its operator or occupants, and especially for having made a car that can be made to flip, spin, and crash.

Porsche was a defendant in a lawsuit after a Carrera GT fatality crash on a track in California, and the wife of the deceased named Porsche as a defendant, because she believed a spin in a 600hp $500,000 car should be preventable, no matter how amateur the driver is.

"...The sole claim against Porsche was that the Carrera GT was defective because it was designed without electronic stability control, which Porsche calls PSM."

http://www.sportscarmarket.com/content/carrera

Because PSM is available but not designed into the Carrera GT, and a driver spun the CGT and people were killed, Porsche was faulted in a court of law.

It seems that now with the help of our judges and jury, people can dictate how cars are supposed to be designed, and claim the manufacturer is at fault, and never the operator.

I know that BMW M5 is probably filled to the brim with all kinds of electronic drivers aids, but I'm suspicious the brilliant lawyers will come up with some item that Porsche has (PSM) or available in an F1 machine and ask "Why isn't this in the BMW M5 when the technology is available?"

TMc993

I agree that the ultimate responsibility for these deaths lies with the driver. However, as a parent, if nothing else I have to wonder what all five sets of parents were thinking not having their kids at home at 3:45 AM...

There is NOTHING good that can come from allowing kids to run loose on the streets all night long...And I don't buy the old "kid's lie" story...As adults, parents should understand that kids are going to push the envelope every chance they get...And as a parent who used sheet metal screws to secure the window screens on his daughter's bedroom windows, I know that the results of having a grown child instead of a dead child is worth the effort.

Just MHO.

Terry

banzai993

Terry.. right on.

NOTHING absolutely nothing good (from a parent's perspective) is going on with teenagers at 3:45AM.. nothing.. nada zilch zippo.

Of course, as a young man.. that was when EVERYTHING was going on.. we had an expression ("You gotta stay up late")

For me. .all that changed when the kids popped out.. now my wife and i stay up late for other reasons.. it is the only damn time we get peace and quiet!

(I have 3 under 5 !! : ) )

banzai993

BTW: I have a 3 yr old and 1 yr old daughter.. I am putting an entry in my Outlook to install sheet metal screws in 2017

TRINITONY

Even on TMZ.. http://www.tmz.com/2008/01/26/five-p...ravoltas-home/


http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=111545

95 C4 993

Things like this happen and it will happen again. Five young men are dead and whomever or whatever gets blamed, it wont change a thing.

May they rest in peace and the families heal in time.