Spalding race crash kills two men

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Two men from Griffin were killed early Monday morning when their Pontiac Firebird struck a utility pole in Spalding County, authorities said. Police believe they were involved in an illegal drag racing contest. Driver Casey Goodman, 34, and passenger Jeffrey Lewis, 30, were killed in the accident on Old Atlanta Road about 3:50 a.m. The driver of the second car involved in the race also lost control of his car and crashed into a mailbox but was not seriously injured, State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said. The man, whose name was not immediately available, was charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, reckless driving, driving on the wrong side of the road and driving under the influence.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...s/index.html#a

GRIFFIN, Ga. (AP) Spalding County authorities believe drag racing was the cause of an early Monday morning crash that killed two Griffin men.

Driver Casey Goodman, 34, and passenger Jeffrey Lewis, 30, were killed when their Pontiac Firebird struck a utility pole of Old Atlanta in Spalding County.

The driver of the second car involved in the suspected race also lost control of his car and crashed into a mailbox but was not seriously injured, State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said.

The man, whose name was not immediately available, was charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, reckless driving, driving on the wrong side of the road and driving under the influence.

http://wsbradio.com/news/090203griffinfatal3a.html

[JL8Jeff]

Just plain stupid. Keep it on the track guys.

[Joe 1320]

Morons. Racing on the street is pretty stupid. With passengers, even more stupid. Under in the influence, incredibly stupid.

[markd79ta]

I am glad that these candidates for this year's Darwin Award didn't hurt or kill anybody else. If there was a mail box involved, then they were in a residential area...how ******* stupid is that!!!!!! I hope they lay hard into the genius that survived!!!

A high school kid was flying down the street in the front of my house, came upon two people crossing the street, swerved (not before running over one of the pedestrians feet, hit the curb in front of my fence (almost went through my fence), overcorrected, hit the curb on the other side of the street, almost hit another pedestrian, and finally took out the mailbox of this 85 year old lady. With all four tires blown out, he tried to make a run for it, parked the car a block away, and took off by foot, the cops were there in less then a minute, caught the guy, and hauled him off to jail. Personally, I think a firing squad was in order! It is just plain STUPID to exceed the speed limits in residential areas. For those that do, driving privileges should be revoked...PERMANENTLY!!! This genius crushed a guys foot; that is how close he came to killing somebody. If he went through my fence, my three year old son's room was in direct line of where he was going.

[f-bodyadmin]

wow.

I used to do alot of street racing.. it has been about 3 years since I have been involved in it like I was..

You don't always necessarily think about the consequences.. and all the lives (not just the racers involved) that you risk as a result of the racing/speed contest.

This is sad for sure.

J.R.

[markd79ta]

Re: wow.

Originally posted by jrm2002ss
You don't always necessarily think about the consequences.. and all the lives (not just the racers involved) that you risk as a result of the racing/speed contest.

This is sad for sure.

J.R.

I don't mind if people take it out of town, and turn themselves into a greasy spot somewhere out in BFE...I drop the hammer too when it is safe for others. It just needs to be kept away from our city streets, metropolitan highways, and ESPECIALLY our neighborhoods.

[gunter96ws6]

thats where i live, wtf? keep it on the track, some people dont learn until its too late. sorry fellas, rip~gunter

[Black97]

I like the firing squad idea.

Sometimes I wish I had a machine gun or a rocket launcher to take them out right in front of my house, and I live on a dead end street!

[N20LT4Bird]

In the Syracuse NY area (where I used to live), we used to run light to light on a BLVD in the city. On Friday nights there used to be 200 - 300 cars in the area. The police would be there, but rarely pulled anyone over unless they were dumb. We used to run 0- 50 sprints and then shut em down, but occasionally you would get an idiot that would be blowing through at 80-90. As the number of idiots increased, they'd (cops) shut the place down. Now, theres hardly anyone out there unless its a big car show weekend or something. We lost a pretty good thing becasue people think there in the Fast n Furious movie. Theres big a difference between punching it a bit light to light and all out running the quarter mile in a residential area.

[Hyper94uznj]

Mark79TA - be sure to hit the kid witha civil suite to get your fence fixed. I would even look into pressing some sort of charges on him if possible. Just my .02c

[markd79ta]

Originally posted by Hyper94uznj
Mark79TA - be sure to hit the kid witha civil suite to get your fence fixed. I would even look into pressing some sort of charges on him if possible. Just my .02c

Actually, I was lucky, I just had a lot of skid marks on the street and sidewalk that are gone now...he didn't actually hit the fence, but the guy who had his foot run over, and the lady who lost her mail box took action. I got outside just in time to see him plow into the old lady's mailbox, and try to drive off.

My neighborhood is filled with a lot of geniuses. Last night, while watering my lawn, somebody was at it again somewhere close to my home. I heard a whole lot of revving, a whole lot of skidding, a whole lot of crunching, and a whole lot of emergency vehicles rushing to the scene. Whatever they were doing, it couldn't have been good.

[Hyper94uznj]

Suggestion for neighboors mail box woes

Materials List:
1 Cheap metal mail box with flimsy metal post

1 Bag of quick dry cement

1 solid pole of cold roll steel 1" thick x 2' - 3' longer then mail box normal height

remove old mail box

dig 1 - 1 1/2' diameter hole 2 - 3 ft deep.

mix & pour concrete into hole then insert steel pole - allow to set up

place cheap mailbox post over steel pole then mount mailbox as per norm.

Next time that mail box get hit, the car will suffer worse then mail box & hopefully send a message - I know of people who have done this - it works.

[Zippo910]

mailbox

yeah i know someone that getting they mailbox ran over by some truck so he did that and it messed up their engine pretty good and they could leave so got caught .

[tabahr]

And if smoeone gets hurt badly or killed because you intentionally built your mailbox stronger than it should had been you can get sued for damages. How would you like to work the rest of your life and give the $$ to a victim of you own over aggression? You're better off setting up a motion activated USB PC cam and record the damages.

What if someone swerves to avoid a child that runs in the road, hits your mailbox and gets badly hurt??? How would you feel?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

So how do you set the limit to how strong you can build a mailbox? Do you make a law that before you can put up a mailbox you have to hire a mechanical engineer to do a stress analysis of your mail box and then have to get it inspected after it is installed? Where do you draw the line? But if someone is going through a residential neighborhood like stated above, the speed limit is probably not more than 35 miles per hour. If the mailbox was a brick wall, it should not kill anybody. Not if the occupants are wearing their seat belts.

All I wanted to do was remind people about not racing on the street. This thread doesn't look like it is headed in the right direction. As Kerm would say, "peace out".