Nick Adenhart and the crash that killed him

As a baseball fan, I was very shocked to see the headline that announced that Nick Adenhart had been killed in a car crash. He had just pitched the night before. How could it be? Where would he have been, as a member of a professional team in the midst of their season, where he could be out driving, and then be so foolish as to risk life and limb?



Ah, the terrible details. Nick Adenhart was only a passenger in a car that was hit by another vehicle going NINETY MILES AN HOUR. Two other people, the driver Courtney Stewart and passenger Henry Pearson, were killed, both of them instantly. A fourth, John Wilhite, was "internally decapitated" but has remained alive.



Now as my blog makes abundantly clear, I am advocating a speed (top speed, cannot physically exceed) of 34 miles an hour for all vehicles on our roadways, as a means to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and to cut carbon dioxide emissions down to pre 1970 levels. But apropos to the crash that killed three people and ruined the life for the driver of the other vehicle, and probably the critically-injured passenger, you have to ask yourself:



Why does ANY vehicle on the road, need the capability to exceed the speed limit? Why??



Are we required to maintain a "free-for-all" type of playground for speeding? Isn't 70mph as a top speed, for Porsches and Corvettes, as well as the Minivan that was traveling 90mph and killed three people...NINETY MILES AN HOUR on a regular four-lane boulevard... isn't 70mph enough? If you want high speed, buy a racing car. But don't mistake transportation for entertainment. Driving is a privilege, and not a right.



No manufacturer should be building cars and selling them to the public, that can exceed the speed limit. There is no rational, reasonable reason for doing so. And in light of the fact that drunk drivers with no license continue to drive and kill people, should there be some basic manufacturing guidelines to deal with reality???!!



There was one other car at that intersection of Orangethorpe and S. Lemon, facing the Adenhart car. The driver saw the speeding minivan flicker in the periphery of his vision. He was lucky. Courtney Stewart did not see the minivan. Had it been traveling at only 70 mph, would she have seen it? Would she have also paused.



I would say, speculatively, yes, she would have. Chrysler contributed to this accident, IMO.

Why build a car that can go ninety miles an hour?

To kill people??



By the way, if "my world" were in existence, and the top speed was only 34 mph, there would have been no crash, no loss of life.