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Authorities: West Roxbury teen was doing up to 80 before Arborway crash that injured six
By adamg on Wed, 09/18/2013 - 11:31am
Nikolas Papadopoulos, 18, will be charged with a slew of violations for a Sept. 6 crash that sent six people to the hospital - one of them a 14-year-old who suffered "life altering" brain and spine injuries after being ejected from Papadopoulos's SUV and another the other driver, who remains in a medically induced coma, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office and State Police say.
Papadopoulos will be charged with negligent operation of a motor vehicle, which carries potential jail time, as well as civil offenses of speeding, failing to ensure that two passengers under 16 were wearing seat belts and unsafely crossing the road's lane markings.
Officials say Papadopoulos was not driving impaired, just stupidly, around 2 p.m. that day. In a statement, DA Dan Conley said:
At this stage in the investigation, we believe the defendant's excessive speed was the primary factor. This was an avoidable tragedy. It didn’t have to happen.
That evidence suggests:
Papadopoulos was travelling westbound on the state roadway at speeds of up to 80 miles per hour when the 2003 Mazda Tribute he was operating jumped the median strip near St. Joseph Street, began to roll, and collided with a 2004 Ford F-150 pick-up truck heading eastbound.
Also:
At the time of the crash, Papadopoulos had three passengers: one 14-year-old from Chestnut Hill, another 14-year-old from West Roxbury, and a 15-year-old also from West Roxbury. While all four are currently expected to survive, the 14-year-old from Chestnut Hill sustained life-altering injuries to the brain and spine after being ejected from the vehicle. Neither he nor the other 14-year-old was wearing his seat belt.
The operator of the Ford, a 33-year-old Dorchester man, was also critically injured and remains in a medically-induced coma at Brigham and Women's Hospital. His passenger, age 34 and a resident of Quincy, has been released from care with less serious injuries. Both men in the Ford were wearing seat belts.
Papadopoulos remains hospitalized at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He will be summonsed to West Roxbury District Court for arraignment on a future date.
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Comments
Horrible
What a horrible story. The most frustrating part is I can't think of any way to prevent this kind of thing from happening, as 18 year olds are always going to be jackasses. I suppose this is why we need robotic/driverless cars, which I can't wait to have anyway.
I could,
How about the Staties set up some speed traps!?! Also, in NJ drivers under 18 can't have more than one other passenger in the car.
Basically impossible to enforce speed.
On most of the Jway and Riverway. No safe spots to stand or put a cruiser to do radar/lidar, and very hard to determine which car is going which speed. And the lidar you need a good 1 second to lock onto a car.
Plus in general people don't really speed on most of that road.
I disagree
Why can't it be done with handheld speed reader by an officer on foot that radios to an officer parked ahead nearby to pull the car over? Saying it's "impossible" is completely the wrong attitude to take when creative solutions are obvious. Where there's a will, there's a way
Plus, many residents along that stretch of road were quoted in numerous newscasts as saying speeding is very common and it is "like a racetrack."
Very dangerous pulling cars over for everyone involved.
If a car is speeding (going over 40mph), you need a good stretch to safely jump out and pull the car over, or you need to pull your cruiser right into traffic and attempt to pull them over.
First off, pulling cars over in the right lane of traffic on this road makes it a traffic jam nightmare for everyon else.
Cars getting pulled over also slam on their brakes which can be dangerous on busy roads.
Having an officer 'radio' another officer is very difficult on a busy road, you need the exact info and the second officer needs to make a quick decision.
People always think cars are speeding on their street, when in most cases the 80% speed is actually pretty low. there are plenty of streets that have speeding problems, but this I really don't think is one of them.
When it goes to court you have one officer writing a ticket based on another officers visual and radar/lidars findings. Judges want the officer writing the ticket to be the one observing the speed, unless both officers can be there at the same time.
Excuses, excuses
Talk to the 33 year old guy from Dorchester in a medically induced coma about danger. I guess the public should never expect the authorities to come up with creative solutions to the tiniest challenges. It's shocking that they've gained a reputation for laziness.
Talk to the dozens of people who get injured a year
from moron cops pulling people in dangerous places. Or the cops who get hurt themselves trying to pull people in dangerous places.
The public doesn't want cameras to determine speeds to mail out tickets, but that is your solution for speeding on the Jamaica way.
Thanks to people like you, cops get paid some good money in this town.
WTF?
I didn't realize you spoke for the whole public.
Keep defending the status quo.
I'm not defending it, I'm telling you what the experts think.
Those who are involved with the safety of traffic stops, sign placement, speedboard activity and science. And those who have actually grabbed a radar and stepped out into a street and have done what you think is so easy.
But go ahead and keep complaining about something you know nothing about.
LMFAO experts
Experts solve problems not make excuses. But go ahead and keep making a fool out of yourself.
Excuses?
Are you talking about your idiotic excuses with no scientific or even empirical analysis?
And no, not all experts solve problems. Some experts tell you what the problem is, or gather information for you. It is clear you aren't smart enough to figure that one out yet.
You're "idiotic"
You say enforcement is "impossible" and "not a panacea." Enforcement is possible and it is the only solution that works in reality. You say it's dangerous for cops. Hey, they signed up for a dangerous job. Most laws are dangerous to enforce. When someone gets shot, do you say the cops shouldn't pursue the shooter because he might shoot back? If speeders know they will get busted they won't speed. Use lasers, cameras, flashing lights, etc. Innocent peoples lives are at risk because speeders know they have immunity. You've posted at least ten times here claiming you hang out with the best experts in the biz, but you have offered zero potential solutions. It is clear, you aren't smart enough to have a logical, realistic discussion. Go back to fantasy land.
My friend...
Enforcement is impossible on the J-way. Unless of course you want to post a cop there 24 hours a day with a radar gun and unless they redesign it, morons are still going to drive it like it's a fucking slalom course.
It's the way that road twists and turns that makes amateur Andrettis think they better drivers then they are, because they're too stupid to realize they were sold more car than they can handle. I've seen it my whole life. You know, like the morons who treat the Lynn marsh road like it's a drag strip?
No it isn't the only solution.
Better signage, cops sitting near the roads, brighter signage, better landscaping of the trees, better lighting, clearer markings on the road, speedboards, speedsigns, traffic signs, etc are all things that can help slow down drivers on that road. Even cameras or signs with the threat of radar/enforcement can slow down traffic.
It doesn't matter if it is a cop or not. It is not safe for any human being to conduct traffic enforcement on most of that road. It is also not safe for motorists if someone is doing traffic enforcement there. People slam on their breaks when they see a cop doing enforcement, and they also take their eyes off the road. Motorists also can get into crashes when they try to change lanes after seeing a cop there, or can get into crashes after they pull out after the traffic stop.
There are plenty of roads in the country where cops should be doing enforcement instead of being lazy and doing nothing. The Jamaica and Riverway are not some of those roads.
Moron.
It's not mainly from cops pulling people over in dangerous areas
The vast majority of people who are seriously injured and/or killed in motor vehicular accidents are ordinary people who are either victims of another driver's stupidity and violation of the laws, or they act stupid and violate the laws themselves and, all too often, take others down with them.
It's pretty obvious that you're against having cops around, Pete Nice, but I'll say this; Cops are needed, whether you or other people like them or not. Otherwise, there'd be even more anarchy on the roads then there already is, especially here in Boston and the Bay State, generally.
I'm not really saying that.
I'm saying that it is more dangerous for everyone involved having a cop doing standard lidar/radar enforcement on most sections on that road.
Having cops sit at certain spots clocking drivers or estimating speeds and giving out warnings would help.
Dude, if you want to stand on the J-way
with a radar gun, no one is stopping you. The J-way is a race track most days and last I looked cops have more brains than to try and pull over the maniacs on that road.
Most people aren't going
Most people aren't going anywhere near close to 80 on that road ever. Chances are if he was doing 80 there, he was also speeding the entire way long and generally driving like an uber douche before he hit the Arborway, and wouldn't have given a crap for speed traps, because that's just the kind of entitled jackass that does 80 off the highway in the first place.
What?
I drive through there a lot, average speed is in the mid 40s... the speed limit for much of the parkways is either 30 or 25.
I doubt it is mid 40s
There have actually been studies on this road, and the 75 percentile speed (which is what I think DOT uses) isn't going to be close to 45mph.
I've actually talked to troopers about this. They tell me they would go there but there aren't enough speeders to make it worthwhile.
(The State Police are about the most tickets issued in the least amount of time, the I-90 coming from the airport is a perfect place for that)
See!
They don't care about public safety, they want to fill their quota in the laziest way possible.
Also, I've seen enough bogus studies to know that they're not worth jacksh*t.
Those aren't studies.
Its basically raw data. No fooling numbers or analysis. Just pure statistics.
Statistics lie
n/t
Not in this case.
They tell you exactly how fast every single car goes by the minute over a 7-21 day period on that road.
sample size is too small
and doesn't control for variables like holidays and other low traffic days. plus there probably is an Annie Dookhan type fudging the numbers so the authorities can continue to ignore the problem.
No you are wrong.
And holidays and low traffic days are when you are going to see high speeds. If you just looked at speeds during busy hours (when this crash happened), you would find the % speed even lower.
And there is no fudging the numbers. It is a piece of equipment that prints out a report. You can look at the data however you want to. The authorities don't really want to ignore problems like this.
And how is the sample size too small? You can just start over once the report is printed.
sm4269a You really sound ridiculous!
Either you are completely unfamiliar with these roads or are just plain stupid. I travel the J-Way everyday to and from work.
Pete Nice is right, that particular stretch of road is just not safe for traffic stops. When a driver has car trouble and must pull over into the right lane, other motorists slam on their breaks to avoid crashing into them. This has happened to me several times with many close calls. Even people who pull into the right lane due to minor fender-benders create a very dangerous situation for fellow drivers, not to mention putting themselves in harm's way. Perhaps if you actually thought out your little plan of having one office radio another officer you might realize how ludicrous it actually is. But that's assuming that you have some semblance of a brain. Pete listed several suggestion that are sound, safe, and reasonable. You present yourself as insulting, ignorant, one who is never happy with our brave men and women in law enforcement who put their lives on the line every day to keep the rest of us safe. Officers are trained to make traffic stops that ensure the safety of the motorist as well as themselves. Makes sense to me. Not sure why you can't get that?
Disconnects
So on the one hand enforcement of speed laws is too difficult but on the other hand Commonwealth police don't go there because it is not worthwhile? Which is the real reason? Is traffic enforcement on the JWay about the challenge or about it being worthwhile?
Commonwealth police enforce speed laws based on writing the most tickets in the least amount of time? When did worthwhile traffic enforcement become a matter of the most tickets in the least amount of time? Shouldn't traffic enforcement be about safe roads?
See you're not an expert
or a pompous blowhard, so Pita's nonsensical gibberish won't make sense to you.
Good question.
This street might have both.
And a good police supervisor will make sure his officers are getting some balance. Let's say there are 2 residents who complain every day about 2 cars who speed on their street between the hours of 8-11, a cop might sit on that street for 3 hours and not pull anyone over (since those two cars don't go down that street every day, or maybe they saw the cop sitting there, or maybe they don't actually speed). At the end of his shift his supervisor might ask the officer what he was doing from 8-11, since he didn't write any tickets. The officer might tell him he was responding to a citizen complaint, and the supervisor might simply think the officer wasn't doing anything, or he might tell him he was doing a good job. Now the residents might feel good because they saw the cop there, even though he didn't pull anyone over, so they might be satisfied, or they might not be since they expect the cop to be there every day, but if the cop is there every day, you have 12-15 hours a week of low ticket production.
So a trooper who wants to do most of his enforcement on the J-way isn't going to end his shift with many tickets, and he makes it unsafe for the public and himself in the process as well.
And I'm not sure enforcement is the panacea everyone is looking for either. There are places in Boston where 5,000 cars speed every day in 1980 and those same 5,000 cars speed in 2013. These speedtrap roads got 300 tickets a day in 1980, and they get 300 tickets in 2013. People don't slow down because most people drive at a speed they think is safe.
agreed that enforcement is ineffective
if the speed limit is 25 or 30, then there should be visual and physical means to discourage speeding through various traffic calming techniques:
http://trafficcalming.org/
although - I have little hope for this after seeing how the DOT has designed the section of road through the casey project.
Enforcement is ineffective??
There's not enough enforcement of the laws! That's the problem, imho.
what is the 75th percentile?
if it's around 40, that is still way too fast on a roadway that has a speed limit that is LOWER than residential streets.
- as an aside - I think the city should change the speed limit on unmarked roadways and residential streets to 20 mph - not just put up those "slow" or "shared lane" signs. Most cyclists cannot move at a sustained pace of 30 mph (more like 10-15 mph), and motorists often pass at unsafe distances and speeds to get around slower cyclists. 30 mph is also way too fast on narrow residential streets in the city.
Pete, I drive the J-Way
Pete, I drive the J-Way everyday going to and from work. I can tell you that most nights on my way home (7:00ish) traffic is moving at 40mph. (I do not drive home that way in torrential rain or snow/ice storms because people don't slow to allow for weather)
I have been riding (not driving) on that road for over 50 years. When it was an MDC road, there were officers to ensure safe limits and only 'pleasure vehicles'.
With Route 1 being moved off the J-Way and the dissolution of MDC police; the speed of vehicles has increased. Course as cars have become smaller and easier to maneuver, the J-Way has become an amateur speed track. I am a bit ashamed to say that when I had a performance car - the J-Way was my favorite road other than the highway. I could really feel the way my car handled speeding along the twists and turns. There but for the grace of God go I....
Also, when it was an MDC road; Center Street towards Faulkner had traffic lights that turned red frequently to prevent cars from cruising along at a fast clip coming off the rotary. I think the signs said 'requiring frequent stops'. That timing system seems to have stopped.
While I would hate it and likely pull my hair out; I think having the lights control traffic better will be the way to go on the Riverway and J-Way. But I think that only one side should go at a time to allow left hand turns at the lights....with coordinating right hand turn lights/no turn on red signs.
I have no idea how the kids could have reached 80mph after coming out of the rotary. Lucky for all that they did not end up dead. What a hard life lesson for the 18 year old driver. Wishing a speedy recovery for them all.
I haven't noticed any
I haven't noticed any difference between the MDC and the DCR.
What's a lidar?
Is that how a cop can tell if a person is lying when s/he asks the driver if they know how fast they were going? :-)
A lidar is...
like a lion and radar mixed It's bred for it's skills in magic and is pretty much my favorite animal.
The only place where I have
The only place where I have seen speed traps is on the inbound side just past the Route 9/Huntington overpass - there's a carriage road/on ramp where troopers can park. People do tend to fly over that overpass because it's quite a ways between traffic lights. (A while back they reduced the speed in that area to 25, which I presume helped nab more people for speeding. 25 is a bit low there, IMO - the road is at its widest and there's a median.)
If you think people don't speed on that road
Then you must have had to look at a map to find it.
The only way a study could have come to the conclusion that on average people don't speed on that road is if it counted the time people were backed up at lights and averaged that with the speed when they were traveling.
Go ahead and drive the posted speed on that road. You might get rear-ended; you'll certainly get tailgated and honked at. 45 in the 25 is par for the course, let alone yahoos like this kid.
You don't need a stationary
You don't need a stationary radar trap to catch people going 80.
You just need more of a police presence. Have a police car or two cruising through the area. It would allow them to catch any blatant speeders, and word would get out that the area is being patrolled.
How about speed cameras?
In Europe and Asia, speed cameras are common and very visible. I thought this strange the first time I saw it because how are they going to catch people if they're given ample warning? Of course, this thinking comes from our corrupt American system. The goal should never be to catch people as a means of generating revenue, it should be to actually slow people down to a safe speed. The speed camera locations are even programmed in to consumer navigation systems. In my experience, this is very effective. Why aren't we doing this here? We already have red light and toll cameras.
People have no business speeding in the first place,
especially on the Riverway and the Jamaicaway. Unfortunately, people often do drive too fast on that road, and the fact that there aren't even more horrific accidents like that on either of those two roads is nothing short of amazing, imho.
They should have a radar speed trap/detector on that super-curvy section of the Jamaicaway/riverway, and enforce it, to boot.
There's no excuse for speeding, especially when others get injured/killed as a consequence.
That kid was clearly driving so as to endanger people.
Wrong on both counts
This morning I saw two policemen on the JWay. Both were in the act of pulling people over for speeding.
Wrong on both counts, Pete. Stick to your knitting.
I didn't say or mean the whole road
But most of that road it is very hard to set up a speed trap.
Unless they are just looking for stickers. You can do that anywhere.
Where were they by the way? And where were they pulling people over?
They managed today
One was on the arborway just shy of the Pond St rotary, pulling a SUV onto the median grass. The other was by Craftson Way. Plenty of space right there. Both seemed to work just fine. Pulling people over for speeding, apparently, though I didn't stop to ask. It could have been talking on a cell phone or not wearing a seat belt, but I doubt it.
Yes they have been there before.
The one up on the Pond St. rotary is a spot where enforcement has been done since the 1970s. (less now that the troopers have taken over, but there are also less troopers).
But those two spots are longer stretches of road where speed enforcement can be done because there are locations where cars can be pulled over, and vehicles have good sightlines in front of them to see if a car is being pulled over.
I'm thinking more by Byner Rd, Brookline Ave, Perkins St, or by the entrance to the park towards Forest Hills.
There are spots on any road
Where it would be unsafe to pull someone over.
But the very things that make a spot safe to pull someone over - good sightlines and longer stretches of road - make them the places where people are most likely to speed. Setting up an enforcement spot there makes double sense.
And pulling someone over anywhere on the J-Way has the effect of reducing speed on the entire J-Way.
Plus in general people
don'treally speed on most of that road.Now if they could only start pulling people over for crossing the double yellow...
And...?
The driver was 18 years old.
Hi, let's suggest a law that
Hi, let's suggest a law that wouldn't even apply in this case. That'll be really effective. If 17 year olds couldn't drive with more than one passenger, certainly that would have stopped this 18 year old from doing so. I mean, the kid was breaking the law by going 80. Why would a law that doesn't even apply to him change his behavior?
traffic calming
This is what traffic calming is all about. Use the built environment to prevent excessive speed.
Lots of options for dropping the speed of this roadway.
This is the key. Drivers will
This is the key. Drivers will drive at a speed that is comfortable to them on the roadway. Many times this means higher than the speed limit, or what others will perceive as unsafe.
Use the built environment around the road to make drivers perceive their comfortable speed as the speed traffic engineers deem appropriate (75th percentile), and drivers will slow down.
More speedbumps
Fewer cops.
"Traffic engineers"?
This is MDC/DCR we're talkng about -- compliance with modern highway analysis and design standards isn't exactly their strong suit. The 50-to-100 year-old parkway infrastructure they've inherited is also a major challenge, no doubt.
Driving at a speed that's comfortable for them?
The problem is that if enough people decide to exceed the speed limit, there's the potential for complete and total anarchy on the roads, which there's enough of already.
Nope, that wouldn't have done it
For all of the talk about enforcing speed limits or installing traffic calming infrastructure, what is missing is the fact that a senseless 18 year old whose frontal lobe hasn't developed enough to understand that he is driving an actual car and not playing Grand Theft Auto was driving a car 80mph on the J-way in a 40mph zone. This wan't about just speeding a little bit because no one enforces the speed limit, or not being cognizant of traffic calming measures (the road itself is obviously not appropriate or sustainable for driving 80mph or even 60pmh). I suppose you could raise the driver's license age to 35 but that seems a bit unrealistic. Sadly, no matter what you do, there seems to be nothing you can do to stop something as stupid and senseles as this (except as I said above remove a person as the driver).
Yup
This is why you don't let your kid get his license as soon as he can.
You live in a city. Buy him a T pass for his 16th birthday.
And ground him if he gets in a car with other teenagers.
Very tragic and preventable
Very tragic and preventable story.
My kids are city residents with their own T passes since age 12. They grew up in a one-car family. I was willing and able to pick them up and drive them wherever the T didn't reach. I stalled on them getting driver's licenses and then, when they could at ages 18-21 without my permission,I begged them to never drive on the Jway or Aborway. So far, so good.
Doing the right thing
Though if their plate number is 158 NM3 on a black Mercedes, they passed me going about 70 on the VFW today, so you might want to take their keys away.
Horrific incidents like this make me realize how little I missed
Horrific incidents like this make me realize how little I missed when I was a high school kid. At least I managed to survive and to grow up intact and in one piece.
That's nice
Miki.
:=)
Thank you!
Raise the driving age
Raise the driving age to 21.
Raise the driving age to 21?
Naahh! Probably raising the driving age to 18 (the way it is in most, if not all of the European countries.) is a good idea. What I think is ironic is the fact that here in the United States, a 16 year old kid is considered old enough to handle what is a lethal weapon that maims/kills untold numbers of people each year due to being carelessly handled.
Okay, why?
Because it worked so very well with the drinking age?
Have you ever spent time outside of cities - even 18 wouldn't work.
How do you propose that a high school graduate get to work in an outside-the-city area, then? Not everybody spends their late teen years on a college campus or living at home.
I grew up in a suburb west of Boston,
where getting a driver's license, especially by the age of 16.5, was considered a rite of passage. The list of casualties among my classmates who did get their licenses at that age was rather rampant, if one gets the drift.
I also might add that I ended up getting my license at around Christmastime of my Senior year of high school (I was not quite 18), later than most of my classmates, and, the more I think about it, the more I'm glad that I waited to get my license. Unlike most of my classmates, I didn't feel ready to drive and get a license at the age of 16.5, if one gets the drift.
Also, since you mentioned the subject of lowering the drinking age to 18; it was found that the incidence of drinking among high school kids had increased.
Usually a state wide decision
I'll say this up front: my nearly 18-year old doesn't drive, and my nearly 16 year old has no plans to do so in the near future. However, we live in an area where giving them rides isn't an issue, where they use the transit system extensively, and where they can bike to just about anywhere they want to be.
If we lived in Western MA, they would need to have their licenses because there is no public transit and some regionalized school systems don't even run buses for the high school age kids! In other words, they would need to drive to school or be driven.
When I was growing up. My parents INSISTED that I get my license at 16 - and not just because I was graduating at 17. It was because they needed another driver available, and needed me to be able to get around when my mother went through some health issues that made it hard for her to drive me. We lived in an exurban area, with one bus that ran every two hours and not on weekends.
The way that most of the US and much of MA are set up, not driving means not being able to have a job, and having to be driven to school and everywhere. We cannot consider a raise in the driving age to 18 until and unless we have the sort of intensive public transit networks we see in Europe, where 18 is a workable driving age (and you can buy beer and wine at 16 in most places).
Besides, what IS the problem with high school age kids having a beer now and then? The problem is that in the US drinking happens in hidden areas in binge patterns due to the illegality of it, with less controlled circumstances and dire consequences - instead of in public with friends and food and a lot more social control.
Underaged drinking in a controlled family situation is one thing
and it occurs in some European countries such as France, but, all too often, when underaged kids just drink with their friends, as opposed to drinking with their families in a controlled family situation, things often get out of control quite rapidly, as teens often behave very differently when they're out and around with friends than they do when they're with their families.
I also might add that teens are even more susceptible to permanent cognitive damage as a consequence of excessive drinking of alcohol, due to the fact that their brains, as well as their bodies, are still developing and not completely matured.
Make the drinking age 16,
Make the drinking age 16, driving 18, and voting/ownership of firearms (now that we no longer have the draft) 21.
Just because the speeder in question was only 18,
that doesn't let him off the hook or excuse his being a total jackass, especially since his irresponsible behavior resulted in the ruination of at least one or two lives, both of who were juveniles (under 18, yet!). The speeder in question's over 18, and he should therefore be tried for and charged as an adult with hims crimes.
Ugh
Stories like this just reinforce the feeling that there's only so much you can do as a good defensive driver to avoid serious accidents. On a road like the Riverway/Jamaicaway/Arborway, there is no opportunity to get out of the way of some jackass who loses control of his car because he's driving recklessly. [ETA: and this was in one of the few areas of that road that has a substantial median between cars traveling in opposite directions.] I'm glad the driver was over 18 so he can be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
Agreed
You can't legislate/police against stupid. Also, anyone else a little weirded out by the fact that an 18 year old was chauffeuring around 14/15 year olds? Seems odd to me. Of course, I am using my memories of the kids in my HS that used to run with a younger crowd.
I wondered about this but the
I wondered about this but the second eldest passenger was also a varsity hockey player with him and the 14 year olds were both on the JV per the coach who was interviewed, I'm assuming that is the link between the 4.
I also have to agree with the people who drive this roadway daily, if you went 25 you'd get run over. I can't imagine how a police officer could even pull into these roadways in traffic without being hit himself, even if he did find someone going at an excessive speed. There must be another solution other than that one.
May all six involved continue in their recovery it was terribly avoidable....
Can't legislate/police against stupid, eh?
There's something rather abnormal about the fact that a guy who's legally an adult was chauffeuring around kids who were much younger than himself, who were not adults yet, and not only put those who were still young children in danger but, in fact, more than likely was responsible for the destruction of at least 2 other lives. Pathetic indeed. Yes, they should legislate and police against stupid, to protect others by taking perpetrators of this kind of s**t off of the roads for awhile.
Dangerous Road
I have always thought of that stretch of road as dangerous to many curves, so I avoid it as much as possible I can't image how you cold travel at 80mph in the middle of the day anyway. geshhhhh what an idiot this kid is.
Speeding is everywhere
Speeding's everywhere. There was no way to prevent this the kid was going to be going 80 if he was by himself and the poor b$stards in the other car were going to to get hit. Anyone ever stand at the crosswalks going to the North End or Aquarium? The cars are flying by on Atlantic Ave.
As far as the cops go pulling people over. Here's one for ya. I'm in the slow lane on 128 N in Wakefield a Statie gets behind me and lights me up as I am taking the off ramp (blinker on). So I continue down the off ramp onto Salem St and pull into a condo complex because it was 8 am and the only place to go without completely screwing up traffic. First thing the jerk says is " why didn't you stop. I was going to tbone you". Really? Watch a little too much Worlds most dangerous police chases. By the way the reason I was pulled over was that I forgot to put the reg sticker on my plate. It was sitting on the table at my house cause I renewed early. I understand my fault but he couldn't tell that it was renewed when he ran my plate.
How do you do 80MPH on the
How do you do 80MPH on the Arborway? I guess not well, thus we have this accident.
How do you do 80 MPH on that
How do you do 80 MPH on that section heading westbound, after just driving over the bridge that is now one long speed bump due to its deteriorating condition?
seat belt
All these comments about speeding, but nothing pointing out the fact that the passengers weren't wearing seatbelts?
18 year olds driving
18 year olds driving recklessly with a boat load of other distracting kids in the car is the main problem here.
Parents who let their kids drive their cars (not sure if the kid owned this car or not) have to burn in into their kids skulls that they must be responsible, pay attention to driving and not fooling around.
It is a very very sad way for this boy to learn that lesson - he's responsible for the likely destruction of at least 2 people's lives.
I think how lucky I am to be alive after being in a car when I was a teenager where we only had one car but somehow had to get 8 of us to a party. That was before SUVs and nobody every wore a seatbelt and people were two deep on eachother's laps in front and back seat. Teenagers are dumb and dumberer.
Legal adult
An 18 year old is legally an adult.
This isn't about parental control, nor should it be.
AT 80 mph on that Jamaicaway, it doesn't matter
At 80 mph on that jamaicaway/Riverway, it doesn't matter whether people are wearing seatbelts. They would've been injured anyway, although possibly not as seriously. People should wear seat belts, and not speed.
My g*d!
What business did the kid have doing 80 mph on the Jamaicaway in the first place? It's because of the lack of law enforcement that such injuries happen. He should have his license pulled and be put behind bars for awhile for causing such injury and misery to other people, as well as for speeding.