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Roslindale man got up to 120 m.p.h. in I-93 drag race before slamming into another vehicle and killing its driver, police say

State Police report arresting a Roslindale man on charges he killed another driver on I-93 in Braintree shortly before 9 p.m. on Feb. 19.

State Police say Hedweens Quetant, 19, was on I-93 northbound and racing another driver - who has yet to be found - in his Civic and had gotten up to 120 m.p.h. when he hit the passenger side of a Tahoe driven by Michael Wojdag, 46, of Hanson, who was ejected from his SUV and died after being transported to a nearby hospital.

Two other people in the Tahoe suffered minor injuries, State Police say, adding that neither Quetant nor the other three people in his compact was injured.

Through their investigation, Troopers located multiple witnesses who reported separately that they were driving on I-93 North around the time of the crash when two vehicles, one of which they described as a dark or black sedan, drove past them at speeds they believed to be near or over 100 mph. One of the witnesses identified one of the racing vehicles as a black Honda Civic while another witness, who stopped at the scene of the crash, believed that the Civic that had crashed was one of the cars that sped by him.

Quetant was charged with manslaughter, motor-vehicle homicide by negligent operation, reckless driving, racing a motor vehicle and witness intimidation, State Police say, adding that at his arraignment, he was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

Driver of the Tahoe ejected from vehicle = wasn't wearing a seat belt. The other passengers probably were and thus had minor injuries. Dude would probably be alive had he worn his.

Nevertheless, Speed Racer needs to spend years in prison and never be allowed behind a wheel ever again.

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A Honda Civic doing 120 mph sad.

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The only charge on that list that surprised me -- given that this person chose to drive in a way that killed someone -- was the witness intimidation.

That, and that the charges don't include driving while intoxicated, suggests that he knew what he was doing, and at best didn't care until the risk was to himself. I don't know whether "depraved indifference to human life" is in the Massachusetts criminal code, but the actions described are of someone who knew, or reasonably should have known, that his actions were likely to kill someone.

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is that it was something like "if you call the police I will kill you" or some similar threat.

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In any event, the driver of the Honda Civic deserves to be tried and charged with vehicular homicide, thrown into prison and to get his license pulled for a long time.

It's disgusting.

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This summer I got Covid in Germany so instead of taking the ICE across we drove the autobahn, with the windows down. The autobahn is very civilized: no passing on the right, no cruising on the left. I got the opel up to 118 at one point, above about 100 things start coming up real fast. (Yes, we should have sprung for the bmw.)

Anyway, 120 on 93 and probably swerving and weaving is insane. We should have automated enforcement: 65 in a 55 gets you a $25 ticket, 75 gets you $50, 85 $100, 100 $500, a license suspension and a day in court.

Want to go 120? Fly to Frankfurt and rent a car.

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In any event, 120 miles per hour is way, way beyond reasonable.

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The Autobahn is surprisingly civilized because of the very well-followed rules (it is Germany, after all). There are speed limits near cities and major interchanges, as well as places with steep grades or tighter curves. We were also driving on a Sunday, when there are no trucks (no long distance truck traffic on Sunday, seriously). I spent a lot of time around 100, which was fine. 110 took a lot more concentration, and over 110 seemed more unreasonable although with the windows down part of it was that it was also getting quite loud at that speed (not that it was silent at 100). In a BWM or a Benz 110 probably would have been fine, except that stuff just comes up so fast. Above 100 on a relatively empty road you have to drive like you're on 128 at rush hour (or at least, like you should drive on 128 at rush hour): 100% of your attention on the road and situational awareness. Where's the next curve and might you have to decelerate? Are there any cars ahead in the right lane that may attempt to pass a car ahead of them and merge into your lane? Is there anyone in the rear view coming up behind where you'd need to either move right or maintain speed or accelerate in order to pass the next vehicle? Are there exits or entrances coming up? Do you see any brake lights ahead which might require braking? Etc. It helps that there are a lot of other folks in the 90-110 range (and sometimes someone doing 130 or 140).

Sitting at 70 in the right lane of the Pike on a Sunday morning is easy. 100 on the Pike is done, but not safe given slower traffic and people weaving lanes, passing on the right, not paying attention, looking for cops, looking at their phone, etc. What makes the Autobahn manageable is that none of that shit happens. No one passes on the right. No one sits at 76 in the left lane which makes people want to pass on the right (they wouldn't, but they'd get up behind you and flash their high beams). No one on their phone. No trucks on Sunday helped. It was an experience, which would be quite hard to replicate here for a variety of reasons.

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because of the very well-followed rules (it is Germany, after all)

In order to get a driver's license in Germany, one must take a first aid course, pass an eye test, and go to a comprehensive driving school, which requires 12 hours of theory (classroom instruction) and up to 45 hours of real world and closed course training (German driving schools use actual obstacle courses to train students in all kinds of conditions), then take a theory exam and a practical exam (usually at the same or similar course used by the school). Drivers ed in Germany takes several months and can cost between €2000 and €2500.

Large parts of the Autobahn network don't have speed limits, and this is also true to a lesser extent on some expressway grade sections of the Bundesstraßen network (Bundesstraße means "federal highway", and is Germany's answer to the United States Numbered Highway System, a network with varying classes of roads from two lane country highways to full expressways, as opposed to the Autobahn network which must meet certain design and engineering standards to earn the A prefix on the route number, just as the Interstate Highway System in the US does), but those roads are engineered to accommodate high speeds, and drivers are expected to adhere to the rules (side note: the photo in this article is about three miles from the house where I was an exchange student in high school). Germans pay around $7 per gallon for gasoline, and about half of that is in taxes (federal gas tax plus VAT) which are then used to meticulously maintain the federal, state, and local road networks. Breaking the rules can be very costly, and speed limits are monitored and enforced by cameras ("Blitzer"), which are moved periodically on the expressways, but some are permanent -the town I stayed in in 1991 had a camera to enforce the 10km/h speed limit on its main shopping street (which is one way for cars), I remember it still being there the last time I visited in 2006, and this photo shows it in 2010 , I assume it's still there today.

I was in Munich this past September (after attending a little-known annual beer festival that takes place there) and took a cab to the airport and was amused that everyone on the Bundesstraße to the airport was going 9km/h above the speed limit. A German friend later told me that the speed cameras on expressways trigger at 10km/h over the limit. The penalties can be severe and are strictly enforced. For example, the fine for running a red light is €90, but if it was done while endangering others, or if the light was run more than a second after it changed the fine is €200 plus a one month license suspension. Going around railroad gates will nab you a €700 fine and a three month license suspension. There's a whole list here.

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65 in a 55 gets you a $25 ticket...

If they implemented that today without warning anybody, over 95% of drivers would get that ticket. Most would get one of the bigger ones. I'm not saying that everybody speeding is a good thing, but it's today's reality. If the cops did implement it and warned everyone, that would be a new reality. Mostly what they have done is warned, then briefly enforced against like 70mph, which has a very limited effect.

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But if you got a $25 ticket every day a lot of people would start going 60 on 128 and 128 would probably be a bit less insane.

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Your suggestion would allow rich people to drive at whatever speed they want and poor people to be disproportionately punished

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I think it's Germany...or maybe one/some of the Nordic countries, where they instituted a means-tested penalty system for infractions. If you make $50k/yr, you might pay $50 whereas if you make $500k/yr, you might pay $5000 for the same infraction.

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when is a 19 year old a man v. adult v. teen

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.

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