Cars don't kill people, people kill people

What caused the Walker/Rodas crash?

This is the question a lot of media are chasing right now. I suppose it's nice to check out the details, and maybe find that glimpse of hope that maybe this wasn't the drivers fault.

But really folks, driving a very powerful car two men died in a fiery accident on a relatively low speed limited street. What caused the crash?

People are blaming the car. And this is the most absurd thing about the whole "investigation" I have seen. Yes, the Porsche Carrera GT is an insanely fast automobile, but so are the rest of the super cars on the road.

One can only liken this argument straight back to that funny little saying about guns.

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

And this is true in this case, and most cases with automobile wrecks.

Roger Rodas made a mistake. There. It was said.

Does this make Rodas a murderer? Had there been a school bus, or some other incredibly, somehow more tragic event that occurred then maybe there would be a little bit of ground to stand on.

1598191 Both of these men were car guys, with Rodas even a full time competitor in one of North America's most diverse sports car series. Walker starred in a franchise of movies based on street racing and fast cars.

This makes Rodas, and Walker by association, two guys who were having a good time and found a relatively quiet street to give the Porsche super car they were driving a little bit of gusto.

Put yourself in their shoes. You are at a charity car show with one of your favourite cars on display. The owner is a mutual friend, or even say that it's yours. You notice one of your "car guy" friends are at the event.

You call him over and say lets go for a rip. Come on, everyone has said it. Sometimes it's you saying it, sometimes it's your passenger, but we have all said it.

You hop in, start it up and responsibly pull away from the event. You chat and laugh about the stares you got from people, or how much you love the purrrrr of the engine. Once around the block, checking things out for some space to burp that throttle a couple times.

Again, this is a story every man can say they have done. There is simply no denying it.

You come around the corner to see a long, empty stretch of road in front of you. You grab a lower gear and mash the throttle. Up a gear, up again. Being the responsible guy you are, you don't take it any further, this is fast enough. Time to brake, you get on the brakes a bit too hard and the car starts to slide. You recover. You laugh with your passenger car guy buddy and take it back to the event.

We have all done it. Taken that "cool" car out, checking out its performance. Some of us have even made a little mistake and got that stomach in throat feeling. Most of us walk away with a cool story to tell. Roger Rodas and Paul Walker did not. Rodas mistake cost their lives.

So, is this a column condoning "burping" the throttle or testing the performance of these cars on the road. No it is certainly not. It is simply saying that these were two guys out for a joyride, in a high performance car when a mistake was made. Plain and simple. There was no mechanical failure, there was no tire blowout, no stuck throttle. Just a reminder of why we have race tracks.

Thankfully there were no pedestrians or other vehicles around.