Roger Rodas' widow suing Porsche over Carrera GT crash

Investigations undertaken by local law enforcement may have vindicated Porsche from any wrongdoing in the crash that killed actor Paul Walker and racing driver Roger Rodas last year, but the latter's widow is apparently not convinced. According to emerging reports, Kristine Rodas has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages from Porsche Cars North America.

In her suit filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, Rodas' attorney Mark Geragos reportedly disputes the findings of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which asserted that the vehicle was traveling at an unsafe speed of 90 miles per hour on city streets, identifying the speed as the cause of the accident. Instead the lawsuit claims that the vehicle was only going 55 mph and that the cause of the crash was improper equipment - namely a faulty right rear suspension and the lack of a crash cage and proper fuel tank.

"The Carrera GT was unsafe for its intended use by reason of defects in its manufacture, design, testing, component and constituents, so that it would not safely serve its purpose," according to the specifics of the suit obtained by the Los Angeles Times. When reached for comment, Porsche Cars North America spokesman Nick Twork told Autoblog:

We are very sorry for the Rodas and Walker family's loss. The crash was the subject of a detailed investigation by the proper authorities (L.A. County Sheriff and California Highway Patrol), and their investigation disproves the allegations in the lawsuit. The investigation found that driving at a high speed in a negligent manner caused the crash and concluded that there was no mechanical defect.

The Carrera GT is known as a difficult car to drive. As the LA Times report points out, Jay Leno spun one at Talladega in 2005, and the following year, Porsche paid part of a multi-million-dollar settlement after two were killed on a track when their Carrera GT struck a slower-moving Ferrari. The Rodas lawsuit could very well point to that previous suit from San Diego Superior Court. Whether the court in LA will hand down a similar ruling remains to be seen.

 

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Euro NCAP Says BMW 3-Series Is the Safest Large Family Car

Nowadays, having a five-star safety rating doesn't put you ahead of the competition. This is especially true in the premium segment, where ten airbags are not uncommon.

We already knew that BMW's new 3-Series is among the safest cars out there, but further confirmation of the Bavarian model came today when Euro NCAP said it was Best in Class for the Large Family Car category. To earn this, the F30 3-Series earned a score of 95 percent in adult occupant protection, 84 percent in child occupant and 86 percent in safety assist technology.

The 3 Series scored maximum points for its protection of the 18 month infant, and lost only a fraction of a point for protection of the 3 year old.

In the case of a pedestrian impact, the BMW 3-Series’ construction could save lives, as Euro NCAP tests showed good protection for the bumper and the front edge of the bonnet.

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You Can Barely Tell This Is a Ferrari 458 - Severe Crash Damage

If you buy a supercar, everybody expects you to be able to drive it, as it should be driven, and probably, in time, you begin to adopt the same views. This is, however, highly-detrimental to both your physical well-being and the integrity of your prized collection of exotic materials and implausible numbers.

We see far too many of these beautifully crafted supercars wrapped around poles, broken in half or just plain totalled. The most recent example we have is a black Ferrari 458, which was photographed in Switzerland, on the back of a truck.

Why was it on the back of a truck? Well, we say the photos are self-explanatory, and while we don`t know exactly how this 458 got in this really bad shape, but the owner probably slid left, while taking a right turn far too quickly, and the car hit some sort of massive obstacle at very high speed - it could almost be called a cliche.

Via wreckedexotics.com

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Video: Dash Camera Captures Horrific Russian Plane Crash

Four crew members of a Russian-made Tu-204 jet have been killed when the largely empty passenger jet broke up after overshooting its Moscow runway and all of it was caught on camera.

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Safety Tips for Driving at Night

Some people enjoy driving at night, some couldn’t care less and some positively hate the idea. There’s good reason for this, as a lot more crashes and fatalities happen on the road after dark.

Nighttime driving only accounts for about a quarter of all driving that’s done in the US. One advantage of this is that traffic is very light, so you can get to where you’re going much faster during these late hours. But it’s also a lot more dangerous. Many of you have probably noticed this by watching the news, but the fact are gruesome: death rates are three times higher during the night, while about two thirds of all pedestrian fatalities occur at night.

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Extreme Truch -Car Crash on Highway

Highways can be a dangerous place, especially if they are above ground. However, even when they aren’t above ground, things can go horribly wrong really quickly.

It seems that in this video, a car is driving the wrong way and hits a truck which then bounces off into the car to the left. The crash is extremely severe, and spectacular at the same time. It’s actually the most extreme crash we’ve seen in a while. Always be on the lookout when on the highway, despite this being a police cliche, the risk of accidents does increase exponentially with the speed you’re traveling at.

Sadly, some crashes cannot be avoided and this is the perfect case in point. Just pray that you never have to face anything like this in your life - it may help!

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