This is why!

[E36ShoppingTrolley 7]

what were the modifications? jamex super lows and shortened shocks?

[kwhelan 241]

at the end of the day it was a mistake,sh*t happens and always will

if it was your 85yr old grandma that paniced, mounted the kerb and drove over them,(does Happen) would you be wanting them locked up instantly for the rest of their life too,

once you get over the frustration of how dumb and annoying the guy is/was its still just unintentional and therefore an accident.

wrong place /wrong time

[Mark 178]

We've all done it mate, but there's a time & a place & that place isn't in a heavily built up area.

So it's OK to break the law if you're not doing it on a busy street?

That is just plain ignorant. There is no time and place for speeding or idiotic behaviour on public roads, but we've all done it and every time we do, we take our and others lives in to our own hands.

I'm not saying this guy isn't an idiot, but quite a few posts in this thread have made good points about the fact that all of us here are essentially hypocrites and - out of sheer luck - don't currently have our picture on that article right now.

We had a conversation about this at work yesterday. In France, if you get caught drink driving even just once you have your license revoked for LIFE, and you are chucked in jail. If penalties were harsher here, we'd definitely cut down on the amount of idiocy on our roads.

[M5V8 337]

did anyone see the location of the accident?

the give way he drove through, to see traffic you would need to look back quite far over your right shoulder.

Now if you didn't stop but rolled through and hit the gas pedal too hard whilst your head was turned, and it was wet, I could totally see anyone loosing control of a turbo charged rwd car if they were not used to the power, or the car had "snappy" handling due to suspension modifications.

Whilst I don't condone this type of driving on the street and it's a total tragedy that this has occured, locking this young kid up for the rest of his life with hardened criminal's will not save the public from this type of accident happening again.

All that will do is make a real criminal from this kid.

my 2c

Edited July 28, 2010 by M5V8

[pjay 8]

what were the modifications? jamex super lows and shortened shocks?

Justies in the back and shortened shocks w/ lowering springs in the front until the front justies were installed.

[Apex 693]

Nice post. Some of us are are being very hypocritical, I have been on cruises with members on this very forum and seen some very interesting driving that could have very easily resulted in a freak accident, I have been in the car with and spotted lots of us driving in manors that could very quickly have things getting away on us.

Myself and most of my friends could have easily been in this young chaps position as a youngsters, I think a lot of us could have, illegal modifications or not

I think the system have played this brilliantly, whilst his punishment won’t be harsh he has done the honourable thing and owned up and faced his mistakes in front of NZ, let’s hope him doing so is a lesson to all of us.

[bellicose 9]

If you're going to tell me that hundreds of years ago when you were the same age as him, you were a model citizen abiding by every single rule of the road, then you are the f**k head. I'm sick of reading your psyco rants.

Yep i broke the law when i was younger, however i NEVER killed or even injured ANYONE when / if i did silly things.

No clown, i'm not 242 years old, i'm 42 and yes i'm very opinionated and feel very strongly about certain things and i WILL voice my opinion, unlike most of the people who don't like to upset others i don't give a f**k . If you don't like my "psyco rants" then when you see my username and / or avatar, then DON'T READ MY POSTS.

[Guest Simon*]

I think this thread is fairly representative of the population in a small way. We're going to get people on either side of the argument, a few playing devil's advocate and some who just relish the opportunity to get on their soapbox.

I'm not pointing any fingers and I'd ask you lot not to as well. I'll let everything go except personal attacks. Please save that for PM or even offline!

The important thing to remember is that, as a community of BMW enthusiasts, we're not going to change the world here. Go out and do that on your own. Social commentary, gossip and bickering are human nature - just be careful you don't start sounding like a bunch of women!

In short it's pretty pointless getting angry or bitter over this type of thread - please count to 10 before you post

[*Glenn* 854]

The reason I posted this thread was not to crucify the young offender...hes done wrong and hes facing up to it. I posted because it was a good example how your actions can cause so much greif for yourselves and others. Do stupid mods, drive stupidly and this sort of thing can multiply into a tragic result for all concerned...safety has to come first with everything you do, just make sure what you do can't or doesn't end up like this. The coroner said that the car & the offender contributed to the end result.

[deeveus 81]

So it's OK to break the law if you're not doing it on a busy street?

That is just plain ignorant. There is no time and place for speeding or idiotic behaviour on public roads, but we've all done it and every time we do, we take our and others lives in to our own hands.

I'm not saying this guy isn't an idiot, but quite a few posts in this thread have made good points about the fact that all of us here are essentially hypocrites and - out of sheer luck - don't currently have our picture on that article right now.

We had a conversation about this at work yesterday. In France, if you get caught drink driving even just once you have your license revoked for LIFE, and you are chucked in jail. If penalties were harsher here, we'd definitely cut down on the amount of idiocy on our roads.

Have you ever heard of a controlled racetrack? Nowhere did I say that it was ok to do it on public roads thanks.

[Mark 178]

Have you ever heard of a controlled racetrack? Nowhere did I say that it was ok to do it on public roads thanks.

Might want to make that a little clearer then... your post didn't mention anything about racetracks or "controlled conditions".

Thanks.

[deeveus 81]

Might want to make that a little clearer then... your post didn't mention anything about racetracks or "controlled conditions".

Thanks.

Nor did it mention it was ok to do it on public roads

[Guest Simon*]

This is just petty bullshit now. Everyone's had their go

Glenn's message remains for us to read. The punishment or lack of is really secondary to his point.