...and here comes the "blame video games I mean Porsche" crowd

"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit) 12/01/2013 at 00:25 • Filed to: None

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The thing about a tragic event with similarities to another tragic, high-profile event is that they tend to bring out the layman naysayers out of the woodwork who like to point fingers at the first and most lazily-accessed thing available and call it a day. Hack trial lawyer Jack Thomspon made a career out of this by exploiting mass shootings, the video game industry and singling Grand Theft Auto out in particular, until media people and journalists actually sat down and played the game and decided that Thompson was full of shit, which pretty much regulated him into the annuls of obscurity ever since.

It may be something people are loathe to admit, but cars and guns do have similarities - they are things that, when high speed is applied, have the capacity to kill. Unlike guns, however, cars have the extra deadly burden of being equal if not more harmful to the actual operators. I can go on but you already know where I'm going with this - first Ryan Dunn and a passenger was killed in a Porsche GT3 at very high speed, and now Paul Walker and the driver of a Careera were killed - I haven't heard specific details but someone is going to claim that, yes, speed kills. And a whole bunch of other claims too, apparently.

Which leads to the obvious conclusion amongst some of Walker's fans on his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that, yes, it's painfully obvious that Porsches must be dangerous death traps! Also, they're just overpriced cheap Volkswagons.

Yeah.......

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 00:27

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Speed doesn't kill.

Suddenly becoming stationary, that's what gets you.

-Clarkson

twinturbobmw > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 12/01/2013 at 00:37

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Despite his character, Clarkson has some great quotes.

Axial > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 00:38

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Well, they aren't wrong on the second point...

...I kid, of course.

Lets Just Drive > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 00:49

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Carrera. Not Careera.

Typo.

Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 00:50

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Don't even get me started. So many stupid people exist in this world I literally cannot comprehend how they all somehow find their way to the internet to let people publicly see how stupid they are. And the worst part is, the people in charge don't seem to be any smarter. Hence 90% of the laws that currently exist.

Ian Duer (320b) > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 01:08

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Actually James dean died in a Porsche DECADES ago... so Ryan Dunn was certainly not the first celebrity to meet their untimely end in one.

Clutchman83 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 02:34

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Well Carrera GT's aren't exactly famous for being particularly forgiving cars. Let's be honest, hooning one on public streets is kind of the automotive equivalent of juggling chainsaws. It's really cool when you pull it off, if you pull it off.

Manuél Ferrari > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 03:25

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Wow. Just wow. Here are some of the stupidest comments from that thread:::::

I'm really not convinced that speed is the only factor in this accident. This is the 3rd lethal accident with a Porsche that I've heard of this year that resulted in the car bursting in flames. In 2011, Ryan Dunn also died in a similar way in a Porsche. I really feel like that the company should do some explaining after this horrible incident.

The OP does have a point. People tend to recklessly drive high-performance sports cars all the time and the anecdotal evidence does seem to show that Porsches lose control and blow up in higher numbers than Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Corvette, etc.

A high-performance sports car should be able to safely handle 130 mph no problem. See the above post and think about why reckless drivers aren't getting blown up in the same way in comparable models.

Yea, I remember that incident, but there was no fire. For some reason, its always the Porsches going up in flames.

Cars are not suppose to burst in flames. I know we see it a lot in movies, but the tank/feul line are suppose to be well protected to take hard impacts.

There are far more Porsches to lose control in than Buggattis, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris.

They can go very very fast and are made of aluminum foil basically. So when they crash at high speed, they crash hard. It's like racing in a wallnut shell.

Manuél Ferrari > Manuél Ferrari 12/01/2013 at 03:32

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Those comments were so absurd it's hard to believe people actually wrote them. To be fair some of the comments were logical so not all were bad. But these ones above were doozies.

Anyone who thinks Ryan Dunn's death was the car's fault needs to be taken out back and shot. You're not going to survive in any car when you drink all night and then crash at over 130MPH.

The last comment about Porsches being "made of aluminum foil basically" was so dumb it's funny.

Manuél Ferrari > Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment 12/01/2013 at 03:38

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They can't be that dumb, they think racing a Porsche is "like racing in a walnut shell"! That makes perfect sense, right?

Yeah people are f'ing stupid. Saying that Porsches kill and should be banned is like saying that accidents are never caused by anything but Porsches. For every fatality that involves a Porsche that was speeding how many fatalities are there from driving while drunk, driving while texting, or driving on auto pilot? There are a lot of catalysts for accidents. We wouldn't be any safer if all cars other than beige mobiles were outlawed. If anything we'd be worse off because everyone would be driving on auto pilot all the time. Not everyone in a Porsche is speeding all the time.

Dumb dumb dumb...

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 03:48

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Meanwhile here in Malaysia some of the more idiotic-why-did-these-pricks-have-to-be-Muslims-they're-making-every-sane-one-look-bad are arguing whether wishing that he rests in peace constitutes heresy. Yes, really. So there is no shortage of idiocy going about.

Yes, Porsches are not forgiving cars, and the Carrera GT has a reputation of being just that. But you know what? If something goes wrong in a R34, Supra, RX-7, Charger (Daytona) or 350Z, you have just as much of a chance to wind up dead. Funny how those F&F fan favorites aren't shitting themselves over those either...

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 06:20

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If they think Porsche is bad, think about it this way.

TVR loves building cars, without the extraneous safety equipment, which due to their small size, they can (sometimes) get waivers for. As Clarkson pointed out, their attitude when asked about the lack of this equipment boils down to three words.

"Then don't crash"

As we see, sometimes this is easier said than done.

Sun-Tzubaru - With Zoom-Zoom > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 12/01/2013 at 07:50

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Mr Walker's death was a tragic event .

But since you mentioned guns... If only everyone had a Porsche Carrera, this could have been prevented! Alternatively, We must ban all Porsche Carreras from road use!

I apologize if that was too soon

Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment > Manuél Ferrari 12/01/2013 at 14:25

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Yeah its really insane. I don't even know how people can make such stupid assumptions.

Manuél Ferrari > Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment 12/01/2013 at 14:50

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What's really funny is that I bet a bunch of these people drive a Prius. And I see crazy Prius drivers all the time. I was driving casually yesterday in my sports car and a Prius blew by me, probably going 65 in a 40.

Any driver can be unsafe in any car.

Manuél Ferrari > Clutchman83 12/01/2013 at 14:59

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They probably were hooning pretty hard. It is a famously hard car to drive. I remember the TG episode where the Stig spun it during warm up laps. Driving it way over the speed limits on public roads would be really sketchy, if that's what happened. Police are saying speed was a factor, and it looks to have been from the pics...

Was thinking about it more this morning. Perhaps they turned off traction control to let the car get the tail out. I could see that car being much harder to handle with TC off.

Really sad situation. I'm glad they didn't hit another car or pedestrian. They probably knew the area well and picked a deserted spot to have some fun.

RIP

Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment > Manuél Ferrari 12/01/2013 at 20:31

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So true. Unfortunately nobody seems to think of that.

Manuél Ferrari > Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment 12/01/2013 at 20:51

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And in certain situations underpowered cars can be dangerous. Like when trying to pass an 18 wheeler on a 2 lane highway. I once tried to pass one in my old 318i. The dickhead driver seemed to speed up after I made my move and it was too late to back off. I nearly got hit by oncoming traffic.

And sometimes in day to day driving it helps to have some power as well.

Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment > Manuél Ferrari 12/01/2013 at 23:09

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Haha a 318i can be a scary experience. They are not as fast as they look. And they don't really look too fast.

I definitely appreciate every one of the horsepowers the cars I drive daily have, especially since they don't have much. Hopefully my situation changes soon and I'll have more than just an adequate amount.

Manuél Ferrari > Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment 12/01/2013 at 23:12

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The crazy thing about it was that it made me a more dangerous driver because of the lack of HP. The car took so long to accelerate that I never wanted to slow down. So I took turns as fast as possible at all times to lose as little momentum as possible, haha

I was a teenager at the time. That experience has made me rethink whether it's wise for parents to give their children underpowered cars to keep them from speeding. Maybe it is, but only if the car doesn't handle like it's on rails. That thing could seriously handle...