[EJ257]

Bethlehem police ID crash victim - Times Union

Thomas G. Brown, 20, was traveling north in a Subaru WRX sports sedan on Bender Lane in the area of Stonewall Lane in Delmar when he lost control of the vehicle, left the road and hit several trees just before 3:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.

Responding members of the Bethlehem Police Department, Elsmere Fire Department and Delmar-Bethlehem EMS, were able to quickly remove Brown, the car's only occupant, from the wreck.

He was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital by Delmar-Bethlehem EMS and Albany County Paramedics, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Speed is confirmed to be a contributing factor in the crash and the investigation is continuing, police said.

I happened across this story from another moderator on here via FB. Upon learning it was a NY crash, the silver/purple combo made me think about a vehicle I've seen driving around town. I checked my local paper, and as it turns out, it was that car...


We all have these cars because we like to drive, and we like to drive spiritedly. While our cars do well in crash test scenarios, they are not invincible. Be safe out there, everyone...

 

[Sasquatch]

:eek3:

Was that rescue work or impact?

 

[EJ257]

:eek3:

Was that rescue work or impact?

I don't have details outside of the story I linked to.

 

[Sasquatch]

Either way, a really bad scene.

To go at 20 ... tragic.

 

[EJ257]

To go at 20 ... tragic.

Yup.

I got my Subaru at 20. Makes me think...

 

[XJman]

Yeah man, that's not a unique story and it's always sad. There was a guy I went to school with as a kid who was tearing down route 8 here in northern KY in his car got airborne and hit a pole. He survived his best friend did not.

Just after highschool a kid that graduated a year before me rolled his Jeep off the road on a bend into a creek, nobody could see it until the home owner on the property got home and saw it from their house. The guy was alive at that moment but died later of the injuries.

It's not a joke man, fast cars and young kids never add up to a constructive finish when they are cut free to be on the public roads. I feel for that person's family, this type of story is what should be collected and shared to the young guys who are "17 and gonna buy a WRX"

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[Sasquatch]

At 20 I was stoned a lot of the time. Made me not want to go fast as I remember. Always mellow and relaxed ...

Corrected ^^

 

[EJ257]

Yeah man, that's not a unique story and it's always sad.
...
I feel for that person's family, this type of story is what should be collected and shared to the young guys who are "17 and gonna buy a WRX"

Agreed.

 

[RayfieldsWRX]

I drove way too fast, and took too many chances from age 16 to about 20. A couple of really close calls, and perhaps further development of my frontal lobe (supposed to really start getting wired up, as you become an adult) made me slow down and reconsider. I was in a '70 VW Beetle, for pete's sake. I would have been squashed into dust in any kind of serious accident. My Impala, which I totaled at 17, well, I was lucky in that one.

 

[EJ257]

I drove way too fast, and took too many chances from age 16 to about 20. A couple of really close calls, and perhaps further development of my frontal lobe (supposed to really start getting wired up, as you become an adult) made me slow down and reconsider. I was in a '70 VW Beetle, for pete's sake. I would have been squashed into dust in any kind of serious accident. My Impala, which I totaled at 17, well, I was lucky in that one.

I didn't get my license until I was nearly 18 (I had to have two winters under my belt with a permit before I could get my license). It was a point of contention with my parents growing up, but looking back, I was better off than my classmates who got their permits in April and had their license three months later. I went to McDonalds with one at lunch, and he went off the road and hit a snowbank. He had never driven in snow before (it was the first snow of the season).

I've never been in an accident that has totaled the vehicle I was in; driver or passenger.

12 years / ~250K miles behind the wheel, my only "at-fault" accidents were when I hit my neighbors mailbox (swerved to avoid hitting a turkey, caught gravel shoulder, and couldn't get back on tarmac in time) and when I accidentally backed into an Evo after I spent 15 hours wrenching on cars (between the tint, his blue car, and how exhausted I was, I just didn't see him when I went to make the turn).

I've been lucky. None of my stupid decisions behind the wheel (I've made a few, believe it or not) have ever resulted in an accident.

 

[RayfieldsWRX]

That's what he gets for driving an Evo, lol!

Yeah, I believe that first one, age 17, where I rear-ended a Ford Granada at 45mph, because I turned in my seat to watch a mid-60's GTO go by, remains my one and only at-fault. The way was clear, I got distracted, she pulled out in front of me, but the fact remains that I probably could have prevented the accident, if I had been on the job. That was a bad day.

 

[EJ257]

That's what he gets for driving an Evo, lol!

To a Subaru meet, no less...

 

[Firefighterjake]

RE: The wreckage question: Just my personal opinion . . . from the looks of the wreckage there looks to be some pretty clean break offs in the metal which makes me suspect this may have been the work of the fire department since I have rarely seen cars shear in two like this. That said, I am perplexed as to the distance of the rear end of the car from what appears to be the front end in the trees . . . unless (and I see cables or wiring) a wrecker or winch was used to pull the back end apart from the front end.

My own story . . . shortly after I became a volunteer firefighter I responded to a call of an overturned Jeep Wrangler on fire with one occupant pinned. When I arrived we found one other patient wandering around in the field . . . the driver however was in fact pinned when the Jeep caught on fire. First due firefighters and bystanders said they arrived to see the Jeep fully involved and the driver screaming for help, but without the engine they were pretty much helpless to do anything, although several said they tried to approach the burning car to no avail. I was "lucky" enough to help the funeral home move the charred body into the body bag.

At the time I also owned a Jeep Wrangler. Since the college students were not wearing seatbelts (as verified by the passenger who had been ejected) I made a point to always wear seatbelts ever since that day . . . not that seatbelts are an end-all, be-all, but 8 times out of 10 when I've been to a bad crash where someone has been seriously hurt or died they were not wearing seatbelts.

 

[ProZach626]

Scary stuff to think back at some of the idiotic driving I've done, especially in my younger years. I remember beaming through the Missouri Ozark roads way too fast in my 03 Sentra Spec V. I was too young and too dumb to be driving any performance oriented car, even one that slow. Each car I've owned has gotten a little faster and ironically, I've driven each one a little slower than the last.

 

[XJman]

Yeah I remember having my Lebaron gtc burning down a county road going to big bone lick, i had myself, my brother, And my best friend in the car and I can't recall one time I let up. Speedo was pegged, and the road wasn't friendly. I had my license less than a month at that point.

I remember hitting the brakes to slow down to turn into the park and they only slowed me down for a few seconds, first taste of brake fade and had no fear of it I just cut the corner hard.

Kids do dumb things, a lot of the time it can end badly for everyone around them.

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[SD_GR]

It turns out that if the suspension towers aren't reinforced in an X1/9 and the car yumps, you may be able to see the ground through the towers because the metal will separate. I suppose you could use a little Abarth scorpion emblem to cover the gap afterwards.

 

[RayfieldsWRX]

LOL, one of my cousins had a terrible accident in an X1/9. It's been 35 years or so, so I don't remember the circumstances. That said, I always loved those quirky little sports cars, for some reason.

 

[mycologist]

Sad story.

I did a lot of driving spiritedly but was never a top speed seeker. Probably the stupidest **** I did when I was young was how aggressively I would approach driving in traffic on the highway. I stuffed it in a snow bank or two, hit some curbs in the snow, did a 360 once on a two lane backcountry road when I hit a snow drift in the middle of the road, but stayed in the road and was able to continue driving. That one I thought everyone slept through but one friend complimented me later when we got to the hotel. I've hit some critters and had one fender bender that wasn't really my fault. Oh and I lowsided my bike in the ice last year - that could have been much worse.

In other news it is so windy out my car alarm just gave the warning "step away" pre-alarm beeps from rocking around and no one is near it. Even on RCEs lol.

 

[AltairRules]

I just go fast on my well known roads that I travel on daily. But they're back roads, in the country, relatively flat and straight or with gentle hills and no traffic. I've been driving the same roads since I was about 12 years old on a three wheeler

 

[XJman]

I just go fast on my well known roads that I travel on daily. But they're back roads, in the country, relatively flat and straight or with gentle hills and no traffic. I've been driving the same roads since I was about 12 years old on a three wheeler

Those are the most dangerous roads. The ones you know best are the ones you get too comfortable.

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