Blames "road defect" for accident...
Thank God he wasn’t at fault! Of course I blame Bush....
/s
We take our street speedin’ here in Georgia seriously!
Most of the time whens the road crews thank sumbody gonna be racin on a street, they takes a grinder wheel and digs out a place for the speed dots to sit in all flush with the road and such....
I thought that too. They were speeding, but the blame will be placed on those raised dots in the road, the dots which at appropriate speeds warn drivers that they are veering out of their lane? Really?
Even worse than road bumps are pets, pedestrians, and cyclists. You hit them going 90 and watch out!
Inventor of Botts’ Dots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbert_Dysart_Botts
Dr. Elbert Dysart Botts (January 2, 1893 – April 10, 1962) was the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) engineer credited with overseeing the research that led to the development of Botts’ dots and possibly the epoxy used to attach them to the road.
Botts was born in Missouri in 1893 and was a professor of chemistry[1] at San Jose State College when he was recruited to Caltrans.[2]
He is credited with leading the division of the Caltrans research laboratory (Translab) that conducted the initial research into identifying the best shapes and materials for raised pavement markers.[3] Much of the necessary field research was conducted by his team on a new freeway in West Sacramento in the spring of 1955.[4] Although the initial goal was to improve lane visibility, it was at this point that the tactile feedback provided by the dots was discovered.[5]
At Caltrans, Botts dots were developed as a way to address the problem of paint disappearing when under water.[1]
Botts never lived to see the success of his research. He died in April 1962 and his work on the dots was filed away; it was not even mentioned in his obituary in Translab’s internal newsletter.[4] Two years later, his research was rediscovered when his division, now under the direction of Herbert Rooney, decided to conduct further research into raised pavement markers. At this time, Translab developed the modern pattern of interspersing plastic square reflectors between groups of four round polyester or epoxy dots. This pattern was first tested along Interstate 80 near Vacaville in 1965. To minimize the risk that dots would become coated with rubber scraped off tires, Translab switched to ceramic round markers in 1966.
Anybody who drives that fast on surface streets is guilty, IMO, of reckless endangerment of everybody else.
Very nearly the ultimate in selfishness, regardless of how often such behavior is glorified in entertainment.
People regularly drive 85-90 mph on I5 here in NorCal with the “dots” as lane markers. I don’t see them swerving out of control when they change lanes over the “dots”.
Which is probably why they set the speed limit a whole lot lower than 90 MPH.
Hey!
Those are there for blind drivers!
Don't be prejudice!
What happened to the reflectors on the interstates in FL? When I was a kid and went on family trips down I-95 to FL during the 70s/80s I got excited when I started to hear the noise of the car going over the reflectors knowing we were finally in FL. I went back to FL for the first time in 20 years in 2010 and the reflectors were not there anymore.
It wasn’t the road bumps; it was those trees that jumped out into the street.
Hate to break it to you Walker family. It was the driver going 90 on an idustrial street that killed Paul.
Those lil road bumps are dangerous.
They have affected my cars as well, albeit at lower speeds.
I am VERY sorry that Paul Walker is no longer amongst us but this is a”Bridge Too Far”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since we don’t have Snow Plows in Southern California, Bots Dots weren’t a big problem, until now.
Well, I guess if we can just save one Child’s life by getting rid of them...
First I heard that the Power Steering Pump was leaking and could have failed, so it accident was either the fault of a Repair Shop or Porsche. Now let’s blame the Bots Dots. Next they will blame the Tree.
The Driver was at fault, PERIOD.
He killed himself and his friend, PERIOD.
20+ years ago a neighbor of mine was and inventor by trade and told me his mentor patented the angular road reflector (not the round ones) and got a penny for everyone sold.
That’s my Facebook quality post for the day.
If you read around, the industrial park appears to be a mini F1 track on the weekends. Lets say the accident report comes back to just a loss of control by the driver. Blaming just Bott's dots for hydroplaning seems a little far fetched to me. I would vote the driver ran over a patch of something that caused the loss of control. That something might be marbles from previous racing or something accidentally got spilled on the road like loose gravel or water. Google map shows a major housing subdivision under development just to the northeast of the accident site. If wind blew enough dirt and grime onto the roadway, that might have been enough as well.