5 ms·

This first question that comes to mind is what was he doing driving at 4:30 in the morning. His friends describe him as a "grandma diver" so why was he driving

by wyck 13y ago

This first question that comes to mind is what was he doing driving at 4:30 in the morning. His friends describe him as a "grandma diver" so why was he driving so fast and blowing red lights on a residential street? Did he ever display this type of behaviour before? Another question is.. how does a well made car burst into flames so quickly.

tcdent 13y ago
> how does a well made car burst into flames so quickly? I always wonder about this, it's not like a car fire is anything like hollywood makes it out to be.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Cars can catch fire in real life: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=54e_1333912420 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=54e_1333912420 See also: Ryan Dunn's 911, post-tree. Hollywood may exaggerate the rate at which that happens, but not much more.
  - wavefunction 13y ago
    Ryan Dunn was driving at 130mph when he hit that tree. Not a great example for your position...
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      What makes you think his case sets a lower bound on the speed required to start a fire?
      - fredoliveira 13y ago
        Well, physics.
        fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
        Physicists tend to like to repeat an experiment lots of times before attempting to make conclusions based on empirical observations.
    - JshWright 13y ago
      Given the distance the drive train was tossed in this wreck, I don't think there was any shortage of kinetic energy being dissipated into the vehicle.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  The fact that movies prefer to show a big dramatic explosion in a fictional context does not mean that cars can't catch fire in real life. http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/reports/vehicles.shtm http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/reports/vehicles.shtm
  - coldtea 13y ago
    Sure -- but a small percentage of them does it in a crash. Of course, if you are so inclined (either way), you can explain away any coincidence. We had the "conspiracy theorists", not we have the "coincidence theorists".
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
ekianjo 13y ago
One possibility was that he may have been chased.
- meepmorp 13y ago
  Or that he was paranoid and thought he was being chased.
  - reeses 13y ago
    Or he was surreptitiously exposed to a mind-altering substance that made him paranoid, thinking he was being chased!
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      Or maybe the tree was drunk and traveling too fast.
    - groby_b 13y ago
      Or we're all exposed to mind-altering substances that make us paranoid, making us think he was exposed to drugs, thinking he was chased. It's the contrails, I tell you!
      - reeses 13y ago
        http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Cabin_nose_section_of_747-8I_prototype.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Cabin_nos... Why would they need the little folding umbrella on the plane if they weren't worried about exposure to the chemicals in the black drums? This is why I've asked the orderlies to let me skip recreation hour in the yard!
    - brown9-2 13y ago
      This seems like a really risky way to kill someone. Why bother?
      - 13y ago
mindcrime 13y ago
Another question is.. how does a well made car burst into flames so quickly. There was a lot of discussion about various aspects of how cars behave when they crash, in a previous thread. But, speaking as a former firefighter, the tl/dr; is "cars do sometimes catch fire and burn when they crash". Hollywood style explosions don't normally happen, and car fires resulting from wrecks don't always happen, or even happen terribly often at all in my experience, but they are far from unheard of.
- byeworld 13y ago
  Interesting parallel (I know the events are not equivalent, but still): Here's a report of a Mercedes crashed at Nurburgring by a test driver: http://www.automotto.com/2014-mercedes-benz-sls-amg-black-series-wrecked-nurburgring-test.html http://www.automotto.com/2014-mercedes-benz-sls-amg-black-se... Both the test driver and the passenger walked away unharmed. Do note that this was on the track, where the cars are supposedly driven at much higher speeds than on regular roads.
  - mikeash 13y ago
    People are making a typical statistical error here. It is unlikely for a car to catch fire in an accident, certainly. But it's wrong to take that and conclude that this fire was therefore likely due to foul play. Foul play is still a much less likely explanation for the facts as currently known.
    - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
      When would statistics support a suspicion of foul play? The scarcity of some occurrence isn't proof against it.
      - mikeash 13y ago
        Figure out a prior probability of foul play, figure out the probability of a car bursting into flames on impact, plug the result into Bayes' theorem, and you get the relative likelihoods. No, scarcity isn't proof against, but it is evidence. A lot of people are talking nonstop about the rarity of cars bursting into flames as evidence against that interpretation, while ignoring the even greater rarity of journalists being murdered by the US government.
JshWright 13y ago
> Another question is.. how does a well made car burst into flames so quickly. A fuel line is torn in the crash... a few milliliters of gasoline seep onto the ground, while the heat from the catalytic converter ignites some grass that has gotten a little long. The small amount of gasoline and brush cause a fire that is able to quickly spread through the damaged structure of the car, igniting the carpet, fabric, and seat cushions. Within a minute the fire is well on its way. Within 3 minutes, the car is fully involved. Obviously I don't know what happened in this case, but I've seen the exact scenario described happen more than once (the gas leak was only confirmed in one case, in two other cases, it was just the brush and debris under the car).
mzs 13y ago
The engine was yards away from the car meaning the fuel lines broke, that's how it can happen here.
dubyah 13y ago
In his first book, he said he crashed a Buick while drunk at the age of 19. He also had mentioned in a few columns about being a former addict. He said he'd been sober since (10+ years?), but until there are conclusive results on the toxicology report, it's all really speculative. In either case, yes, he has displayed this type of behaviour before.

by wyck 13y ago

tcdent 13y ago

> how does a well made car burst into flames so quickly? I always wonder about this, it's not like a car fire is anything like hollywood makes it out to be.

jlgreco 13y ago
Cars can catch fire in real life: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=54e_1333912420 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=54e_1333912420 See also: Ryan Dunn's 911, post-tree. Hollywood may exaggerate the rate at which that happens, but not much more.
- wavefunction 13y ago
  Ryan Dunn was driving at 130mph when he hit that tree. Not a great example for your position...
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    What makes you think his case sets a lower bound on the speed required to start a fire?
    - fredoliveira 13y ago
      Well, physics.
      - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
        Physicists tend to like to repeat an experiment lots of times before attempting to make conclusions based on empirical observations.
  - JshWright 13y ago
    Given the distance the drive train was tossed in this wreck, I don't think there was any shortage of kinetic energy being dissipated into the vehicle.
anigbrowl 13y ago
The fact that movies prefer to show a big dramatic explosion in a fictional context does not mean that cars can't catch fire in real life. http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/reports/vehicles.shtm http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/reports/vehicles.shtm
- coldtea 13y ago
  Sure -- but a small percentage of them does it in a crash. Of course, if you are so inclined (either way), you can explain away any coincidence. We had the "conspiracy theorists", not we have the "coincidence theorists".
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

ekianjo 13y ago

One possibility was that he may have been chased.

meepmorp 13y ago
Or that he was paranoid and thought he was being chased.
- reeses 13y ago
  Or he was surreptitiously exposed to a mind-altering substance that made him paranoid, thinking he was being chased!
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    Or maybe the tree was drunk and traveling too fast.
  - groby_b 13y ago
    Or we're all exposed to mind-altering substances that make us paranoid, making us think he was exposed to drugs, thinking he was chased. It's the contrails, I tell you!
    - reeses 13y ago
      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Cabin_nose_section_of_747-8I_prototype.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Cabin_nos... Why would they need the little folding umbrella on the plane if they weren't worried about exposure to the chemicals in the black drums? This is why I've asked the orderlies to let me skip recreation hour in the yard!
  - brown9-2 13y ago
    This seems like a really risky way to kill someone. Why bother?
    - 13y ago

mindcrime 13y ago

Another question is.. how does a well made car burst into flames so quickly. There was a lot of discussion about various aspects of how cars behave when they crash, in a previous thread. But, speaking as a former firefighter, the tl/dr; is "cars do sometimes catch fire and burn when they crash". Hollywood style explosions don't normally happen, and car fires resulting from wrecks don't always happen, or even happen terribly often at all in my experience, but they are far from unheard of.

byeworld 13y ago
Interesting parallel (I know the events are not equivalent, but still): Here's a report of a Mercedes crashed at Nurburgring by a test driver: http://www.automotto.com/2014-mercedes-benz-sls-amg-black-series-wrecked-nurburgring-test.html http://www.automotto.com/2014-mercedes-benz-sls-amg-black-se... Both the test driver and the passenger walked away unharmed. Do note that this was on the track, where the cars are supposedly driven at much higher speeds than on regular roads.
- mikeash 13y ago
  People are making a typical statistical error here. It is unlikely for a car to catch fire in an accident, certainly. But it's wrong to take that and conclude that this fire was therefore likely due to foul play. Foul play is still a much less likely explanation for the facts as currently known.
  - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
    When would statistics support a suspicion of foul play? The scarcity of some occurrence isn't proof against it.
    - mikeash 13y ago
      Figure out a prior probability of foul play, figure out the probability of a car bursting into flames on impact, plug the result into Bayes' theorem, and you get the relative likelihoods. No, scarcity isn't proof against, but it is evidence. A lot of people are talking nonstop about the rarity of cars bursting into flames as evidence against that interpretation, while ignoring the even greater rarity of journalists being murdered by the US government.

JshWright 13y ago

> Another question is.. how does a well made car burst into flames so quickly. A fuel line is torn in the crash... a few milliliters of gasoline seep onto the ground, while the heat from the catalytic converter ignites some grass that has gotten a little long. The small amount of gasoline and brush cause a fire that is able to quickly spread through the damaged structure of the car, igniting the carpet, fabric, and seat cushions. Within a minute the fire is well on its way. Within 3 minutes, the car is fully involved. Obviously I don't know what happened in this case, but I've seen the exact scenario described happen more than once (the gas leak was only confirmed in one case, in two other cases, it was just the brush and debris under the car).

mzs 13y ago

The engine was yards away from the car meaning the fuel lines broke, that's how it can happen here.

dubyah 13y ago

In his first book, he said he crashed a Buick while drunk at the age of 19. He also had mentioned in a few columns about being a former addict. He said he'd been sober since (10+ years?), but until there are conclusive results on the toxicology report, it's all really speculative. In either case, yes, he has displayed this type of behaviour before.