Highway 1 fatality

Tesla Driver Fatality - Interesting how news portrays story because it is a Tesla

Tesla driver found dead after crash off Highway 1 in Sonoma County - San Jose Mercury News
Marin County driver who died in crash off | The Press Democrat


I am sure there have been other fatalities. RIP to the driver. I am posting this because it is interesting how the news portrayed the accident. One referred to the driver as a "Tesla Driver" and another article referred to the car going over the cliff specifically as "an electric car." In Hillary speak, I would say, what difference does it make if the car is electric or not? There are also some pictures of a pretty destroyed vehicle. Aside from the Tesla that was stolen, this is the only other fatality that I recall.

As a commenter mentioned, had this been a Buick, would they have referred to him as a Buick Driver?

well, it is a tesla halo effect. the brand is perhaps stronger in media circles?

Crash but no burn . . .
--

No, they would not have used the term Buick Driver. However, had it been appropriate, I do believe they also would have used the terms "Veyron Driver" or "Rolls Royce Driver" or "Duesenberg Driver".

There are reports of a similar (but unrelated) incident on Sunday, in the same area. In that case they were fleeing from a Park Ranger - no mention of the vehicle brand at all.

Hwy 1 was the source of another Tesla-caused fatality early in the production run (to a cyclist, IIRC). Sad stuff. Careful on the 1, guys.

Sad to hear that. Almost 2 1/2 years before the first Tesla Model S fatality, but as you say, nobody survives that in any vehicle. Must've been a terrifying plunge.

Small pic of the MS, condolences to the family.

That car got smashed up good, sorry to hear the driver didn't survive.
At least no fire...

While irrelevant to the story, as AudubonB mentions it's probably because the car is relatively rare (although maybe not in CA).

Bearman said:

That car got smashed up good, sorry to hear the driver didn't survive.
At least no fire...

Click to expand...

+ only a driver, no family or others involved. sad, mangled car, wow...don't do that

Glad it wasn't the man from Marin w/ a red S that I met in Folsom on Friday, phew

It's not really a question of how mangled the car was. If it didn't get mangled at all, the person's body would have hit with the same force that mangled the car. Even if seat belts held the person in place, the internal organs would have moved with the same force that destroyed the car. The only way to prevent a death would have been with controlled deceleration. It's not clear how much of that 400+ plunge was straight down, how much of it was the car sliding down, and how much of it was tumbling down. Short of a slow slide down, it wouldn't matter what car it was unless it fell on something closer to a three story tall air bag rather than a passenger one. Mangling meant that the car absorbed some of the forces. Without knowing the path that the car took on the way down, it's impossible to conclude that it wasn't survivable, but it certainly seems that way.

<shrug> First Tesla fatality without a high-speed chase. Seems notable to me.

RichardL said:

There are reports of a similar (but unrelated) incident on Sunday, in the same area. In that case they were fleeing from a Park Ranger - no mention of the vehicle brand at all.

Click to expand...

Press democrat mentions ford ranger pickup

efusco said:

Sad to hear that. Almost 2 1/2 years before the first Tesla Model S fatality, but as you say, nobody survives that in any vehicle. Must've been a terrifying plunge.

Click to expand...

Well, to be fair that actually happened quite awhile back. This would be the first time we're aware of that a Model S couldn't protect its owner, though. The previous fatality was after the car was stolen and crashed while on a joyride, though there were conflicting reports about whether or not that driver was wearing a seatbelt.

You put details in a story that are interesting or unusual. Otherwise the headline would just boil down to "man dies," or even, "person does stuff."

Teslas are rare, thus the fact that he drove a Tesla is interesting. No, it didn't cause his death, but it's still interesting and unusual. No, they probably wouldn't say "Ford driver," but that's because Fords are common and that fact would not be interesting.

You folks freaking out over "Tesla" in the headline sound like paranoids....

Wow, just drove my P85 down that stretch a couple weeks ago. It is a very beautiful area, but a very unforgiving drive. I made sure I was totally focused on the road, and did not drive it aggressively at all. I remember actually thinking to myself that going over the side there was one way not to survive in a Tesla. Very sad.

It is interesting to note, from the photo above, that the B-pillars seemed not to have collapsed, at least. It looks like the A-pillars might have bent though. From the look of it, the car did tumble, and did not just slide. There are some very vertical drops along there.

Concerning survivability: Formula One drivers survive 100+ MPH impacts all the time these days, but they are strapped in so tight they can barely breathe, and wearing the best helmets and HANS. They are also young and extremely trim and fit. A 65 year-old, even if he worked out, was no match for those forces.

Gizmotoy said:

Well, to be fair that actually happened quite awhile back. This would be the first time we're aware of that a Model S couldn't protect its owner, though. The previous fatality was after the car was stolen and crashed while on a joyride, though there were conflicting reports about whether or not that driver was wearing a seatbelt.

Click to expand...

Given the body-sized hole in the windshield, we can safely assume he was not wearing a seatbelt in that accident. So the car couldn't really protect its "stealer" in that case either.