This, of course, happened in California…
Driving a powerful high-performance sports car certainly is an exhilarating feeling. Unfortunately, for some people it’s so intoxicating they start doing really stupid things behind the wheel while on public roads. Hey, if you want to hot dog it on a track with nobody around, spinning out and flipping your Corvette, by all means go for it. But a guy in California did one worse, using his C8 Corvette like a bowling ball, flipping a truck onto its roof in the process of mangling his mid-engine sports car.
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According to California Highway Patrol, on February 26 at about 12:00 pm officers were called about a two-vehicle collision on Point-Reyes-Petaluma Road in West Marin. When they arrived, officers and other first responders found the C8 Corvette with extensive front-end damage in the same lane as a pickup truck which was flipped onto its roof.
Just looking at the pictures, it seems like this was a head-on collision and the Chevy driver was on the left side of the road. Since the sports car sits so low, it basically scooped the truck up off the road, flipping it.
The CHP investigation concluded that’s somewhat close to what really happened. They say the C8 Corvette was behind several other vehicles as it was traveling in the westbound lane when the driver decided to try passing three slower cars at once. He probably thought his ‘Vette was so fast he could do anything, but he was wrong. All vehicles have limits.
Now, here’s the twist: the truck at the front of the pack had slowed down to turn left into a dirt parking area. The Chevy driver didn’t see the pickup was turning left in time, likely because he was going too fast, and he hit the driver’s side of the truck, flipping it.
We’d love to say everyone walked away with a few cuts and bruises, but that’s not the case. While the C8 Corvette driver only suffered minor injuries, the three people in the pickup were taken to the hospital with minor to moderate injuries. At least nobody was in critical condition, but as police concluded, the whole accident could’ve been avoided had the Chevy driver been more careful. He was cited for an “unsafe driving maneuver.
Some people can’t handle having so much power and precision handling at their command. With great power comes great responsibility, or something like that.
Photos courtesy CHP
