[CSX 4039]

ALL cars are unsafe. Something like 50,000+ people a year die in cars. Some are more unsafe than others. As a physician I have seen severe injury and death in every mode of transportation imaginable, from skate boards to motorcycles to 18 wheelers to military armoured personel carriers. We have ALL driven our Cobras over the speed limit, especially with an out-of-town visitor on board for the first time. Something horrible happened in this event (something always does), either mechanical failure or driver error, or "act of God" (animal in the road). If the speed limit allowed school busses loaded with children to legally drive 45 mph, surely an experienced mature adult driver driving a near race car could handle 70 mph without any difficulty under normal conditions. If the speed limit was 45, it was probably pretty open, straight road. I suspect something untoward happened, like mechanical failure, animal in the road, front tire blowout, other distraction, or something else exceptional that could have caused the car to go off the road and cross the center lane at a slower speed, too. I doubt if going 70 in a 45 had much to do with it, other than worsening the damage and shortening the response time. (This does not condone speeding). Heck, I've been demo'd in a Porsche 911 4 wheel drive when the salesman took a 25 mph off ramp at 70 mph. Scared me to death, but the car was designed to be able to do that.
Sincere condolences to all the families involved. Whatever the cause, great suffering has been created. God be with you.