Death in the fast lane

You remember the accident from last November in which movie actor Paul Walker and his buddy Roger Rodas were killed, I'm sure.  Walker was the handsome dude from those "Fast and Furious" movies, which made driving around on public streets at speeds normally reserved for jets in the sky above just seem like a heckuva lot of fun.

Walker and Rodas would be the first to tell you that the 35-mph street sign down on Wistful Vista La is there for a good reason. They would be, but they can't, because they were going over 100 mph on a city street in Santa Clarita, California when they lost control of their Porsche on the final afternoon of both of their lives.  

Some time ago, I purchased a sledge hammer at a hardware store so that I could go around hammering sledges as needed. There is a little tiny decal on the shaft of that hammer that advises me not to hit myself with the hammer lest bodily injury occur.  Just the same way, I'm certain there is a caveat printed the owner's manual of the Porsche automobile advising against the practice of driving 100 mph down Main Street.

And yet...according to CNN: 

Roger Rodas' (sic) widow is suing Porsche for the fatal accident that claimed the lives of her race car driver husband and actor Paul Walker. Kristine Rodas filed the suit against Porsche Cars North America, citing negligence as the cause of death of her husband and the 40-year-old "Fast and the Furious" star on November 30 in Santa Clarita, California. Backed by celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, she is also suing for product liability and wrongful death.

The court documents filed by Kristine Rodas describe the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT that her husband was driving as a an "ultra-high-performance-super-sports car for the road," that goes from zero to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and has a top speed of 205 miles per hour. The complaint argues that such a high-powered sports car should have a higher standard of crash protection, and that a mechanical malfunction forced Rodas to veer off the road.

So, you get in a car that can go 205 and you only get it up to 100 before you lose control in a 35 zone before you crack it up.  This is clearly the fault of:  a) the carmaker  b) the car driver  c) Kim Kardashian.

Sorry as I am for the survivors of those two foolish young men, their deaths are not the responsibility of the car company that made the car any more than Gillette is to blame for the nicks on my neck I got from shaving too fast.