This past Sunday, near the Mission Bay beaches of San Diego, CA, a fellow Corvette enthusiast was involved in a street racing accident which resulted in the demise of the driver, and severe injury of their passenger. The Corvette was racing a black Mercedes, and while it is believed there was no contact between the two vehicles, the incident is being treated as a hit-and-run due to the Mercedes leaving the scene of the accident they were involved with.
As reported by NBC San Diego, the road on which the incident took place, Sea World Drive, was closed from about 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM so that officers could conduct the investigation. The C5 Corvette struck a tree, killing the driver instantly while the female passenger reportedly had to be transferred to a trauma unit with serious injuries.
As a San Diego native, I can tell you that this beach area sees a large amount of traffic, especially during those seasonal hot weekends. While the driver was putting themselves and passenger, along with the occupants of the participating car at risk; they were also endangering the lives of all of those around them. At this time of day, there would have been countless people headed home from a day at the beach who could have been injured as well… luckily, this was not the case, making an already tragic story worse.
While we love to relish in the performance of our Corvettes, it is important to remember that any racing should be reserved for a closed course, controlled environment with proper safety measures in place. Driving in a “spirited manner” can be hazardous, especially in a car with the power a Corvette can harness.
At Corvette Online, our thoughts go out to both the families of the driver and passenger and we hope the passenger makes a full recovery.