Pretty much anyone who stops and thinks about it knows rental cars are abused pretty harshly. After all, if the vehicle you’re driving isn’t yours and you don’t have to deal with the long term consequences of thrashing on it, what incentive do you have to treat it with care? It shouldn’t be surprising that when people rent performance cars like the C8 Corvette they really push the envelope. Unfortunately for one guy, that involved crossing a double yellow solid line to pass slower traffic, only to wreck out gloriously.
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Thankfully, the Performance Data Recorder embedded into C8 Corvettes was working at the time. That means not only doo we get some sweet dashcam video of what he was doing before the wreck, some performance metrics like speed are listed at the bottom of the video.
Not surprisingly, this guy was speeding big time, doing about 92 mph on the two-lane road. Obviously he was well beyond the speed limit, so a crossover in front of him was going much slower. Rather than wait for a safe spot to pass the other vehicle, this driver just blows right over the double yellow line.
The problem is those double yellow lines are put on roads after careful study and planning. They indicate passing there is overly risky, usually because forward visibility is compromised by something like a bend or elevation change. Ironically, oncoming traffic wasn’t this guy’s downfall. Instead, he just plain loses control as he swerves back into the lane following his illegal passing maneuver, then the C8 Corvette hits a telephone pole, shearing off the front driver’s side wheel.
Yes, this guy is a complete moron. This video also proves not everyone is responsible enough to own or rent a performance car, even if they can afford to.
Also, the guy recorded the aftermath on his phone using the portrait orientation instead of landscape. That really should be outlawed since it’s harder to see much of anything, but it’s honestly not a surprising choice considering.
There’s a guy in the video explaining the wreck and giving his analysis. If you want to just skip straight to the good stuff, start at 1:16.
