Nasty Accident In Muskegon

[Dave]

Normally I wouldn't post about something that happened in Muskegon, at least something like an accident anyway, but I happened upon the scene when I went down there yesterday. How anyone survived it is beyond me.. before I found the Mlive.com story on the accident I was sure someone had to have died judging by the damage and that there had been a fire. From eyewitness accounts, the driver of the car was speeding at a very high rate of speed, most figuring around 100. It's pretty much amazing that no other cars were involved as Sternberg Road in Muskegon is typically a fairly busy roadway. In checking out the comments section, it turns out the driver of the car has been involved in a accident with the same kind of car about 2 years ago too. It seems the driver of the car is fairly well off and does some good stuff for the city. According to a couple of the comments, because the guy is nice and well off, that it was simply a mistake that he made... to which I of course begged to differ... you don't accidentally drive at a high rate of speed down a busy road because it was a mistake. I mean unless the mistake was that he thought he was on a racetrack maybe? I don't know. Anyway, check out the pics at the end or if you want to see the full size pics, follow the link and you can find the pics there.

Two men injured in fiery Norton Shores single-vehicle crash

Bystanders came to the aid of two men whose car was ripped apart when it struck a power pole on West Sternberg Road at high speed early Sunday afternoon and then burst into flames, according to Norton Shores police and fire officials.

Both vehicle occupants suffered burns and other injuries, officials said, and were transported from the scene by ambulance. Their identities had not been released as of late Sunday afternoon. No information about their conditions was available.

Norton Shores Fire Chief David Purchase said the vehicle involved was a Ford GT, a high-performance car with a rear engine. Police Chief Daniel Shaw said police were told that the car had been eastbound on Sternberg at high speed.

Shaw said a westbound car was attempting to turn left onto a street near the G & L Restaurant when the driver of the speeding car, in trying to avoid an accident, “took an evasive maneuver, slid across the roadway and hit the power pole.” The pole was near the entrance to an Exxon service station, just west of U.S. 31.

The driver was able to get himself out of the wreckage. Three men pulled the trapped passenger from the burning vehicle, police and fire officials said.

The rescuers were identified by officials as off-duty, part-time Norton Shores firefighter Jason Burghuis, Cory Bleeker, 21, of Cedar Springs, and Michael Swenor, 28, of Norton Shores.

Bleeker said he was driving east on Sternberg. He said he heard the speeding car approaching from behind. “It went past me and the car that was turning into the (road near) the G & L stopped in the turn lane,” he said.

Purchase said Burghuis was able to unbuckle the seat belt. The victim’s legs were tangled up, Purchase said, but the men were able to pull him out and drag him away from the car.

Bleeker said both men were conscious and “it wasn’t long before it (the entire car) was engulfed in flames.”

The downed power pole knocked out power in the area. An accident reconstructionist was requested following the accident, which will remain under investigation.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/09/two_men_injure...

[Sweater Cows!]

look at "high end cars" that are up for insurance auctions, most from CA,TX Ect...But  people get these 'supercars' and think they can drive them, most we see for sale end up having a few thousand miles on them at the most and usually look like they spun in a circle and hit every side of the car, course, if I could afford one I can't say i wouldn't go out and use it to the best of its ability, but I do believe I would keep that within my ability.

[Sweater Cows!]

OMG, I want one, so bad...............but  where did the 100mph thing come from? I at first thought he wiped out on the expressway, but that is an odd place on sternberg to be going 100???

[Dave]

The 100 mph at this point is just an estimate at this point by someone that was passed as he was trying to enter the road way... believe it was one of the people that helped pull the passenger from the vehicle. Even if he wasn't going 100 mph, I think its safe to say from amount of damage that he was probably going in that neighborhood.

[XLFD]

Cheers to the three rescuers who likely saved the occupants of that missile of madness before it went aflame.

If this is the guys second accident under such unsafe driving practices, I don't care if he's the nicest or richest guy in the world, he should lose his driving privileges-- and should hire Dave's mother as his chauffeur.  She's a good driver and never tops 50 mph even on the expressway.  Not to mention, her chocolate chip cookies are like butter.

Never met her though, I'm just going on a whim, and by how Dave turned out.

[AQUAMAN]

That Ford GT is a very expensive car indeed, and it tops out at over 200mph from the specs. I heard. A recreation of the same car from the late 1960's Ford racing teams. Cost is over $200K closer to $240K too, and now discontinued. Guy from Ludville bought one about 3-4 years ago, just for kicks, but he doesn't drive it, he has a chauffeur too, same for his helicopter. Yeah, how this guy has any drivers license with this kind of record bespeaks of how the machinery in Lansing works, most money wins I do guess. Lucky no one was killed for sure. I wonder how much his deductible was? Deduct for good sense and brains is what I think.