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"The Accord, a favourite of street racers, had illegal blue tail lights and the front tires had been spun so much in the past that they were bald."
From today's Toronto Star.
Race on QEW ends in death 3 cars travelling 200 km/h (120 mph), police say Victim, 22, thrown 15 metres in air
A 22-year-old Seneca College student was killed early yesterday in a 200 km/h street race involving three cars on the QEW in Oakville.
Saleem Scott was one of five people in a Honda Accord that spun out of control, flipped over several times and landed 80 metres away from the highway around 4:45 a.m. Scott, who was in the backseat and was not wearing a seatbelt, was catapulted about 15 metres through the air. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
The two other racing cars continued eastbound on the QEW without stopping.
The three other passengers in the Honda received minor injuries and the driver was not hurt. The driver and front-seat passenger were the only ones wearing seatbelts.
The crash was the second fatal street-racing accident in the Toronto area in a week.
In all, three lives have been lost.
"It was absolutely wild and reckless driving," said Sergeant Cam Woolley of the Ontario Provincial Police. "There were vehicles all over the road, cutting each other off, slaloming all across the road."
The three cars had been racing eastbound on the Queen Elizabeth Way from at least Burlington when the 23-year-old male driver lost control of the silver, four-door Honda, witnesses told police. The car landed in a ditch at the Trafalgar Rd. exit, rolled over the on-ramp and into another deep ditch, coming to a stop in the long reeds in the middle of the cloverleaf, Woolley said.
Scott was taken to Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Charges have not yet been laid.
Yesterday afternoon, Scott's family and friends quietly gathered in the garden of the Downsview housing complex on Driftwood Ave. where he lived with his aunt, Rose Duncan, since moving from Jamaica four years ago.
"Five in the car and everybody else walked out, except for Saleem," said Michelle Young, Scott's 32-year-old cousin. "We're so stunned."
Scott had graduated from Downsview High School and wastraining at Seneca College to be a flight attendant.
He also worked as a salesperson at a Stitches clothing outlet in the nearby Jane Finch Mall, where he was very well liked.
"He was a friend to everybody," said Grace Longo who works at Cucina Bella, across from Stitches. "The guy was smiling 24/7."
Upon hearing of her son's death, Scott's mother, Carol Foster, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had a seizure and was admitted to hospital, family members said. She is expected to travel to Toronto for her son's funeral, which has not yet been arranged.
Scott's father, Gregory, who said he spoke to the driver yesterday morning at the hospital, believes that the car lost control because of a swerving trailer driving beside it and that the crash was purely an accident.
"My son is not stupid to be in a vehicle that is going that fast," he said. "I know he doesn't like speeding, straight up."
But Woolley said police were certain the crash was the result of a race. "We don't think about this as an accident. It's predictable and it's preventable," Woolley said. "This was like the poster car for street racing."
The Accord, a favourite of street racers, had illegal blue tail lights and the front tires had been spun so much in the past that they were bald.
Yesterday's crash comes a week after two young men were killed when a Honda Civic hit a tree at the corner of Parliament and Adelaide Sts. The car, in which the two were passengers, had been racing at speeds of approximately 100 km/h, police said.
Street racing in and around Toronto has been a summer problem for decades, Woolley said. While some races — especially short drag races — are organized in advance using cell phones and Internet message boards, others, like perhaps the highway race early yesterday, are more impromptu.
Since June, 2001, more than 25 people have been killed in street races in Ontario. "It's that old problem of trying to convince young people that bad things can happen to them," Woolley said.
"Enforcement isn't going to solve this. The police can't be at every place all the time."
On Thursday, nine Toronto-area police forces launched "Operation ERASE," a program aimed at street racing across the region.
"We're trying to influence people to make street racing socially unacceptable," Woolley said.
Police estimate that there are more than 20,000 street racers in the Toronto area alone.
Posts: 2359 | From: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
That is very sad. The worst part was he was a passenger (not wearing a seatbelt for some stupid reason). The life that should have been lost is the drivers if it was in fact street racing. I haven't had to race ANYONE on a public road for many years. But then again I did sign that petition that the F-bodfather (I think) sent around pledging to race in a sanctioned and safe environment.
Posts: 1031 | From: Germantown, MD USA | Registered: Feb 2000
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1998 SS - Black All Options - Mods Whisper Lid, K & N, Lou's Short Stick, Shift Light, Skip Shift, SLP Y, Borla, 4:10's, BMR STB, SLP SFCs, Granatelli MAF, Hypertech III, 160 Stat, Mallory Billet Pedals, Metco Aluminum LCAs,Fast Toys Ram Air Mod, Spohn Panhard Bar, BMR Torque Arm, free EGR mod,power antenna, BMR LCA brackets, Gentex Temp/Compass Auto Dim Mirror, AllMaxx Strobe and Wig Wag, BAER Eradispeed rotors,PPC Headers with Random Technology Hi Flow Cats, BMR Drive shaft Loop,FAST 78MM Throttle Body, FAST 78MM Composite Intake, Mobil 1 & lots of Zaino.
Wife & Best Friend Mary - copilot. Posts: 5558 | From: Windsor, Ontario. Canada | Registered: Feb 2000
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Fbodfather
They don't make songs about Volvos.
Member # 1119
posted
when will people learn.
Take it to the track.
For whatever reason, some people believe you don't need a safety belt in the back seat. Here's one more sad piece of evidence........
-------------------- Posts: 749 | From: Detroit | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by JohnS: Street racing in and around Toronto has been a summer problem for decades, Woolley said. While some races — especially short drag races — are organized in advance using cell phones and Internet message boards, others, like perhaps the highway race early yesterday, are more impromptu.
I grew up in TO and know all about this firsthand in the 90's and early 80's. The young crowd are using import cars now cuz the insurance for cars like what we own is atronomical now. 8 of us had a cruise to Toronto this past weekend and we kept our Fbodies at resonable speeds on the 401 and kept in the center or right lanes. Still a lot of cars passed us. We had a great show and the cruise back was just as much fun. I'm glad I'm supporting a new fbody club that wants to keep the racing to the track and we don't allow any posts of fast driving or street racing on the boards. We have a good group and hope it will continue to grow and be recognized in our community as a law abiding car enthusiasts group and not a hoodlum car gang.
BTW John, Good to see you at Sonny's on Saturday. Next time bring the real car!
quote:Originally posted by JohnS: Street racing in and around Toronto has been a summer problem for decades, Woolley said. While some races — especially short drag races — are organized in advance using cell phones and Internet message boards, others, like perhaps the highway race early yesterday, are more impromptu.
I grew up in TO and know all about this firsthand in the 90's and early 80's. The young crowd are using import cars now cuz the insurance for cars like what we own is atronomical now. 8 of us had a cruise to Toronto this past weekend and we kept our Fbodies at resonable speeds on the 401 and kept in the center or right lanes. Still a lot of cars passed us. We had a great show and the cruise back was just as much fun. I'm glad I'm supporting a new fbody club that wants to keep the racing to the track and we don't allow any posts of fast driving or street racing on the boards. We have a good group and hope it will continue to grow and be recognized in our community as a law abiding car enthusiasts group and not a hoodlum car gang.
BTW John, Good to see you at Sonny's on Saturday. Next time bring the real car!
Boy, it's nice to see an F-body club that is serious about not tolerating street racing. I recently left an F-body club becasue the club and its members were not serious about not tolerating street racing even though such a stance is written into the club by-laws.
Posts: 383 | From: Oakville, Ontario Canada | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Bill Mason: Boy, it's nice to see an F-body club that is serious about not tolerating street racing. I recently left an F-body club becasue the club and its members were not serious about not tolerating street racing even though such a stance is written into the club by-laws.
We are not a formally organized club with presidents and by-laws. We use the net message board like this to promote ideas and suggestions for events and meets. Everyone is free to do this. We plan our stuff, or some events are spur of the moment. So far its working fantastic. We can only ask our members to refrain from such activity and take the racing to the track. We ask they do not do burnouts and race to meets and events. We also ask that they refrian from posting street racing stories on the boards. Such things get deleted. It is our mission to present Kitchener Waterloo as a local Fbody car enthusiast group, that has respect for its community. We don't want to be big, just local. We want everyone who loves their Fbody feel that they can belong to a group of enthusiasts, even though they may have a V6 or a daily driver. It is my hope with my past Fbody experience, (I've had 3 ), I can be a positive influence on the group and make it one of S.Ontario's best respected car organizations that has the respect of other clubs, community and law enforcement. We can only ask that our members police themselves set a good example. Hopefully we will not hear of a member or innocent person getting killed or hurt in sensless racing on the streets.
quote:Originally posted by Bill Mason: Boy, it's nice to see an F-body club that is serious about not tolerating street racing. I recently left an F-body club becasue the club and its members were not serious about not tolerating street racing even though such a stance is written into the club by-laws.
We are not a formally organized club with presidents and by-laws. We use the net message board like this to promote ideas and suggestions for events and meets. Everyone is free to do this. We plan our stuff, or some events are spur of the moment. So far its working fantastic. We can only ask our members to refrain from such activity and take the racing to the track. We ask they do not do burnouts and race to meets and events. We also ask that they refrian from posting street racing stories on the boards. Such things get deleted. It is our mission to present Kitchener Waterloo as a local Fbody car enthusiast group, that has respect for its community. We don't want to be big, just local. We want everyone who loves their Fbody feel that they can belong to a group of enthusiasts, even though they may have a V6 or a daily driver. It is my hope with my past Fbody experience, (I've had 3 ), I can be a positive influence on the group and make it one of S.Ontario's best respected car organizations that has the respect of other clubs, community and law enforcement. We can only ask that our members police themselves set a good example. Hopefully we will not hear of a member or innocent person getting killed or hurt in sensless racing on the streets.
I tip my hat to the K-W F-body guys! I am so heartened to see an F-body club adopt this attitude as a cornerstone of its "raison d'etre", rather than paying "lip service" to it as Bill has described. You hit the nail on the head when you say, "We can only ask that our members police themselves and set a good example." Now ain't that the truth?!? A philosophy like that is only workable as long as its members are prepared to stand by it and live it, instead of hiding behind club bylaws that are in fact, meaningless since they are not enforced, even after obvious transgressions by club members.
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Thanks for the support! The way I see it as far as an organized group goes you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. If you enforce the rules and banish members, then you get looked upon as a Nazi or Communist. If you do nothing you allow a negative view of the group to take hold throughout the community and law enforcement. The only enforcement we have at the current time is on the message board, and believe you me, the Admin there is very quick to enforce! (I'm gonna send him a link to this thread too!} He is right on top of things as far as stuff like this and other issues. Even then he gets accussed of being a dictator. . But outside of the group, there is no enforcement, just guidlines for meets that we are asked to adhere to. Nothing harsh. So far we have a great group and even had a small get together with yours in late April this year which went over real well. I hope both our groups will become good fbod samaritans in our respective communities! And hopefully we both don't have to start enforcing group policies about street racing.
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), I can be a positive influence on the group and make it one of S.Ontario's best respected car organizations that has the respect of other clubs, community and law enforcement. We can only ask that our members police themselves set a good example. Hopefully we will not hear of a member or innocent person getting killed or hurt in sensless racing on the streets.
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(I'm gonna send him a link to this thread too!} He is right on top of things as far as stuff like this and other issues. Even then he gets accussed of being a dictator. 
