Corvette Deaths Spark New Owner Safety Course Discussion
There are some interesting discussions starting to take shape here at Corvette Forum about whether or not there should be a safety course offered for new Corvette owners.
“There ought to be a mandatory training day for new ‘Vette owners on some local track so they can understand the raw power these things have,” posted member Red Racer. “As a ‘Vette driver for over 10 years, I’m still in awe of how much power they have when that right pedal is pushed with authority.”
“If you’re going to drive it like you stole it then you should know how to drive it,” added George’s Vette.
The comments were made in response to a thread titled “Another Newbe Kills Himself With His Corvette,” started by member Lordofwar with a link to a story about a man who died after crashing his 2015 Corvette going 80 mph in a 25 mph zone.
According to the thread, the 44-year-old man who died in the accident, Brian Scott Manning, was actually the manager of a Chevy dealership in Tampa. Apparently, Manning had just shown the car to a friend of Lordofwar’s a few days earlier.
“Just like the 73-year-old guy who klled himself on the first day with his ‘Vette. When you do not respect these super cars this is the result, sad but true,” posted Lordofwar in response, referencing another tragic story we covered here.
Lordofwar’s comment about the Corvette being the “most dangerous car in America,” however, didn’t go over too well.
“Still waiting on you to either refute what I posted the last time you spouted this bs or at least come up with an article that has statistics for Corvettes newer than 1993,” posted member 98Pace. “My bet is you can’t do it because it doesn’t exist. Simply put, the Corvette is not the most dangerous car in America.”
I’m inclined to agree with Pace98 that while Corvettes do require drivers to respect the car’s power, saying that they are the most dangerous cars in America is a bit extreme.
Still, I think member Georgia’s ‘Vette probably summed it up best: “Bottom line. If you’re going to drive these cars aggressively and don’t know what the hell you are doing get some training. 2 deaths in the last 7-10 days that I’m aware of involving new Corvette owners. UNACCEPTABLE!”