Tesla goes over cliff-pacific-coast-highway-California-miracle survivors

[SageBrush]

Clearly, someone or something, a higher power or something, was not ready to carry out his plan.

Why invoke voodoo when superior Tesla engineering is in front of your face ?
I'd be more impressed with your views if you jumped off a cliff to find out what the plan is for you. Surely you have absolute trust in that personal higher power you believe in ?

 

[SmokyPeat]

Is being poor such a bad thing that people would rather die? Strange considering most poor people today live like kings of yesterdays.. I guess when someone becomes emotionally, all rational thought goes out the window.

Rational thought wasn't the only thing that went out the window when the stock market crashed in 1929. Stranger things have happened.

 

[SMAlset]

Electrek today has an article on this with comments from the husband’s employer. He is a physician there in Southern California. That was a shock to me for some reason.

Tesla driver intentionally drove car off a cliff with family, but everyone miraculously survived

A Tesla driver intentionally drove his car off a 250-foot cliff in California with his family inside, according to the...

electrek.co

The article reports that one of the rescue team said after this he is considering buying one. I can see why. A few years back one of our TMC members went over a roadway here in the East Bay and down a steep grade, flipping over, crashing through shrubbery and trees until he and his passenger came to rest near a tree upside down. Think his decent was around 60 feet? but far cry from the terrain at Devil’s slide, but still similar in many respects. They were buckled in, managed to get out of the car with some bruising and soreness and cuts from climbing through the brush but otherwise were okay. We already had our MS and were impressed at how well the car and passengers came out from that. This Devil’s Slide incident, all the more impressed by the cars’ body safety construction.

 

[KenC]

So, apparently the radiologist from Pasadena was driving home after the holidays, from SF, visiting his parents' family. That puts them going south. To go over the side, going south and landing where they did, is a virtual impossibility, given the guardrail today.

There are even reports that the car drove thru the overlook parking lot, first, which may imply the driver was looking for a gap in the railing. Either way, to go around the guardrail and drive off, has to be a deliberate act.

The guardrail looks very new:

You can tell exactly where the rescue truck is located. Right where the guardrail bends back and directly above the Tesla in the first image. If the car had been coming from the south, there's a possibility it could have accidentally veered left and into the void, but from the north, it's almost an impossibility without intent.

 

[RayK]

Maybe the in-car navigation told him to turn at the next right?

/joke

edit: A couple of years ago my wife and I walked the Devil's Slide Trail for a bird watching trip, starting from the parking lot north of the tunnels. The group ended up at the south parking lot. I don't remember seeing the guardrails but I do remember the views.

edit2: Found a photo from that trip:

I'd guess and say that the blue arrow is where the Tesla ended up at.

 

[Silicon Desert]

Maybe the in-car navigation told him to turn at the next right?

/joke

Yea I see it is a joke. Latest news is that it is believed he intentionally drove the Tesla off the cliff and may be charged.

 

[Silicon Desert]

When attempting murder by driving off a cliff, don't do it in a Tesla?

Good one. Yes. Use an old Ford Pinto for that and it will be sure to explode

 

[KenC]

Maybe the in-car navigation told him to turn at the next right?

/joke

edit: A couple of years ago my wife and I walked the Devil's Slide Trail for a bird watching trip, starting from the parking lot north of the tunnels. The group ended up at the south parking lot. I don't remember seeing the guardrails but I do remember the views.

edit2: Found a photo from that trip:
View attachment 892288
I'd guess and say that the blue arrow is where the Tesla ended up at.

Ha, close! But it was just after the tunnel exit:

 

[SmokyPeat]

The AMA is not going to be impressed. Probably take license away. They can still call him doc in prison though.

 

[Mr. Jim]

The driver has been busted for attempted murder. It just adds to the weirdness.

 

[LA100]

driver decided to take the whole family to the next life together and God (via Tesla engineering?) decided otherwise. Prayers for the family

 

[SMAlset]

People Magazine had this article on him.

Father Who Drove Tesla Off Calif. Cliff Is a Radiologist; Passengers in Car Were Wife and 2 Kids

Dharmesh A. Patel, 40, was arrested after Monday's crash, which everyone in the vehicle miraculously survived

people.com

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Wow. Encouraging and disappointing at the same time. I can't help but wonder if the husband may have lost the family's savings in unwise Tesla investments, and became suicidal/homicidal as a result.

My belief is some fraction of human beings have fatalistic moments. Or in other words they're predisposed to having intense emotionally compromised moments.

To me that kind of moment makes more sense than losing money an in investment. If money is the thing it makes more sense to go solo in the hopes the family can get the life insurance moment. There is a saving face kind of aspect to that.

Instead it seems to be a spur of the moment brought on by an argument like being told she was leaving him or something to that level.

The kind of "if I can't have X then no one can have X" mentality. One would think the kids being in the car would have stopped him, but people get so blindsided by emotions that they don't grasp the reality of what they're doing.

I think its hard for humans to grasp how inhuman we can be. There is a safety element in convincing ourselves that it was a freak occurrence, but sadly the freak occurrence was likely all of them surviving. There is only so far Engineering can go in defeating physics, and the rest is up to luck. Whether that luck is defined as luck or intervention from a higher power.

 

[SmokyPeat]

My belief is some fraction of human beings have fatalistic moments. Or in other words they're predisposed to having intense emotionally compromised moments.

To me that kind of moment makes more sense than losing money an in investment. If money is the thing it makes more sense to go solo in the hopes the family can get the life insurance moment. There is a saving face kind of aspect to that.

Instead it seems to be a spur of the moment brought on by an argument like being told she was leaving him or something to that level.

The kind of "if I can't have X then no one can have X" mentality. One would think the kids being in the car would have stopped him, but people get so blindsided by emotions that they don't grasp the reality of what they're doing.

I think its hard for humans to grasp how inhuman we can be. There is a safety element in convincing ourselves that it was a freak occurrence, but sadly the freak occurrence was likely all of them surviving. There is only so far Engineering can go in defeating physics, and the rest is up to luck. Whether that luck is defined as luck or intervention from a higher power.

Who knows. I'm sure more details will come out eventually. Maybe the wife was threatening to leave him because he lost their life savings in leveraged Tesla investments, lol. Not funny really, but gallows humor has it's place.

 

[ajsa]

A lot of wild speculation on this thread. Innocent until proven guilty, especially with such a grievous charge.

 

[KenC]

A lot of wild speculation on this thread. Innocent until proven guilty, especially with such a grievous charge.

Innocent until proven guilty is just to ensure the perp's civil rights aren't violated and due process is followed. It has zero bearing on a layperson's opinion. They can presume whatever they like.

Based upon the fact that one day after the accident the police arrested the driver, after interviewing people at the crash site, is fairly damning. Just look at what the driver needed to do to drive off the cliff going SOUTH. It's an extreme turn. The odds of doing it accidentally are longer than winning the MegaMillions jackpot.

 

[SmokyPeat]

They arrested the guy for attempted murder. I doubt they did that on just a hunch. The guy was a perverted Tesla owner- accept it.

 

[BitJam]

Innocent until proven guilty is just to ensure the perp's civil rights aren't violated and due process is followed. It has zero bearing on a layperson's opinion. They can presume whatever they like.

Based upon the fact that one day after the accident the police arrested the driver, after interviewing people at the crash site, is fairly damning. Just look at what the driver needed to do to drive off the cliff going SOUTH. It's an extreme turn. The odds of doing it accidentally are longer than winning the MegaMillions jackpot.

I think it's wrong to crucify the guy before we know the details and circumstances. I think it's likely there is some severe mental health issue involved. This is obviously an epic nightmare for Patel. Publicly piling on makes the situation worse, not better. IMO a civilized society should err on the side of compassion, not condemnation.

There has been a lot for all of us to deal with in the past few years with the pandemic, political polarization, the economic downturn, the large drop in TSLA, and possible causes, the war in Ukraine, and the threat of nuclear annihilation. It feels like part of the reason for the harsh attacks on Patel may be a lot of pent up anger and frustration in society and this is an easy way to vent those negative emotions.

 

[SmokyPeat]

No, I think most people are just generally not sympathetic to men who try to kill their wives and children.

 

[zoomer0056]

TACC and Autosteer features

TACC and autosteer are two features of autopilot.

condemnation

Should those that condemn be condemned?