225 lb Mother Killed in Crash, Peugeot Admits Not Crash Testing for Heavier Drivers

On the 20th of January, 2009, 56-year-old mother-of-three Judith Evans was killed when her Peugeot 107 hit a Vauxhall Vectra in a head-on collision in Buckinghamshire, UK. The matter recently went to court where it was heard that the victim sustained multiple fractures and chest and abdominal injuries which the Thames Valley Police noticed were unusually severe given the force of impact.

Experts from Peugeot and Vehicle Safety Consultancy Ltd believe that the 107 should have provided good protection for this sort of crash, and yet this was not the case. Why?

Evans' Peugeot 107 met all EuroNCAP safety standards, with the 107 and it's Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo siblings having scored four stars in a 2005 test. It was fitted with front seatbelt pre-tensioners and load limiters along with front and side body airbags for both driver and passenger.

The investigation suggests it may have to do with weight. Not the weight of the Vectra compared to the 107, as Peugeot has suggested, but the weight of the 107's driver.

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VIDEO: Chinese Biker Survives Accident thanks to some Crazy Kung Fu-Like Moves

Talk about lucky; here's a video of a Chinese motorcyclists who seemed to have all the right moves when he slammed into a little carry-all truck. As you can see from the clip after the jump, he was either extremely skilled or extremely lucky to be thrown off his ride the way he was.

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Lambo Fought the Lights and the Lights Won

Pop quiz, hot shot: what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? Answer: This.

The irresistible force: a silver-colored Lamborghini Gallardo tearing down the strip. The immovable object: a traffic light pole in Laval, Quebec. The result: well, you can see for yourself.

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We're Goin' Surfin': Rental Corvette Abandoned in Pacific Ocean [With Videos]

Some presumably drunk people out California way decided to have a little bit too much fun in their recently-rented Corvette and ended up parked in salt water halfway up the car's doors. Thankfully in this day and age everyone has some sort of video recording device within arm's reach, so we have some post-parking-surfing videos below.

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Bumblebee Camaro Crashes into Real Cop Car During Filming of Transformers 3

BUMBLEBEE is racing down a side street to catch up with the other AUTOBOTS, who have found another piece of the ALLSPARK. Suddenly, a DECEPTICON POLICE SUV appears and cuts BUMBLBEE off!

Well, not really, but it sure looks like that in this video. According to The Washington Post, the story goes that a Metropolitan Police SUV was on its way to investigate a suspicious package in the D.C. area when it strayed onto the Transformers 3 set.

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US Trying to Perfect its Safety Rating System; Can't we Just Meet EU Standards and Call it a Day?

US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has announced a new and improved 5-star safety rating system for 2011 vehicles. If you're interested about your new car, scroll on down for some of the vehicles tested. As of now, the BMW 5-Series (RWD) and Hyundai Sonata are the only vehicles to be top-rated (33 of the 55 models to be tested have been graded thus far).

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Desert Drifting a Sonata: Knowing When to Stop is a Sign of Wisdom...

What happens when you live in / near the desert and have a bunch of money to waste? Cars get destroyed, that's what. Here's a small clip of somebody taking their Hyundai Sonata out for a little slideways action and utterly shredding the rear passenger side. I'd venture to say it's totaled, considering the rear wheels aren't meant to be pushed up into the wheel well like that.
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FAIL No2: Volvo V60 Safety System Flub Ends with a Dead Dummy Named Bob

This is officially the second safety system demonstration in as many "Look at this!" announcements that has gone horribly wrong for Volvo. That's right, two. The first one was back in May and led to a new S60 estate crushing itself into the back of a truck - see the video here. This latest mishap occurred during a media demonstration to Australian journalists in Europe.

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Segway Company Owner Dies After Riding Two-Wheeler Off a Cliff...

British tycoon and owner of the Segway company, Jimi Heseldon, has died after reportedly driving one of the firm's motorized two-wheelers off a cliff and into a river near his estate in Thorp Arch, Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, on Sunday, according to news reports.

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FAIL: Toyota Land Cruiser vs Puddle [Accident Content]

Nothing brings you back to driving-reality quite as effectively as good a ol' cold shower, or in this case, a puddle bath. The sinkhole incident involving this new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado reportedly happened during a test-drive event organized by a Prado fan club (we're assuming it occurred somewhere in Russia). Photos and a video of the accident after the break.

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BP Ultimate 1, Ultimate Driving Machine 0; Porsche 911 GT3 Crashes into Gas Pump

The Porsche GT3 RS is widely accepted to be one of the best handling performance cars on the road today. So how is it that this driver managed to slam it into the petrol pump at a BP service station?

In any case, you only have to type, "car + petrol station" into YouTube to see just how lucky this guy was... Sure, the repairs will no doubt cost more than a well-equipped Toyota Corolla but at least he wasn't burnt alive.

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VIDEO: Bentley Continental GT Burned to the Ground in Russia

Hot on the heels of the Ferrari 458 fire recall, here's some footage of a toasted Bentley Continental GT in Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia. Now, my Russian's a little weak, so if anyone could clarify these video reports that would be greeeeeaaaat.

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FAIL: BMW X5 Jump Stunt Takes a Turn for the Worse - Literally... [Video]

We're not quite sure what the driver of this dark colored BMW X5 SUV (or at least it looks like an X5) was trying to do here, but something tells us that performing a 180-degree flip and crashing into an electricity / telephone pole wasn't part of the plan / stunt. See the accident for yourself in the video after the jump and don't forget to rate the freestyle flip in the comments section below.

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VIDEO: This is what a Ferrari 458 Italia on fire looks like on film

With so many Ferrari 458 Italia super-duper-cars going flambé on their owners, it was just a matter of time when someone would get one roasting on film. This prime example of Italy's hottest model was cooked somewhere in China's eastern coast.

We'll remind you that Ferrari has admitted through its UK spokesperson that it is currently investigating the 458 fires. According to media reports, in the past three months, a total of 11 Ferrari 458 Italia models (including this latest incident in China) have crashed with five of them being ruined by fire. Grab a bag of chips and enjoy the short film "A qualcuno piace caldo" right after the break.

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FAIL: The General Lee's got nothing on this Flying Pontiac Firebird [VIDEO]

Words cannot describe how mega this crash is. If you haven't seen it yet, do it...DO IT NOW. It must be seen. Even if you have seen it, check it out again. The victim was a 19-year old who was speeding, tried to pass on the left, ended up in the median...then something CRAZY happened, he got ejected from his Firebird, somehow survived, and is now in critical condition.

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Surprise, Surprise: Ferrari looking into 458 Italia Fires

Turns out that we're not the only ones to think that the unusually high number of brand-new Ferrari 458s catching fire, is well, at tad suspicious, to say the least. So does Ferrari which is looking into the potential issue. While at least 10 Ferrari 458s have been involved in accidents since the beginning of the year, Ferrari is investigating three specific cases in which the supercar caught fire. One of those cars was roasted in a storage facility blaze at London's Heathrow airport.

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FAIL: Video Lesson on how NOT to Flee the Scene of an Accident

Some people are just no good behind the wheel. Reader Sebastian sent over this video of what appears to be an intoxicated driver finding a way to make a bad situation significantly worse (don't they always?).

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FAIL: Rental 2010 Camaro SS in Dukes of Hazzard Style Antics Results in Crash [with Video]

And yes, we have another accident involving a rental sports car. Today's crash concerns a 2010 Camaro SS (not that it matters, but that's the one with the 426-HP 6.2-liter V8 powerhouse) engaging in some railroad track hoonery with the usual outcome.

Here's the description from the person who uploaded the video on Youtube: "Guy rents 2010 Camaro SS, jumps railroad tracks in Houston TX going roughly 90 miles an hour." See what happens next in the video after the jump - just be prepared for some annoyingly random and topsy-turvy footage.

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Rental Ferrari 458 Italia gets a Nasty Nose Job

We know, we know and we know (click the highlighted links) that a Ferrari 458 Italia crashing or burning up is hardly news these days. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised at all if the number of wrecked 458s exceeds Maranello's available production capacity... At least this dark gray (or is that black?) example is said to have been a rental car hired from a company in the UK. More photos after the jump.

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Tool of the Day: Owner Crashes Brand New Ferrari 458 Italia Outside Maranello Factory [VIDEO]

Nothing says you're a tool going to be one of Ferrari's finest customers better than crashing a brand new 458 Italia right outside the firm's plant in Maranello only 24 hours after buying the supercar (according to the person who taped the video). Follow the break to watch the film showing the 458 Italia revving its 570HP 4.5-liter V8 one day and making love to a tree the next.

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