NEED for Speed Implied in Cabbie's Death

[AtomAnt]

Toronto police allege a teenage street race that went horribly wrong is behind a taxi driver's death.
According to police, two 18-year-olds were racing on Mount Pleasant Road in their parents' Mercedes-Benzes. The luxury cars allegedly hit speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour in an area where the posted speed limit is 50 km/h.
The accident happened about 10:20 p.m. when one car collided with the cab as it made a left turn near an intersection with St. Clair Avenue. The collision crushed the taxi against a pole.
The driver of the vehicle involved in the crash ended up with a few scratches, while his friend fled the scene.
Tahir Khan, a cab driver and 46-year-old Pakistani man who has lived in Canada for six years, died instantly.
Wednesday, friends and other taxi drivers mourned the loss of Khan. He supported his wife and children, who still live in Pakistan.
"He was planning to go back to Pakistan pretty soon because he got the call from Pakistan that his mom was sick," Munir Ahmad, a friend, told CTV Toronto. "He was a very good guy, honest and hard-working."
Friends also said Khan, who lived in Scarborough with a friend, was set to receive Canadian citizenship on Jan. 27, at which time he planned to begin taking steps to bring his family over from Pakistan.
Alexander Ryazanov, 18, of Toronto, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death.
Wang-Piao Dumani Ross, 18, also of Toronto, is charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to stop after an accident causing death.
On Wednesday both men appeared in court, where bail hearings were scheduled for Friday and Monday. They are expected to remain in jail until the hearings.
CTV Toronto's Desmond Brown reported that the two young men charged in Khan's death come from a privileged upbringing. Both are graduates of the prestigious St. Andrew's College in Aurora.
Investigators found a copy of the video game Need For Speed in one of the cars. The game involves street racing, drag racing and pursuit racing, where players attempt to evade police.
The discovery prompted police to point out the difference between the digital world, and reality.
"A game is a game," Toronto Police's Det. Paul Lobsinger told CTV Toronto. "And when you get behind the wheel of a car it's not a game anymore. And when something tragic happens in a huge crash with a lot of smoke, there is no reset button. You can't start over with a new car and a new life."
In 2002, two Vancouver men were convicted of criminal negligence causing death after their street race left a woman dead. In what was described as a legal first, both drivers were convicted, even though only one of them hit the woman.
Before the Liberal government fell in November, it introduced legislation to curb the rising street racing problem. The new law would have required judges to revoke the licenence of anyone convicted of street racing.
The bill failed to pass into law before the government fell, however.

[Bob Smith]

Makes a change from GTA I suppose.

I can't wait for somebody to break in to a race circuit and have thier own free track day, end up killing themselves or someone else, and then police will try to blame it on some part of the sim race community (we better get LFS a box soon or it will be missing out on all this media attention...).

Perhaps next time there is a car crash and there is a animal horn in the back, the media will clame the driver was shooting Unicorn's as game. :|

[Tweaker]

Next thing you know.... someone will get in a huge pileup on the highway and detectives will find a CD of LFS Demo in the back seat :D The game that promotes and trains wreckers :doh:

Detective: "Damn, poor guy shoulda bought a license...."

[AndroidXP]

Doesn't NFSU2 specifically announce that the street racing should be kept to the game when you start it? So, I think they're covered...


Also those two did it totally wrong. Street racing in their Mercedes :doh: I bet they didn't even use a +5km/h vinyl, and seeing that they only went 140 meant their +20% top speed spoilers were missing to. Damn kids these days...

[hrtburnout]

Remember when you go streetracing, every decal means +10hp :D
And a Mercedes isn't the best car to go streetracing with :doh:

[nikimere]

You cant blame a game for someone being an idiot.

[XCNuse]

Doesn't NFSU2 specifically announce that the street racing should be kept to the game when you start it? So, I think they're covered...
yep, does for as long as i can remember.. ever since NFSU to NFSMW they even SAY IT if you cant read lol (guess they are worried about those 4 year olds driving 150mph .. or something lol)

but ya, EA and whoever makes NFS series isn't liable for any deaths lol (says so itself)

[deggis]

...and then police will try to blame it on some part of the sim race community
Huh? Police? It's mostly the parents (and lawyers :)) who blame games because they failed to raise their kid.

[TagForce]

Huh? Police? It's mostly the parents (and lawyers :)) who blame games because they failed to raise their kid.

I've already contacted Jack Thompson about this * for Speed filth!

Which means we should be up for a good laugh or 2 in about 5 days when he makes another public statement about video games.

[bobvanvliet]

Good thing they're convicting both drivers, by the way. Although only the one did the actual crashing, it takes two to create the dangerous race that killed that poor cabbie guy.

[Eldanor]

Yeah... videogames are evil, my life is ruined because I go stomping every mushroom I see :( the groceries guy hates me XD. Sorry for the cab guy :(

Anyway, I would use those kids as crash test dummies :) LOL

[AtomAnt]

Yaah, SMARTERER, word

[Hatemaker]

It's not that a Mercedes or BMW wouldn't be a good street racing car.... It just depends on which model... I could see it if they were driving something smaller than the normal sedan like the sl55 AMG... but not anything like the huge ML 430's or whatever.

[hrtburnout]

Location: Nürburg, Deutschland

Wow! You live sooooo close to the Ring! Wish i lived so close to the Ring :D

[sil3ntwar]

I think you would have to be pretty stupid to think that gaming does not influence people. Im sure everyone who plays LFS would love to go out there and take a car around a circuit. It would be the same for NFS. The problem is some people actually do go out there and do these things.

[Madman_CZ]

hmm how often does one see this.. silly kids trying to be cool and being influenced by computer games.. this reminds me of the case in uk slightly different where a young kid hammered his friend to death with a hammer after playing Manhunt....

but like people said in previous post... "u cant blame a game for someone being an idiot"

in that Manhunt case the kid was 13 i think so what was he doing playing an 18 rated game... hmmmm

its always easy to blame others rather than ur self for a poor up bringing...

rip kab driver..!!! sorry u had to be on that road at that time with those idiots!!

[Theafro]

i love it when it comes round to manhunt, i sold a young woman a copy once, only to have her bring it back a few days later, after giving it to her son and being horrified, she absolutely furious we had sold her that game,

her son is 4:pillepall

i'm still not quite sure if some people understand what the little 18 at the bottom means:shrug:

[theblackrabbi]

I have been playing sim racing games since I was like 8 and now that I have my license for 10 years I can say I have a major problem with speeding/racing on the street. It's like when I play this game and then go drive I feel like a racer just because of all the practice I have had on the game.

Now there is a difference between me and some asshole that goes out and kills somebody. I know my limits and I know exactly how to drive my car without loosing control. I keep my limits high yes, but I still know how to drive without endangering those around me.

Those people have no sense in what they are doing, and they are the ones you always see getting into accidents and killing people.

Don't take what I'm saying and make me seem like one of them, all I'm saying is that I can see how people want to drive fast after playing the games.

[MAGGOT]

Those people are weak-minded. I'm sorry, and I'm sure I will come off like a jerk here, but anyone who street races in real life because they did it in a game is a moron. Period.

Same goes for FPS games, GTA, etc etc etc. Those games don't make people kill people. Stupid people kill people. Same holds true for music; music doesn't kill people. Simple as that.

[Lt.Rapman]

I'm still waiting for the day, they blame SuperMario
because sombody jumps again a brick wall

Now there is a difference between me and some asshole that goes out and kills somebody. I know my limits and I know exactly how to drive my car without loosing control. I keep my limits high yes, but I still know how to drive without endangering those around me. Sorry, but i think before the roadkill those kids would say that too.
And i'm saying the same about me, i also drive at my limits somtime.
But everytime there can be something that makes it go bad and end in an accident.

BTW:
Computer games don't affect kids, I mean if Pac Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music.

[colcob]

I can't wait for somebody to break in to a race circuit and have thier own free track day, end up killing themselves or someone else, and then police will try to blame it on some part of the sim race community (we better get LFS a box soon or it will be missing out on all this media attention...).

There was a story in the news a few years back about how a bunch of 4 soldiers got in an MGF and decided to take for spin round a track they were stationed near without permission, at night, with no marshalls present, no roll-bar etc. They rolled it and managed to kill 1 or two of them.
Silly bastards.

[Bob Smith]

And in a girls car too, what are the protectors of our country coming to.

[Hankstar]

There's always some scapegoat for delinquent behaviour - when my dad was a kid, his parents confiscated his Buddy Holly records ffs :) When I was getting into trouble, it was around the time everyone was blaming metal music and gangsta rap and role-playing games (old school dice-based ones :)) for everything (90s). These days, it's Eminem and Fiddy Cent and Maz Manson among others, and of course games, that are copping the same old sh*t. I played plenty of Test Drive, Grand Prix Circuit, Carmageddon, Interstate 76, NFS and now plenty of GTA, LFS, GPL etc and I guess I'm not weak-minded enough to think that I can replicate those games in real life. For example, it takes longer than two seconds to carjack someone, even if you are carrying a flamethrower :D

There have always been people who think they're Fangio or that pretty-boy dick from The Fast and the Furious and go out, screw up and kill people, long before video games were invented. My dad rolled his Singer convertible way back when, and they barely even had TV. I think the problem will always be that a fair amount of young guys overestimate their capabilities and the capabilities of their machinery, think they're invincible and aren't yet smart enough to figure out that they're not, and neither is anyone else who they might cream with a car. People can blame who or what they want - it changes all the time - but the actual problem remains the same.

[RevMonkey]

Toronto police allege a teenage street race that went horribly wrong is behind a taxi driver's death.
According to police, two 18-year-olds were racing on Mount Pleasant Road in their parents' Mercedes-Benzes. The luxury cars allegedly hit speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour in an area where the posted speed limit is 50 km/h.
The accident happened about 10:20 p.m. when one car collided with the cab as it made a left turn near an intersection with St. Clair Avenue. The collision crushed the taxi against a pole.
The driver of the vehicle involved in the crash ended up with a few scratches, while his friend fled the scene.
Tahir Khan, a cab driver and 46-year-old Pakistani man who has lived in Canada for six years, died instantly.
Wednesday, friends and other taxi drivers mourned the loss of Khan. He supported his wife and children, who still live in Pakistan.
"He was planning to go back to Pakistan pretty soon because he got the call from Pakistan that his mom was sick," Munir Ahmad, a friend, told CTV Toronto. "He was a very good guy, honest and hard-working."
Friends also said Khan, who lived in Scarborough with a friend, was set to receive Canadian citizenship on Jan. 27, at which time he planned to begin taking steps to bring his family over from Pakistan.
Alexander Ryazanov, 18, of Toronto, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death.
Wang-Piao Dumani Ross, 18, also of Toronto, is charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to stop after an accident causing death.
On Wednesday both men appeared in court, where bail hearings were scheduled for Friday and Monday. They are expected to remain in jail until the hearings.
CTV Toronto's Desmond Brown reported that the two young men charged in Khan's death come from a privileged upbringing. Both are graduates of the prestigious St. Andrew's College in Aurora.
Investigators found a copy of the video game Need For Speed in one of the cars. The game involves street racing, drag racing and pursuit racing, where players attempt to evade police.
The discovery prompted police to point out the difference between the digital world, and reality.
"A game is a game," Toronto Police's Det. Paul Lobsinger told CTV Toronto. "And when you get behind the wheel of a car it's not a game anymore. And when something tragic happens in a huge crash with a lot of smoke, there is no reset button. You can't start over with a new car and a new life."
In 2002, two Vancouver men were convicted of criminal negligence causing death after their street race left a woman dead. In what was described as a legal first, both drivers were convicted, even though only one of them hit the woman.
Before the Liberal government fell in November, it introduced legislation to curb the rising street racing problem. The new law would have required judges to revoke the licenence of anyone convicted of street racing.
The bill failed to pass into law before the government fell, however.
do you live in toronto?