The chauffeur was a trained security driver who had allegedly been "lent out" by Fayed to the French government on previous occasions.

Now as we know that he was drunk, it doesn't matter anymore.

I rather suspect that if he had told Dodi that he couldn't drive any faster he would have lost his job. Allegedly the bodyguard was also a Fayed employee, so he would not have contradicted Dodi even if Di's life was being put at risk.

Driver's first priority is to keep the car on the road, no matter what. Driving as fast as neccessary is second. Listening to passengers' opinions how an individual situation should be handled (ie. 'floor it' or 'faster') isn't among them, no matter who the passenger might be. The passenger isn't driving the car, the driver is.

Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 01:27:11 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving

DrDriving wrote: On Sat, 30 Aug 1997 21:01:03 -1000, Leon James wrote:
I think Princess Diana's crash IS THE ROAD RAGE INCIDENT OF THE CENTURY!

I'm hopping in a rental car tomorrow to drive the 820 km or so to Ottawa tomorrow morning. I expect to hit 160 kph for at least a significant part of the way, and will probably complete the trip in 7 hours (including the city drive on both ends).

Just thought you'd like to know: I won't be enraged. In fact, I'll probably be singing along happily with the classic rock and roll stations (aren't you all glad you're not going to be in the car?).

The plain fact is that I like to drive fast, and I don't like to spend more time in the car than I have to.

Sure it's anecdotal, but I bet there's a bunch of other people that feel the same way. Wanna take a survey?

Just think

Good suggestion. (Is this too subtle, do you suppose?)

Date: 3 Sep 1997 05:08:57 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving

High speed is not by far simply 'dumb', exceeding the driving skills is. Alcohol affects a person's judgment and on top of that lowers the ability to drive a car. Food for thought.

I had a thought on the way home today about the accident. I know the driver was trained in some manner right? And I read that .08 or whatever can driver up the chance of an accident by 500% or so...

So my question is what is the chance of an accident by a trained driver who is semi-drunk (.05-.08) versus a untrained normal driver? Would Jeff Gordon's chance of an accident increase by 500% over a normal driver when he was drunk? Or would his natural ability/instinct give him a much larger margin for error?

Date: 2 Sep 1997 19:47:25 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving

The belted body-guard survived despite being pummelled from behind by an unbelted Di/Dodi (force=ma is very substantial since 'a' is huge).

Wrong equation. The correct equation is Energy = kmv^2. The bodies are not accelerating when they hit the bodyguard.

There are very few cars that could perform as well in as severe an impact, certainly none from Japan.

Ah, Ryan the autobahn guru and now safety guru as well. `The value of life can be measured by how many times your soul has been deeply stirred.' - Soichiro Honda

Date: Tue, 02 Sep 1997 22:06:50 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving, uk.transport, dc.driving, phl.transportation, soc.culture.malaysia

"Dr. Driving" wrote: Some people may not agree that this crash was due to road rage. We'll see the various comments. However, in my view, the road rage category applies here because (a) her car was being chased by photographers; (b) her driver (also killed), was participating in this chase by trying to get away. (who can blame him...)

Don't bother mentioning that the driver was intoxicated. That would have no bearing on the incident.

Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 00:16:23 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving, uk.transport, dc.driving, phl.transportation, soc.culture.malaysia

Are you all still hung up on this road rage crap. It now appears the driver's motive for fast driving was not rage, but ego, that is, if it is true as reported by news that he stated something like, "Catch me if you can" to reporters nearby. That kind of reminds me of kids (when I was a kid) who pitted cars against one another in the egotistical "drag race".

Date: 3 Sep 1997 00:46:58 GMT
Reply-To: remove "erase."@"nojunk.com"
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving, uk.transport, dc.driving, phl.transportation, soc.culture.malaysia

Are you all still hung up on this road rage crap.

No, "we all ain't" but seems you are.

It now appears the driver's motive

You couldn't resist...

Date: 3 Sep 1997 02:16:32 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving, uk.transport, dc.driving, phl.transportation, soc.culture.malaysia
Followup-To: rec.autos.driving,uk.transport,dc.driving,phl.transportation,soc.culture.malaysia

Leon James (leon@hawaii.edu) wrote: They were not fleeing from gunmen, killers, terrorists--only photographers. They were not secretely in that locale--it was known and public. What justifies taking these amazing risks? Nothing rational, predictable, justifiable. The driver obviously had a case of road rage to drive this aggressively to kill the Princess and her companion. How do you explain the chances he took?? Justified to escape the camera flashes????

The answer is simple. The driver was drunk, very drunk. Road rage had as much to do with this tragedy as it did with the loss of lives in TWA flight 800. Drunk driver + high speed = disaster regardless of where or not the driver was fleeing papparazi.

Date: 3 Sep 1997 03:08:02 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving

In article <873005959.28333@dejanews.com>, "Dr. Driving" writes: You can see why I raise this issue as a road rage issue. I think we need to discuss it, and hopefully, debunk it.

By gosh we sure do! Thank you Stuart Smalley!

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id:
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving,uk.transport,dc.driving,phl.transportation,soc.culture.malaysia

Vote time: Who looks dumber? Dr. Driving trying to pin this on his crusade, or our Deutchphile friend demonstrating how superior German cars are, since only three of four occupants were killed in a Mercedes accident -- and the trunk of the car remained recognizeable! E-mail me the votes, and I'll post a summary.

One of the *unbelted* occupants survived for several hours after the crash. The car rolled several times and then struck an immovable object at high speed. I have difficulty believing that any other make of car would have provided the occupants with better protection.

Date: 1997/09/03
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Message-Id: <873271657.21443@dejanews.com>

Vote time: Who looks dumber? Dr. Driving trying to pin this on his crusade, or our Deutchphile friend demonstrating how superior German cars are, since only three of four occupants were killed in a Mercedes accident -- and the trunk of the car remained recognizeable! E-mail me the votes, and I'll post a summary.

One of the *unbelted* occupants survived for several hours after the crash. The car rolled several times and then struck an immovable object at high speed. I have difficulty believing that any other make of car would have provided the occupants with better protection.

Don't vote too soon! It turns out my diagnosis of this being a road rage case looks more and more likely as the hours pass by! Dr. Driving

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <5ugoct$8a0$2@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca>
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving

Leon James (leon@hawaii.edu) said something like: To the rest of the crew: Vote time: Who looks dumber? Dr. Driving trying to pin this on his crusade, or our Deutchphile friend demonstrating how superior German cars are, since only three of four occupants were killed in a Mercedes accident -- and the trunk of the car remained recognizeable!

Oh please. Mercedes S-class is the King of Cars. They were unbelted for goodness sakes, of course they're going to die in a high speed collision. The belted body-guard survived despite being pummelled from behind by an unbelted Di/Dodi (force=ma is very substantial since 'a' is huge). There are very few cars that could perform as well in as severe an impact, certainly none from Japan. Die S-Klasse ist KONIG, and don't you dare dispute it.

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <01ba7923$85cc87a0$9fba15a5@default>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.singapore

AND HE WAS NOT TRAINED TO GET AWAY FROM PAPARAZZI

The Driver who was driving the Merz in which Diana, Princess of Wales was in had 3 TIMES the legal level of alcohol in his blood. And what's more, he wasn't trained to drive that Merz which is an armoured car!!!!

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <340c3f8d.1840097@news.nwlink.com>
Newsgroups: seattle.general

What a sad day this is.

The outcome was darn near inevitable: drunk driver, high speeds, and dangerous road.

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <5ufrv4$pnl$2@excalibur.flash.net>
Newsgroups: alt.politics.british,alt.politics,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.correct,alt.politics.democrat,alt.politics.europe.misc,alt.politics.media

From http://www.nationalenquirer.com Direct Quote: Don't chop it up. Leave it or wipe it completely if you choose to answer this post.

Princess Di's Accident Following the car accident that killed Princess Diana and Dodi al Fayed, National ENQUIRER editor Steve Coz issued the following statement: "None of the papparazzi stalking the Princess were working for the National ENQUIRER.

"This senseless tragedy may never have happened if all tabloids had the same no-stalking policy as the one put in place by the ENQUIRER last year when we felt invasive papparazzi conduct was getting completely out of hand. Our no-stalking policy was put in place to prevent exactly this type of horrible tragedy.

"The National ENQUIRER will NOT purchase any of the photos taken by the motorcycle papparazzi who were stalking the Princess. We call on the rest of the press to join us in our ban on the photos taken by the people who may have caused this tragedy.

"It is one thing to aggessively cover celebrities -- it is another to break the law and cost lives. That is where the National ENQUIRER draws the line." "The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn."

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <5ufp2p$h0t@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>
Newsgroups: london.general,houston.general,dfw.general,austin.general,nyc.general

SHAME ON YOU !!!! You thought you were going to get a link to some juicy LOOT_Fotos... You're as bad as the damned paparazzi.

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <19970902012501.vaa14089@ladder01.news.aol.com>
Newsgroups: rec.travel.europe

As is this entire thread. What has this got to do with the travel newsgroups this was posted to?

I'm usually the first to scream "Topic" Kalia, but in this case I think I disagree with you. Some things just seem too heavy to ignore. And this, to most of us, is one of them.

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <340af508.7eac@cyberway.com.sg>
Newsgroups: sg.marketplace,sg.singnet.marketplace,sg.general,sg.consumers

A New website dedicated to the memory of Princess Diana: Pls refer to the following: www.cyberway.com.sg/~francisa/

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <340b842d.0@skyview.icrossroads.com>
Newsgroups: can.politics

What caused the death of Princess Di ?
Not the papparazzi as such - but what was behind it.
The puffed up, fly-blown, medieval mystique of royalty boosted by the modern mass media greed and schlock circus.

Actually, the major cause of death seems to be because of the driver. But she would never have been in a car with Dodi racing through Paris if she had not been given the mantle of royalty and all that goes with it.

That's right. It's Prince Charles and his mommy's fault for using Diana Spencer as the royal breeder.

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <340b5b86.72a8@dynamite.com.au>
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles

But with my US detachment, someone really should have trained that jackass limo driver that a three-ton Mercedes can't outrun a pack of determined motorcyclists. What's worse is now their trying to put a media spin on the thing that it was somehow the fault of motorcyclist & paparazzi. Oh sure, they were running from them, I think that's evident from the eyewitness accounts. But you can't really blame the photo-bikers except for intimidation or something. We're talking about one huge mercedes sedan against motorcyles, the car had the size advantage. Then there's the fact that this Egyptian guy had a whole lot of money and influence as did the Princess. All they had to do is make a call on one of their cell phones to the local gendarmes

Apparently it was the "gendarmes" that dobbed them into the killers...

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <340c227d.1c8c@kent.edu>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns

Well, as you undoubtedly have heard, Lady Diana, Princess of Wales (or whatever her title was) was brutally killed in an automobile accident. Fortunately, no guns were involved. Unfortunately for the British People, Paparazzi, cameras, motorcycles, a fast car, a personal driver, a sexual affair with a person other than a spouse, a tunnel, and France were all involved. Expect a rapid movement in England to criminalise all of the above.

(remember, these morons tried to ban BEER MUGS because they were "assault weapons"!!!)

The one thing I think you can be sure of is those morons chasing her car will ALL meet with fatal accidents IF the French don't hang them out to dry BIG TIME.

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <340c72f2.5246821@netnews.mis.net>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh

Princess Diana: Internet Conspiracy Theories Begin ... http://www.newslinx.com

LONDON -- The Internet's legion of conspiracy theorists are already exploiting the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Within minutes of the official announcement of the death of the troubled princess early Sunday morning, an Australian-based Web page calling itself "The First Diana Conspiracy Site" was up and running. The page contained the usual mixture of searching questions and swipes at big business, government, and the secret services normally found in Net-based conspiracy publications.

The death of Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayed, will benefit the British and American governments, the British Royal Family, and the international weapons industry, according to the site.

Diana was causing embarrassment to the royal family by her romance with Al Fayed, and was making enemies among the Western governments and the arms manufacturers through her highly publicized campaign against land mines, the site said.

...find more of the article via http://www.newslinx.com NewsLinx, Daily Web News "The Web's Most Comphrehensive News Source" Tuesday, September 2, 1997

Date: 1997/09/02
Message-Id: <19970902184801.oaa12172@ladder02.news.aol.com>
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving

Should you ever be in my neck of the woods, cross the : roads with great caution. : : "It looked like a deer, right before I hit him." Ooh! Ooh! Road Rage! See, it's EVERYWHERE!>>

It is! It's woad wage at its worse. Where or where is Dr. Dwiving when we need him?

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