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Belgian Journalist Dies In Crash Of Ariel Atom 3

 
2 3,282 views Jan 3, 2012

Ariel Atom 3

Ariel Atom 3

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As anyone who writes about cars for a living will tell you, we have the best job in the world. While the money isn’t enough to put the automobiles we lust for (and drive on a somewhat regular basis) in our garages, at the end of the day we get paid to experience cars and write about it.

Sometimes, that comes with a very steep price tag, as a writer for a West Flanders, Belgium newspaper recently found out. On hand for the upcoming Brussels Motor Show, 35-year-old Michael Cornette jumped at the chance to ride along in an Ariel Atom 3 roadster.

The Ariel Atom is known for razor sharp handling, but it can also be unforgiving at the limit. As Autoblog.nl reports, that limit was exceeded by the owner and driver, 30-year-old Matthieu Desmet, with fatal consequences.

Desmet lost control of his Atom 3 on a straight stretch of road, through what police described as “inappropriate driving.”  Michael Cornette died at the scene, leaving behind a wife and son, while Belgium's De Standaard reports that Matthieu Desmet remains hospitalized in a medically induced coma.

While most of us overestimate our own skills behind the wheel from time to time, rarely do mistakes come with such consequences. We’re all for driving a car at the limit, but only under the right set of circumstances and in the right location.

The potential cost of doing otherwise comes at too high a price.



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Comments (2)

  1. fb_570937773 avatar Andrew Norris Posted: 1/15/2012 3:26am PST

    Well said, more should tweet this and talk about it. Car enthusiasts, bikers, even cyclists, ove estimating skills - is causing millions of deaths in the world. Doing what should otherwise be a fun sport. Even here in the UK 2000 die each year. I wish top gear would mention this more, as it stands they may be encouraging people to lark about at the wheel and put consequences to the back of the mind. Reminds me of the stock market crash, as that's exactly what happened there. People put debts to the backs of the their minds too.
     
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  2. fb_1491948054 avatar Kurt Ernst Posted: 1/15/2012 7:50am PST

    @Andrew, thanks for the kind words. Most drivers have no idea how suddenly (and violently) things can go wrong, and in America we do a particularly poor job of training new drivers for the real world.
     
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