A very tragic accident! With a fatality to make it even more tragic.
Sympathy to the victims family and friends.
Some of the comments are best for bar room conversation.
"Certainly higher percentage of Vipers are wrecked than other high performance cars. How many people have to die in Vipers before DC takes the long-overdue step of equipping them with (defeatable for expert drivers) traction control and active handling? Maybe that wouldn't have stopped this fatality, but maybe it would, too. "
Please share the data that supports this statement!
This was an unfortunate accident caused by ?, speculation is reckless driving.
Keep the electronic Nanny out of the Viper conversations. Want a Nanny? buy another car.
Personal responsibility seems to fly away during these tragic events. We all make mistakes and do things we should not. Some of us pay dearly for them.
Want to reduce accidents, provide a Performance driving schools experience to all who drive.
Sorry, but these cars are street cars, not race cars - they lack the required safety equipment, for one thing, to be "race cars." They are sold as street cars, and, as such, they should be controllable by the average automobile enthusiast. Corvette and Mercedes, BMW, Lambo, Porsche - all use some form of safety net for the enthusiast drivers who purchase their street machines.
Putting traction/handling controls on the most tail-happy, torque-laden, street monster ever marketed only makes sense. It won't stop every fool from killing themselves; it will help prevent someone with just enough experience driving fast cars to get himself in trouble with a Viper from paying the ultimate price for crossing a line he didn't even know was there! (I know, because I've crossed it myself - as have probably most Viper drivers - and fortunately, lived to tell about it. I've since been to track events, had semi-professional instruction, and IMHO the car still NEEDS traction/handling controls.)
So don't try to play up the angle that all people need is "driving school" and they're suddenly miraculously transformed into the safest drivers on four wheels. It helps but it's no panacea. Talk to John Lingenfelter's family, or the survivors of the two people who rode that Carrera GT into the wall last year about how safe track days and racing events are. People who choose to engage in risky behaviors should do so with plenty of foreknowledge of what they are doing, not find out that what was perfectly safe 1/10 of a G ago, has just crossed an "invisible" line, and your life and property may be forfeit.
If DC had installed prudent (again, defeatable) traction/handling systems on Vipers since they were available widely (Gen II, anyway), there would be Viper drivers alive today and many, many totaled Vipers would still be on the road. Racing amateurs could still pursue their passion with defeatable controls. Everyone wins. It's just common sense but if you want data, I'm sure the insurance industry has it.
