The Porsche carrying Fast & Furious actor Paul Walker may have been traveling at more than 93 mph when it lost control and crashed, killing Walker and his friend, Roger Rodas, who was driving, according to an investigation by law enforcement agencies into the November Los Angeles accident.
The sports car slammed into a light pole that had a 45 mph speed limit sign, and the car burst into flames. Walker and Rodas died on the scene.
Unsafe driving, and not mechanical problems, caused the crash, investigators concluded, according to a report by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol.
Investigators used road marks left by the vehicle to determine that the red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT was traveling at a speed of 80.59 mph to 93.97 mph. According to the results of the investigation, the vehicle was moving at about twice the 45 mph limit on Hercules Street in Santa Clarita when it began to drift out of a curve and crashed Nov. 30.
“Investigators determined the cause of the fatal solo-vehicle collision was unsafe speed for the roadway conditions,” sheriff’s Commander Mike Parker said.
No evidence of any car system failures was found, but at least two of the tires were more than nine years old. Porsche recommends that tires be replaced after four years. As a result, California Highway Patrol investigators wrote that “the driveability and handling characteristics” of the car “may have been compromised.”
Rodas, 38, and Walker, 40, had taken what was supposed to be a quick ride from a fundraiser benefiting Reach Out Worldwide, a Walker charity that gives first-response aid to victims of natural disasters. The crash occurred near the fundraiser, in an area of industrial business parks in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Witnesses told a sheriff’s deputy that they thought the car could have been traveling in excess of 100 mph.
Walker starred in all but one of the six Fast & Furious films, and was in production for the seventh film in the series franchise at the time of the crash.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
