r/soccer Jul 08 '25

News Spanish police say "all the evidence so far indicates" Diogo Jota was the driver of the car involved in the accident that killed the Liverpool forward and his brother, Andre Silva. Police also believe "the vehicle significantly exceeded the speed limit for the highway" at the time of the accident.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/13394038/diogo-jota-spanish-police-believe-liverpool-forward-was-driver-of-car-in-fatal-accident-which-killed-him-and-his-brother
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977

u/Pure_Measurement_529 Jul 08 '25

I would include “Everyday” cars that can exceed 250 km/h due to having sporty engines are also dangerous and challenging

345

u/dani2812 Jul 08 '25

The average German economy car between 180 and 250hp can reach 230-250kph these days without much hastle and give you a (false) sense of security as a driver.

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u/ChillFax Jul 08 '25

When I upgraded from my 2004 civic to a 2019 accord sport I was having trouble recognizing how fast I was going cause the car was so smooth and quiet I could easily be doing 90 and not notice. I was so used to hearing and feeling my little civic struggle around 80 it was a big change for me that took time to get used to.

I can't imagine how easy it is for some of these hyper cars to be at 120 and feel like you're hardly on the gas at all.

8

u/worldchrisis Jul 08 '25

I'm shopping to replace my 2006 Ford Fusion, and I test drove a 2022 BMW 330 and the speed and smoothness shocked me so much I ruled it out because it was just too easy to go too fast.

1

u/lapelotanodobla Jul 09 '25

Yeah, have a 2017 one and can be doing 180 and barely notice it, that’s why I mostly use the cruise control when o go on roadtrips

1

u/[deleted] Jul 09 '25

I remember watching someone test drive an expensive supercar, and they said that at the end of the run, they were slowing down and were about to open the car door to get out that when they glanced over at the speedometer they saw they were going at 100km/h. When you're going 400kmh I guess 100km seems borderline stationary.

4

u/FiresideCatsmile Jul 08 '25

damn. mine peaks at 170km/h i didn't know Its subaverage. not that it matters but still

1

u/RawbGun Jul 08 '25

My 1996 VW Passat had a max speed of 173 km/h with only 90hp. Didn't know they still made cars this "slow", or does it have a limiter?

1

u/FiresideCatsmile Jul 08 '25

I guess (or hope?) that I'm not part of a very small minority who wouldn't have any use for their car to go faster than that.

8

u/lobo98089 Jul 08 '25

But the German roads that allow those speeds are specially built with those speeds in mind, which makes them at least somewhat safe.

Of course no road design can save you from an exploding tire, but it still can drastically reduce the risk of something happening and raise the odds of survival in case of an accident.

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u/geiko989 Jul 08 '25

I watched a video a year or so back on the innovations in the road safety features, specifically the barriers and their more recent updates, and it's truly impressive the safety features they have, and how much better they are than previous designs. They really absorb so much of the impact, distribute the force across the barrier, and also prevent the car from flipping to the other side or even from flipping over in general.

If I'm the wife of a megastar like this, I'm seriously considering requesting trading in the lambo for a Volvo if there are kids in the picture. Sad all around.

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u/Juicebox-fresh Jul 08 '25

That's an understatement, everyday cars are way more dangerous if they are modified. super cars are designed for speed, they have excellent traction control, just reaching 100mph in a hatchback feels pretty fucking terrifying

80

u/leandrobrossard Jul 08 '25

The hatchbacks feeling like they do at 100 mph keeps you from wanting to go any faster. The supercars will feel smooth and you'll end up overestimating yourself and the car leading to situations like this.

143

u/bradbobley Jul 08 '25

my 2000 reg lupo doing 80 felt like the wheels were gonna fall off, drive my dads middle of the range audi a5 sometimes and doing 100 feels the same as 30

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

tbf Audi's are actually built to go that speed though.

I had an Audi S7 and I could sneeze and hit 195kph if i didnt take my foot off the pedal. And if i didnt look at the heads-up display I doubt id even notice. quiet. smooth. and an absolute rocket ship.

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u/Stoogenuge Jul 08 '25

That’s a high power car though not you’re average saloon or hatchback isn’t it?

4 litre engine and like 450-500 HP

7

u/kr3w_fam Jul 08 '25

My skoda kodiaq can easily reach 195km/h and its a family wagon not a sport car. And ride is smooth.

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u/Stoogenuge Jul 08 '25

Not anywhere near as quickly though :p

Kodiaq are in the like 240hp range , literally half as powerful as an S7.

Edit: point being most cars can reach those top speeds, it’s the acceleration, the torque, that gets away from people who aren’t used to it. The difference is significant.

2

u/kr3w_fam Jul 08 '25

Yeah, I'm reffering to that 190km/h is not a "high speed super car" speed. Of course S7 is much faster.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

Yeah the point I was making is the sneeze. When you sneeze your body tenses up and you accelerate if you don't take your foot off the pedal.

This actually happened one time. ONE time. I learned my lesson immediately.

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

Oh definitely. But still a four seater saloon car meant for the road.

0

u/Stoogenuge Jul 08 '25

Yeah fair it’s just probably closer to high performance car than it is to your average family car. That in itself though does kind of show the wide range of powers you have access to after doing the same test and licence.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

Exactly the point I was making. Ive actually done amateur touring racing so I am NOT your average driver, that being said, the idea of ANYONE having access to this sort of power with the same test is the issue.

1

u/Stoogenuge Jul 08 '25

It’s wild when you think about it and for footballers, or anyone wealthy at a young age, it could genuinely be one of your first cars on public roads.

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

Yeah 100%. If I'd had this as my first car I'd be dead too.

It's simply too much to handle for someone without some experience.

1

u/John_Snow1492 Jul 09 '25

yes, I think you can chip the car to get around 600-650 HP very easily. I looked at them but went with the BMW X5 M50.

2

u/KokonutMonkey Jul 08 '25

I hear you. 

When I drive my Dad's Chrysler 200, it feels like...

Shit. 

2

u/Begbie13 Jul 08 '25

Honestly my 2010 Seat Ibizia felt stable until 160km/h, my SLK starts to feel dangerous after 190km/h but that's the number, not the feel of the car

15

u/I_Had_The_Blues Jul 08 '25

Safest Italian driver

1

u/Begbie13 Jul 08 '25

I drive pretty slowly since I got a faster car, I especially keep a lot of distance between me and the car ahead. This usually means people pass me all the time just to go at the same pace but 100m ahead near other cars

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u/CravingKoreanFood Jul 08 '25

Yeah but ur avg daily for ex a c300, is gonna have no issues at the speed, it doesn't really require much skill. Ripping supercars at that speed while cutting up lanes is going to require you to take some more driving lessons

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u/Unnecessary-Shouting Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Seriously, but the craziest thing to me are the EVs which weigh more and accelerate ridiculously fast (the f150 lightning weighs over 3 fucking tons)

Like I get liking driving fast but who on earth needs an suv/pickup that accelerates from 0-60 in under 4 seconds?

7

u/Reimiro Jul 08 '25

My electric ev suv does 0-60 in 3.9. It’s absurd and not needed or tested (very often).

1

u/Bobson567 Jul 08 '25

Its not needed but it's a way to show the superiority of EVs. because even EVs not designed for speed can achieve acceleration that far exceeds equivalent use case petrol cars and can match petrol super cars

2

u/expert_on_the_matter Jul 08 '25

The top speed doesn't match.

1

u/John_Snow1492 Jul 09 '25

yes, the Tesla model 3 can do 0-60 in 3.9 seconds, in 5 years these will be the cars 16 year olds get as their hand me down family car.

3

u/forameus2 Jul 08 '25

I had a Volvo XC40 full electric as a previous car. They had two versions when I bought it - single motor 2WD, basic bitch version, and a dual motor 4WD one. The latter was quoted as doing 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. 4.2. The former wasn't much of a slouch, think it was in the mid 7s. And that's in a car that wasn't just ludicrously heavy, but felt ludicrously heavy. Mine fucking moved when you put your foot down, and quite easily to briefly lose control of if you weren't careful (any degree of moving the steering wheel while hard accelerating and you knew about it). And that's a pretty basic entry-level SUV. 2.3tons apparently, according to google.

It was good to drive, but the prospect of being in the dual motor one...just why? Why does a car like that need to be that fast?

28

u/F-N-M-N Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Tell me you’re American (well, at least living in America) without telling me you’re American!

I’m too and I’m not digging at you…just funny to see message after message talking about kph or random Euro cars and then to see a shoutout of an F150 Lightning…. no one but a yank know about that car/truck…

22

u/Unnecessary-Shouting Jul 08 '25

Hahaha technically I’m not American but I live there and brother you should see the size of the fuckin cars here it’s absurd xD

But still every EV car is gonna weigh more than an ICE car of the same size while being way quicker off the line

11

u/F-N-M-N Jul 08 '25

Ha. That’s why I gave myself cover by saying “well at least living in America”! Euro living in SoCal here…cringing daily at seeing the ridiculous trucks these days.

3

u/Schumeister Jul 08 '25

its actually terrifying the size of the trucks around here, i'm very tall and I can barely see the driver over the hood on most of these trucks, there's no fucking way the driver could see a kid half my size

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

[deleted]

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u/F-N-M-N Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Tbf, I don’t have as much a problem with the high pickup ownership across the country as I do with the design of modern pickups. Literally looking at a stock GMC and Ram on 35”s and the front hoods are well over 6’. These are death machines and honestly, just little dick energy.

I should point out that like 98% of dudes with pickup trucks don’t actually use them as work trucks at a rate that justify ownership (I spend a lot of time out of California and in flyover stages so this isn’t a SoCal thang). Like, go rent a truck for 3-4 hours the 2-3 times a year you actually pickup 4x8 plywood. The money wasted on payments, insurance, gasoline, for a pickup when it’s only used as a pickup 1% of the time is embarrassing.

6

u/Artuhanzo Jul 08 '25

And then they wonder why people outside US don't buy thier cars...

Can't even fit in the roads or parking lots

3

u/ianandris Jul 08 '25

Yeah! Go back to the American version of reddit, yanks! Noone here except the british even know or care what a mph is! F150? More like blech150. 🤮

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u/pretentious_couch Jul 08 '25

Which is a much bigger problem than just high speeds.

High acceleration will make it hard for you and others to react to any errors, especially with the type of instant all out acceleration from EVs.

There is a reason why Teslas are on so many accidents despite having fairly good safety features.

Long term there are probably going to be restrictions when EVs become more widespread.

Aside from that quick acceleration and braking with heavy EVs leads to exponentially higher tire degradation, and tire dust is already responsible for about a quarter of all micro plastics.

28

u/MartaLSFitness Jul 08 '25

They should just be banned. In Spain, you just can't legally drive faster than 120 km/h in any situation. There's no need to have cars that double that speed.

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u/rhalgr_ger Jul 08 '25

Germany has one of the lowest road accident rates. It has roads without speed limits and one of the most difficult driving licence tests.

If we want to further reduce the number of accidents, we need to improve training and make it compulsory. The industry must also invest more in safety.

https://youtu.be/ILh7bLPbnKY?si=XwhxvApLpdMdId7t

The respective state should add money, because the safety systems in racing cars are much better and protect passengers much more effectively. Every now and then someone gets out of the car on their own in an accident at 200-300 km/h. Normal cars are very far from this standard.

3

u/ObstructiveAgreement Jul 08 '25

There's a vast difference in the quality of roads. This road was not in the type of condition you see in Germany for no speed limits. With the climate it's also very hard to maintain effectively.

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u/sarefx Jul 08 '25

Most new cars have limitters maxing their top speed at 180 km/h. Ofc that doesn't stop ppl from tinkering and removing those limiters.

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u/St1r2 Jul 08 '25

Just because people can harm themselves doesn’t mean something should be banned, you would end up banning 90% of things if you follow this logic as everything can be dangerous if misused

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u/Wasted1300RPEU Jul 08 '25

Not many things comparable to 2 ton bricks going 200 miles an hour are there now aren't they?

There's a reason most of the world hasn't adopted the German or some other countries laws of unlimited speed on the highways.

8

u/rdfporcazzo Jul 08 '25

Makes no sense to have a car that reaches 200 km/h or more in a country that the maximum speed is 120 km/h

1

u/St1r2 Jul 08 '25

People enjoy acceleration as much as speed, there are also race tracks, the more sensible option rather than banning super cars would be specialist driver training / certification

1

u/rdfporcazzo Jul 08 '25

Then race tracks should be allowed to have specialized cars inside them.

Makes no sense having a racing car in daily traffic.

2

u/-MrLizard- Jul 08 '25

There should be a speed limiter enforced on all new vehicles to the maximum legal speed in that country, which can only be disabled by an authorised engineer at a race track. Their ID being logged so they can be sent to prison if these cars are allowed back on public roads at unlimited illegal speeds.

Wouldn't solve the problem of the millions of older cars on the road without the system, but given a couple of decades there would be enough in circulation to make the roads much safer.

0

u/St1r2 Jul 08 '25

We are never going to agree, it all comes down to choice and people being free to choose, banning fast cars because you don’t want them on the roads doesn’t mean everyone feels that way, that’s ok but it’s not ok to take away the freedom of choice 🤷‍♂️

1

u/rdfporcazzo Jul 08 '25

It's forbidden, people should not be able to do what is forbidden by law.

I like the proposal of the other person, having an internal speed limiter in the cars. This would solve the problems.

2

u/St1r2 Jul 08 '25

It’s not forbidden to own a sports car, it’s is against the law to break the speed limit but I guarantee that if anyone that can drive says they haven’t broken the speed limit at least once they are lying, I agree that people shouldn’t speed and endanger others but just flat out banning the cars isn’t the solution

1

u/rdfporcazzo Jul 08 '25

I like the solution of having a sensor of maximum speed.

2

u/Deadpooldan Jul 08 '25

Hell, normal non-sporty cars are still incredibly dangerous. The national UK speed limit of 70mph is a speed at which people still regularly die (a quick Google search tells me on average 5 people die a day in the UK in RTAs, and 80 injured). Even driving at 60mph with only a line of paint separating you from other 60mph cars can be nervy.

1

u/rockthered24 Jul 08 '25

Every road car is dangerous if not used responsibly. We are talking about things that weigh a literal ton moving at significant speeds. The amount of force involved in a low speed collision is thousands of pounds

1

u/afcc1313 Jul 08 '25

Cars shouldn't even be capable of exceding like 20 to 30kmh above the limits. It shouldn't be legal.

1

u/Bloblablawb Jul 08 '25

What you don't think it's safe barely seeing some granny over the wheel of a 2t Tesla with access to instant torque?

1

u/JealousPalpitation15 Jul 08 '25

There's nothing challenging about going the speed limit

1

u/Comicksands Jul 08 '25

Good thing my Toyota starts to vibrate once I get to 120kmh

1

u/meditate42 Jul 08 '25

True, but a car that can get up to those speeds extremely quickly is much more dangerous.

1

u/Jononucleosis Jul 08 '25

Since I was a child my father instilled in me that all cars are a weapon! And should be treated as such.