Another new Toyota Supra has met an untimely demise after what should have been a simple test drive last week. The driver lost control of the car and smashed into a tree, presumably at high speed.
The accident took place on Cathedral Avenue in Garden City, New York, which is about one mile from Millennium Toyota. In a statement to The Drive, the dealership confirms that it was one of their cars that was involved in the accident, a red, new Supra, with the manager insisting that both people inside were fine.
The Garden City Fire Department, the first-responders at the scene, would beg to differ: the passenger had to be extricated out of the wreck with the jaws of life, and has sustained serious leg injuries. He is now at the local hospital.
The specifics of the accident make it even stranger: this car barely made it one mile (1.6 km) out of the dealer when it crashed into a tree, so yes, speed was most probably a factor. Commenters on the Fire Department post on social media note that the speed limit on that particular stretch of the road where the accident happened is of 30 mph (48 kph), so for the car to take this kind of damage (parts from it were thrown 100 feet / 30 meters away), it had to be coming in at great speed.
Another strange thing is that, with sports cars like the Supra, dealers don’t usually let potential customers drive themselves. The salesperson will take the car for a short spin with the customer in the passenger seat – that is, assuming they agree to let a $55,000+ car off the lot in the first place.
This wasn’t the case here: reports suggest the salesperson was sitting in the passenger seat and the customer was driving. The Millennium Toyota manager would not confirm this, saying they couldn’t release more details out of respect for the victims’ privacy. He wouldn’t even say if one of the victims was on their staff.
All things considered, a totaled brand new Toyota Supra turned out to be a best case scenario-type of crash.
The Garden City Fire Department, the first-responders at the scene, would beg to differ: the passenger had to be extricated out of the wreck with the jaws of life, and has sustained serious leg injuries. He is now at the local hospital.
The specifics of the accident make it even stranger: this car barely made it one mile (1.6 km) out of the dealer when it crashed into a tree, so yes, speed was most probably a factor. Commenters on the Fire Department post on social media note that the speed limit on that particular stretch of the road where the accident happened is of 30 mph (48 kph), so for the car to take this kind of damage (parts from it were thrown 100 feet / 30 meters away), it had to be coming in at great speed.
Another strange thing is that, with sports cars like the Supra, dealers don’t usually let potential customers drive themselves. The salesperson will take the car for a short spin with the customer in the passenger seat – that is, assuming they agree to let a $55,000+ car off the lot in the first place.
This wasn’t the case here: reports suggest the salesperson was sitting in the passenger seat and the customer was driving. The Millennium Toyota manager would not confirm this, saying they couldn’t release more details out of respect for the victims’ privacy. He wouldn’t even say if one of the victims was on their staff.
All things considered, a totaled brand new Toyota Supra turned out to be a best case scenario-type of crash.