Long Valley driver killed when car flips in Washington Twp.
Dodge Viper overturns, hurts passenger.
WASHINGTON TWP. --A Long Valley man was killed after crashing his Dodge Viper on East Valleybrook Road, injuring a passenger from Budd Lake, police said Saturday.
John D. Bruyere, 45, was pronounced dead at the scene Friday night from head injuries sustained during the crash, police said. They do not know why the 2006 Viper crossed the centerline of the roadway and overturned, coming to rest upside down in the front yard of a private residence.
Paul D. Lenz, 45, of Budd Lake, was taken to Morristown Memorial Hospital for head and facial injuries. A hospital spokesman listed him in good condition Saturday night.
The accident happened just before 7:30 p.m.
Sgt. Douglas Compton said police still don't know what caused the accident.
"It's a two-lane road, a country road ... with a little bit of a pronounced curve," Compton said. "At this point everything is still under investigation and we have no idea."
Compton said toxicology tests are being conducted, which is standard procedure in a case like this.
Bruyere, who previously lived in Mount Olive, was the owner and founder of Earth Management, an excavation company in Long Valley.
He leaves behind his wife, Susan, and a daughter, Meghan.
In 1998, I was a passenger in brand new Viper coupe. This car belonged to a kid (18). We had raced a few times against my Corvette so I felt he had sufficient seat time(at the time I had never been in a Viper). In the first two minutes of him driving me, he overpowered the rear tires and we spun 180 degrees slamming into a palm tree backwards at about 45-60 miles per hour. We were both unharmed. I don't know if the car was totaled. It is sobering to think what could have happened if he lost control at a slightly different area or speed.
This should be a humble reminder of our fragile mortality.
To FLIP a car in a residential area requires stupidity on the end of the driver...
The issue of stability control would not save more lives in a viper...it would only give people the false assurance that they could drive like idiots....
You always hear about these accidents with "passenger in the car"...because 9/10 times its some guy trying to show off what his "viper can do"....
While accidents like this are tragic....I'm just glad no one else was killed innocently....
I get so annoyed when I watch the news and the fault behind EVERY accident is that car "lost control"....SURE...cars just LOOSE CONTROL by themselves...had nothing to do with the driver going 100mph around a turn or anything......
The driver makes 95% of the difference in dertmining how safe any car is...
Sure a real rollbar would be nice...but I wouldnt feel more comfortable about flipping the car if it did.....
Moral of the story...don't flip your viper...dont drive like an idiot
2006 Viper flips and driver dies in New Jersey
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