# Tiger woods in very serious car crash **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** golf\ **Created:** [February 23, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579 "2021-02-23T19:55:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/241 "2021-04-08T15:45:52Z")
Had another car been in his trajectory, he wouldn’t have been treated with kid gloves. It was only chance that he didn’t kill or maim anyone else that day. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/242 "2021-04-08T15:46:16Z")
To me it seems more like a case of carelessness and not turning enough rather than the speed being too high and the car losing grip. If he was looking away from the road, it might be easy to not turn the wheel enough if the curve tightens or he may have relaxed his arm and the car drifted to the left. If there was a flat shoulder he may have been able to recover, but the car drifted into a raised median which greatly contributed to flipping the car. As soon as the left tire hit the median, the car is going to start rolling over. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/243 "2021-04-08T15:47:49Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > That only explains _how_ he went off the road, not what caused his poor judgment and inability to gauge road/speed conditions. Well, yes, but I’m looking at the totality. He didn’t _need_ to have any other factors involved. He could have just been in hurry (and we know he was) and drove too fast. I am _not_ saying I don’t think there’s any way there were no other factors involved. Just that there didn’t need to be. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/244 "2021-04-08T15:51:11Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I know we’ve discussed this ad nauseum, but I still smile every time I see references to the decision NOT to seek blood tests or cellphone records because there was no reason to believe they were involved (my paraphrasing). I’m no expert, but I’d suggest that the mere fact of a car going airborne is a pretty good indication that SOMETHING was going on and, absent mechanical failure or a reason to believe suicidal intent, some type of distraction would be reasonably likely. And substances and/or phone use are pretty much at the top of a short list of what I presume to be the most common distractions. I’d assume that absent some OTHER obvious cause, it would be pretty standard to rule out those two causes. I completely agree. Answering these questions should be part of any investigation of any major accident, especially one that posed such a great danger to the public. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/245 "2021-04-08T15:51:31Z")
Sure, I just find it astonishing that it wasn’t looked into at the time of the crash. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/246 "2021-04-08T15:57:40Z")
Get it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/247 "2021-04-08T16:09:18Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > The [pic in this link is not overly large](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/sports/golf/tiger-woods-speeding-car-crash.html), but it sure doesn’t look like a hairpin turn. > > Apparently the road has many hills and curves, but that looks like the kind of curve one takes almost unconsciously, rather than requiring a significant lessening of sped, changing hand positions on the wheel, etc. Here is a **[Google map](https://www.google.com/maps/place/33%C2%B047'08.3%22N+118%C2%B021'56.1%22W/@33.7856375,-118.3677789,1327m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d33.7856375!4d-118.3655902)** with a pin at the spot where he crossed the median while NE bound. “Driving” along Hawthorne Blvd in Street View mode from a couple miles back you can get an appreciation for the uphill part, the peak, and the downhill run towards the accident site. I also found a sign for a “runaway truck ramp 1/2 mile ahead” located about 1/4 mile before the accident location. Implying a non-trivial grade is involved here. The runaway ramp itself isn’t much to look at, but it would do the job if needed. It seems an odd place to have departed the road simply due to excess speed alone. I’d sooner believe something like head down fiddling with phone or car gizmos while drifting unnoticed to the median. When the car hit the raised median at that speed it was game over; It jumped into the air, perhaps starting to roll over and he’s flopping around in there like a ragdoll even if belted in. At which point it becomes plausible that his foot seeking the brake lands on the accelerator inadvertently and unnoticed. 3ish seconds later it’s all over. Now why he was that fast and what was distracting him and whether substances were involved or when in the accident sequence did he mash the accelerator are all questions the physical evidence we have about his car’s path and speed and location can’t answer. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/248 "2021-04-08T16:56:16Z")
Thx all. Doesn’t look like a terribly hazardous stretch. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/249 "2021-04-08T17:21:24Z")
It’s not terribly hazardous. Just not smart to do at speed. I know I’ve had to brake harder than I thought I needed to. It’s a deceptive downhill curve. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/250 "2021-04-08T17:46:03Z")
Yeah - makes sense. The kinda thing where you just think you can casually palm the wheel one-handed, and in the middle of the turn realize you have to drive more actively. Got it. I’m often surprised that more ultra rich folk don’t have professional drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/251 "2021-04-08T18:46:53Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I’m often surprised that more ultra rich folk don’t have professional drivers. I don’t like to drive. I like the _freedom_ of driving, I like that if I want to go somewhere I can get in my car and go there, no need to wait for a bus or worry about the schedule or take a long walk that might require hours. I appreciate the ability to drive. And my car is comfortable, easy to park, has good features, heck I love my car. And I’ve driven a sports car and I get how driving can theoretically be fun. But if I was rich and I could, I’d have someone drive me, because I don’t like the tedium of it, I don’t like the stress of dealing with idiots on the road, and so on. My wife though, she loves to drive. She’ll sometimes just drive somewhere to drive, as a form of recreation. She has very rarely ridden in my car because if we go somewhere together she’ll drive, because she enjoys it and I don’t. I imagine that if she were rich she’d still drive. I think some people just like to drive, even if they don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/252 "2021-04-08T20:14:51Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I think some people just like to drive, even if they don’t have to. Especially golfers. 😉 Those of us of a certain age will remember Lee Trevino hawking Bridgestone tires: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AnGDTbSvbmQ/hqdefault.jpg "Lee Trevino 1981 Bridgestone Tires Commercial") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnGDTbSvbmQ) Tagline: You can feel it when you drive! He also hawked Cadillacs and Chryslers. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/253 "2021-04-08T22:13:35Z")
Yeah, sure. But I always see the value in hiring people to do what they excel at. Plus you avoid ANY concern about DUIs, and are able to conduct business while traveling. Don’t have to worry about parking. Presumably, the pro driver will be less likely to get in accidents. I wonder how much Tiger the Gimp LOVES driving - if his reconstructed legs will ever be able to manipulate the pedals! Would your wife LOVE driving if she were running late for an appointment, trying to make time, maybe trying to conduct business at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/254 "2021-04-08T23:50:53Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Plus you avoid ANY concern about DUIs, and are able to conduct business while traveling. Don’t have to worry about parking. Presumably, the pro driver will be less likely to get in accidents. I recall a story about Philip Rivers, the long-time quarterback for the then-San Diego Chargers NFL team. He’s obviously a wealthy man but has simple tastes and drives an F-150 pickup. He’s also a devoted family man with a gaggle of kids still at home. When the team moved from San Diego to Los Angeles he was suddenly facing a 2+ hour drive from his San Diego home each way each workday. His solution was to buy a big SUV, install a video review studio in the back and have a driver haul him to the stadium or practice field in LA while he works on his film review and play rehearsal in the back. The net result is more usable time at home with family despite the commute. That’s working harder not smarter given big money. The rest of us have to make do with working on the commuter train. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/255 "2021-04-09T10:06:43Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Yeah, sure. But I always see the value in hiring people to do what they excel at. Plus you avoid ANY concern about DUIs, and are able to conduct business while traveling. Don’t have to worry about parking. Presumably, the pro driver will be less likely to get in accidents. Don’t discount the psychological attachment most Americans have to driving and the “freedom of the road”. My spouse had a business associate absolutely loaded with money who employed a professional driver (one time we visited his home he actually lent me his driver for the day so I could go sightseeing while the boys worked on a project) who, nonetheless, would sometimes drive himself and his wife/family around on his own. It’s unlikely that an American capable of driving would ever entirely give up driving. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > I wonder how much Tiger the Gimp LOVES driving - if his reconstructed legs will ever be able to manipulate the pedals! Yes, I spoilered your offensive term. But beyond that - there are these things called “hand controls” that Tiger is wealthy enough to have installed on any vehicle he owns. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > The net result is more usable time at home with family despite the commute. That’s working harder not smarter given big money. The rest of us have to make do with working on the commuter train. Don’t knock the commuter train - I did most of my studying for my pilot license written test on the commuter train. Also crocheted two bedspreads, a half dozen baby blankets, studied for a certification my then employer wanted me to have, and read more books than I can count during my time on the train. But yeah, I’m sure an giant SUV of my own would be more comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/256 "2021-04-09T12:41:15Z")
[Moderating] “Tiger the Gimp” is inappropriate. This is an official Warning for slurs. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/257 "2021-04-09T16:11:45Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Don’t knock the commuter train - I did most of my studying for my pilot license written test on the commuter train. Also crocheted two bedspreads, a half dozen baby blankets, studied for a certification my then employer wanted me to have, and read more books than I can count during my time on the train. But yeah, I’m sure an giant SUV of my own would be more comfortable. Due to my weird hours I can only rarely make use of our commuter train. But when I do ride it, a lot of 'Doping gets done. And sometimes other reading. My point was only that us schlubs have to settle for more plebian fare, not that time on the train is useless. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/258 "2021-04-25T05:30:23Z")
No new developments? Okay, I followed the man’s career on and off over the years, I can give my own half-baked take. 🙂 There are some nice parallels between this story and the “Frazzled” three-parter in Bloom County. That was the story of how Bill The Cat attained phenomenal success then, unable to deal with it responsibly, trashed it all through reckless behavior before dying in a horrific car crash. (And then Oliver Wendell Jones cloned him back into existence, but that’s not relevant to my point.) No matter how high you climb, no matter how rich or famous or beloved you get, there _will_ be adversity, and if you’re not emotionally equipped to deal with it, you’re going to hit the ground hard like anyone else. Only difference is that you have a lot farther to fall and are going to do a lot more damage. Tiger Woods has never been able to deal with adversity. Snapping at reporters, firing coaches, lashing out at anyone and anything that annoys him. Now his back issues are flaring up again with a vengeance and he’s no longer playing at an elite level. Seeing the end of the road can be absolutely _crushing_ for a prideful jock…remember the last days of Brett Favre, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Michelle Kwan, et al? Given all this, is it really that much of a surprise that Woods decided to take out his frustrations this way? Isn’t jumping in the car and mindlessly tearing up the road and possibly doing major damage one of the quintessential American downward spiral activities? Will he be back? Well, why would he want to? For the money? He only took one really big financial hit in his life, the divorce. While that certainly was a devastating blow (reportedly $100-$110 million, plus child support and his share of the mortgage), it’s one-time and happened when he was still a marquee name in the PGA. Since then there have been no reports of any financial boondoggles; no bad investments, no overpriced cars, no being taken by scammers. Also no more children. If he wanted, he could literally retire right now. For the adulation of his fans? Never seemed all that hungry for the attention and certainly isn’t now. To build support for a cause? He has none. Where was he during gay marriage, decriminalization of marijuana, hell, the entire Trump Administration? But what he does care about, what’s going to bring him back, is the majors record. He has 15 right now, and that’s just second best. He knows that, and he knows that the clock is ticking. If it takes six months, twelve months, eighteen, he will find a way to recover, drag himself back on the golf course, and take his stab at immortality. Probably won’t be easy to watch, but I think the networks will be too busy celebrating one last easy payday to care. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/259 "2021-04-25T05:40:10Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > No new developments? Woods released a photo of himself, in a walking boot and on crutches, on his Instagram account on Friday, along with a brief statement which didn’t say very much. [![](https://im.rediff.com/sports/2021/apr/24tiger.jpg?w=670&h=900) ](https://im.rediff.com/sports/2021/apr/24tiger.jpg?w=670&h=900) [https://www.instagram.com/p/COBhSUNj95S/?utm\_source=ig\_embed](https://www.instagram.com/p/COBhSUNj95S/?utm_source=ig_embed) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579/260 "2021-04-25T14:04:46Z")
At least he has one mostly intact leg. And he’s rockin’ a fine COVID beard! I’d bet @DKW pretty well nailed it. The real challenge for any aging athlete is to not tarnish their off-field brand too much. They may be able to afford to not work after age 40, but they may well want to work, just for the celebrity of it. And heck, being paid the big bucks to be a color commentator or talk show host or VP of somethingorother for the PGA can be pretty sweet gigs while there’s never such a thing as too much money. The problem for an aging athlete is they’re too famous for an ordinary non-publicly facing job and if they become too _in_famous they become toxic for the public-facing jobs too. They typically lack the business acumen and C-suite contacts to become a Board Member for hire for the Fortune 1000 set. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiger-woods-in-very-serious-car-crash/933579.md?page=14)