OSHA is investigating the death of a driving instructor at an exotic car race track on Disney World property in Florida.
Gary Terry, an instructor and the operations manager at the track, died when he was a passenger in a Lamborghini driven by a track patron. The car’s passenger side hit a guardrail. Terry died at the scene.
Petty Holdings LLC operated the attraction where customers could drive one of several types of sports cars around the track. The company operates similar attractions at six other locations. The one at Disney was slated to close this summer, a decision unrelated to Terry’s death. The driver was treated and released from a local hospital.
Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is also investigating the crash and death.
Preliminary reports say both Terry and the driver were wearing seat belts and safety helmets.
The website Jalopnik says FHP has confirmed that the car was traveling the wrong way around the track – the opposite direction of how the track was designed to be run.
The FHP says there were several cameras mounted in and on the vehicle, and video shows Terry reached for the steering wheel moments before the crash to try to recover control of the car.
The car spun three times before it hit the barrier on the edge of the track.
Jalopnik says barriers are built on tracks to protect cars moving in one direction. If struck from a different side, they could “become deadly spears,” which the website reports is what may have happened here.
OSHA inspectors aren’t strangers to the Disney park in Florida.
In 2009, a monorail crash killed a Disney worker. Disney paid $35,200 in fines for four violations.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said human error was to blame for the monorail crash. A track switch wasn’t positioned properly.
The mother of the 21-year-old man who was killed in the monorail crash filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney. The mother and company agreed on a settlement. The terms weren’t released.