Safety by design- living to tell the tale

[Litespeed]

Not aero related -

 

But given it was a big G load moment and my love of safety by design, I thought I would post about a incident yesterday.

 

A very sad day for my best mate and the auto love of his life, but a big day for getting away with still living bodies.

 

I was driving my friends e38 740i to see a rather famous engineer and check on progress of a famous racing car recreation. My friend and car owner- Mike, was passenger, I his driver due to health issues. The car was his very special and rare 7 series- a short wheelbase model and one of 6 in the country. It was pristine as from the factory and only 80,ooo kms from new-21 years old. But had substantial mods to suspension and brakes- this baby really handled. I had personally done the suspension and big brembo brakes and it really danced.

 

Going through a main intersection at Windsor Rd, Windsor at 50kmh, no problems except a 4WD ute coming the opposite direction cut across my path to turn in front of me. It was doing 40-50 kmh and did not slow just hooked it around the corner and head on it to me. Bugger- no chance of missing her and a 90-100kmh impact approaching- I managed to slam the brakes but took off bugger all speed.

 

Slam, explosion of airbags and a big white ute has wrecked my day and mates car.

 

Given the speed involved and the other car type, a lucky day indeed. The Ute struck us via its big arse bull bar, and then its chassis, as such not much ability to absorb the G load of imact. The big Bmw took all the forces and absorbed it with style. It might look bad but bar my arm hitting the a pillar and bruising- no injuries for anyone.

 

The BMW took all the force as designed and kept the occupants "shaken not stirred" , same car as featured in James Bond and the Transporter. This is the first of the modern BMW's with all the modern safety stuff, airbags, pyrotechnic seatbelts etc.

 

[ATTACH]47743._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

And here is the "carnage"

 

Got to love modern safety. Ambos, cops and tow truck all agreed- big hit and expected injuries or worse. A similar vintage Falcodore would not have been pretty.

 

Now after a wake for the car last night it is fighting time with insurance.

 

My friend is pissed, this was his car he intended to keep til pushing daises.

 

Naturally the other driver "did not see me". The big piss off is having caused a potentially fatal accident, as no one was ambulanced away- no charges will be laid. So this 22 year old girl gets no punishment.

 

To add insult , in the aftermath someone went to the car and stole my bike jacket including glasses and wallet. I loved that jacket- 28 years of patina and lots of riding memories.

 

Had the timing been slightly different and we struck her door, this would have been very nasty for the girls in the ute . Its cabin (separate to chassis) would have taken all the force, been crushed and probably flipped it.

 

So a lucky say for all us humans.

 

Hard to see in pic but the bullbar and chassis/suspension took all the hit- it is badly twisted underneath.

 

It is 28 years since my last big hit and that was airborne in a charger, chopping a pole in half and landing with power lines on car, naturally sparking away. No injuries except glass in my face, definitely cheated the reaper that day.

 

Bugger

 

[Ultralights]

Give me a modern car any day over an old solid built like a brick outhouse older car.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Bad day but as you say, no real injuries and that's the main thing. No matter how special it is, a car/plane/bike/boat is only a machine and can be replaced. Great outcome for you and your mate.

 

 

[SDQDI]

As far as the no ambulance no charges thing, things must be different to up here in nsw. My better half did the no seeing thing and pulled out in front of a car and got cleaned up, no one was hurt luckily but she still got the neg driving charge.

 

I can see both sides as far as should they or shouldn't they be charged and IMO it would be nice if the officers of the day could exercise a little more discretion. Obviously for the involved parties there will be always bias to one side or the other one side innocent and getting their car damaged (insurance can replace a car but it isn't really the same and obviously some one offs will be unreplaceable) obviously want the offending party charged whereas the offending party generally extremely sorry for stuffing up. Obviously blatant lawbreaking like drink driving or similar should be charged but how many of us have lucky escapes from times when we have genuinely missed seeing someone?

 

Just today I nearly got cleaned up by a truck in a 100k zone, I was coming towards a main road and was going to turn left and my view to the right was clear and unobstructed and I could see that there was no one coming so I kept rolling and pulled straight around the corner and instantly had to swerve hard left to get off the road as a truck was overtaking a car and was right beside it and with only just enough room for me to get off the road before they both whistled past. Who was at fault? IMO the truck would have been in the wrong as at the intersection was double lines and he shouldn't have been overtaking but that wouldn't have helped me as I was only in the mighty mirage (I weigh more than it does!) so wouldn't have ended well at all. And really if I had looked both ways it wouldn't have even been a near miss as I would've obviously just stopped and waited for them to go past.

 

Accidents are never fun. Old K and I are in the local rescue squad in YQDI and see our fair share of them which as he mentioned in another thread does make you more careful but I know for sure I still stuff up regularly and we are all human.

 

 

[Litespeed]

Yes a good result for life.

 

As charges go- this is in NSW- they say it is all about reducing police paperwork and time. But that did not stop 8 cops coming to the seen and hanging around. NO statements taken, no nothing- all between the drivers they say and insurance. I wanted a statement to demonstrate who was at fault but they refused- not their problem unless someone is hospitalized.

 

What a joke.

 

 

[johnm]

don't know sdqdi - i'd like to know that answer too (I think you might have been in the wrong)

 

if the truck was allowed to pass (there were no white lines) ................

 

............... what you described is not taught to many - you should look both ways before entering that road. Its russian roulette out there with the circumstance you describe

 

 

[SDQDI]

don't know sdqdi - i'd like to know that answer too (I think you might have been in the wrong)

if the truck was allowed to pass (there were no white lines) ................

 

............... what you described is not taught to many - you should look both ways before entering that road. Its russian roulette out there with the circumstance you describe

The main road that the truck was on had double lines for the intersection (100 yards or so I guess) so overtaking should have been a no no but I know myself I have overtaken past intersections that have had double lines so I can't complain too much but YES I should've looked both ways regardless. It is a bit similar when driving through roundabouts, theoretically you should be able to enter a roundabout safely by checking that no one is coming from the right but there is always the risk someone doesn't see you on their right and can cut in so a good lookout is paramount to safety.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Glad you are OK Litespeed! A friend of mine has one of these older 7 series (not sure exactly which) sitting in her garage, in great condition but apparently some mechanical issue which is too expensive to repair. It used to belong to a foreign government official & was an import with full bullet proof glass etc.