Friday 2nd June 2006

Speed not cause of accident shock

Overtake damages Porsche and TVR

---

Gratuitous pic of a TVR Tuscan

Accidents can happen that don't involve speeding: it's official.

A potentially nasty accident occurred near Covingham, Wilts, recently, with the result that a Porsche 911 and a TVR Tuscan were damaged -- the Porsche looks likely to be a write-off. No-one was hurt.

The incident was the result of a poorly-judged overtaking manoeuvre by the driver of a blue hatchback, who forced the two sports cars into another car as a result.

The policeman who attended the scene of the alleged hit-and-run is reported by the local paper to have said: "There's no suggestion of any speed involved, it's just a case of an overtake being taken a little bit late."

Well, that's all right then.

• This is Swindon reports

[ubergreg]

"... it's just a case of an overtake being taken a little bit late."



Monkeys, all of them.

[autismuk]

Well, that PC is going to be in the dole queue Monday ....

[puggit]

[deva link]

Very strange incident - so the TVR didn't slow enough and shoved the Porsche across the road into the Merc (even though by then the blue hatchback had already passed the red car in front of the Merc)?

[justinp1]

autismuk said:

Well, that PC is going to be in the dole queue Monday ....

Probably not, most likely headhunted for the spin dept of the local camera partnership.

[pridmorej]

It is me or is the quality of news articles the past couple of days a bit crap?

The Porsche wasn't towing a caravan was it?

[spnracing]

pridmorej said:

It is me or is the quality of news articles the past couple of days a bit crap?

Indeed - what a bizarre story to make a headline of.

And if the TVR hit the Porsche - why wasn't he at least partially to blame? Mo matter what happened he should have left enough distance to the car in front to stop safely.

[donteatpeople]

No speed involved? Just three stationary cars involved in a crash with another stationary car leaving the scene, still remaining stationary. Hmm, who would have thought you could make such a mess of a porsche without ANY speed being involved.

[mrenaut]

Can anyone work out what the point of putting three metres of red and white tape on the crashed Porsche was? Did it crash through the tape (!) or did the police attending feel there was a possibility of large numbers of people attempting to climb over the Porsche?

I agree it's a slow news day

[puggit]

mrenaut said:

Can anyone work out what the point of putting three metres of red and white tape on the crashed Porsche was? Did it crash through the tape (!) or did the police attending feel there was a possibility of large numbers of people attempting to climb over the Porsche? I agree it's a slow news day

I guess it might make it more visible at night - especially as all the more visible areas such as lights are smashed to buggery

[summit7]

Just goes to show why you need to keep a safety zone around your car (2 second rule) AND be able to stop within the distance you can see. Yes the guy overtaking that caused it is a complete idiot who needs retraining BUT no excuse for the TVR to hit anything in front of him - if he had applied the two simple rules above dispite the idiot in the blue car he would have been safe.

[deva link]

summit7 said:

Just goes to show why you need to keep a safety zone around your car (2 second rule) AND be able to stop within the distance you can see. Yes the guy overtaking that caused it is a complete idiot who needs retraining BUT no excuse for the TVR to hit anything in front of him - if he had applied the two simple rules above dispite the idiot in the blue car he would have been safe.

I wondered if the Porsche driver stopped a bit heavily and un-neccessarily (perhaps somehow 'making a point') when the TVR driver didn't expect it (as the blue car had gone)?

[jazzyjeff]

deva link said:

summit7 said: Just goes to show why you need to keep a safety zone around your car (2 second rule) AND be able to stop within the distance you can see. Yes the guy overtaking that caused it is a complete idiot who needs retraining BUT no excuse for the TVR to hit anything in front of him - if he had applied the two simple rules above dispite the idiot in the blue car he would have been safe. I wondered if the Porsche driver stopped a bit heavily and un-neccessarily (perhaps somehow 'making a point') when the TVR driver didn't expect it (as the blue car had gone)?

That may well have been the case...but it would still have been the TVR driver's fault!

No tailgatey

[cdp]

So it's OK to overtake in the face of oncoming drivers as long as you're under the speed limit?

The effects of the anti-speed propaganda beggars belief.

[davy9449]

"There's no suggestion of any speed involved, it's just a case of an overtake being taken a little bit late."

Once again it appears that incompetence has got off lightly. The fact that this half-wit in the hatchback had got his manoeuvre incompetently wrong means that there will be probably no reprimand and also no lesson to be learned. What will the law say, 'oh, it's not your fault you can't drive, be more careful next time you overtake on this stretch'!! Off they go, free to be oblivious to what other carnage they can leave in their wake.....

Also, if the car was say a blue Micra hatchback, it should be banned for overtaking full stop! They are slow, and I know the type of people that drive them. I'm currently sat next to one!

[vipers]

davy9449 said:

"There's no suggestion of any speed involved, it's just a case of an overtake being taken a little bit late."

Yes thats what it said, but how do they know how fast the car was going. Talking of which there is just a slim chance the driver was unaware of the mess he left behind, hense didnt stop.

The only certain info I gleened from the article, which has been picked up on anyway, is the TVR was too close to stop in time.

Notwithstanding the blue car, suposing an animal had jumped out of the hedge, the Porsche would probably still have anchored up, (natural reaction) and the TVR would still have rear ended him?

Fortunately it seems, neither were going fast, and nobody got hurt thank goodness.

[wildoliver]

Bet the polices reaction would have been different if the blue car had been the porsche or the tvr!

[davy9449]

vipers said:

davy9449 said: "There's no suggestion of any speed involved, it's just a case of an overtake being taken a little bit late." Yes thats what it said, but how do they know how fast the car was going. Talking of which there is just a slim chance the driver was unaware of the mess he left behind, hense didnt stop. The only certain info I gleened from the article, which has been picked up on anyway, is the TVR was too close to stop in time. Notwithstanding the blue car, suposing an animal had jumped out of the hedge, the Porsche would probably still have anchored up, (natural reaction) and the TVR would still have rear ended him? Fortunately it seems, neither were going fast, and nobody got hurt thank goodness.

Yes, Ok but he article clearly says a 'late overtaking manoeuvre by a blue hatchback.' We can only go on what information we have, regardless whether the TVR was too close or not! Take your point though, he may have been too close!

[loach]

Sh1t. That 911 looks like an Anniversary Edition (1988, with G50 box, special paint, and Ferry Porsche autographs stitched onto the headrests). There aren't many nice exapmles of those to start with, and now it seems there's one less. Booo.

[vipers]

davy9449 said:

Yes, Ok but he article clearly says a 'late overtaking manoeuvre by a blue hatchback.' We can only go on what information we have, regardless whether the TVR was too close or not! Take your point though, he may have been too close!

Thinking things through as one does, could also have been some kind of brake failure or something, I dont think we drive too close for the sake of it. Main thing is though nobody was hurt.