My Porsche Crash - A positive view
Discussion
Your right OP.
The safety cell of modern sof tops are amazing.
Not my Porsche thankfully but I crashed a MK3 mr2 in a very heavy crash. Flipped the car end over end a couple of times then barrel rolled back down the motorway banking onto the hard shoulder.
Very panel on the car was damaged with the front and back taking large impacts during the flips.
Once back on its wheels, the doors still worked !
The safety cell of modern sof tops are amazing.
Not my Porsche thankfully but I crashed a MK3 mr2 in a very heavy crash. Flipped the car end over end a couple of times then barrel rolled back down the motorway banking onto the hard shoulder.
Very panel on the car was damaged with the front and back taking large impacts during the flips.
Once back on its wheels, the doors still worked !
Thank you for sharing the YouTube footage OP - sorry you had to endure that.
Always useful to see if sth could be done differently but it doesn’t look like you had anywhere to go. From an instructor’s perspective i can see you were leaving just under a 2 second gap (2 second rule is useful) so the only thing would be to try to look as far as we reasonably can in front of the car you’re immediately following to give yourself more time. Not always possible/easy of course.
I was also thrown a bit by the brake lights flashing on the car in front - was that a factor? Looks like that’s not the driver’s input tho’, that appears to be new ‘emergency brake flashing’ technology that some manufacturers are employing now - similar to the hazards coming on (which I prefer I think as it’s more consistent).
The chap in the vectra certainly pulled up quickly - have you any feeling regarding the performance of your brakes/tyres looking back? Can’t tell from the footage if ABS worked and prevented lockup.
Anyway, hope you’re back on the road in sth suitably Porsche flavoured soon guv’nor!
Always useful to see if sth could be done differently but it doesn’t look like you had anywhere to go. From an instructor’s perspective i can see you were leaving just under a 2 second gap (2 second rule is useful) so the only thing would be to try to look as far as we reasonably can in front of the car you’re immediately following to give yourself more time. Not always possible/easy of course.
I was also thrown a bit by the brake lights flashing on the car in front - was that a factor? Looks like that’s not the driver’s input tho’, that appears to be new ‘emergency brake flashing’ technology that some manufacturers are employing now - similar to the hazards coming on (which I prefer I think as it’s more consistent).
The chap in the vectra certainly pulled up quickly - have you any feeling regarding the performance of your brakes/tyres looking back? Can’t tell from the footage if ABS worked and prevented lockup.
Anyway, hope you’re back on the road in sth suitably Porsche flavoured soon guv’nor!
Yep, I’m not sure those flashing brake lights are a good idea, but looks like we’ll have to adjust.
e.g.
https://youtu.be/HNRjUfm2oG0
e.g.
https://youtu.be/HNRjUfm2oG0
Fl0pp3r said:
...so the only thing would be to try to look as far as we reasonably can in front of the car you’re immediately following to give yourself more time.
Indeed, it is the anticipation mostly, you really are not able to see what is going on beyond the car in front of you? Boxster seating position is too low for busy motorway routes, so when there are mini-vans, vans or much taller vehicles in front of you it's a hassle. (I used to commute between London - Cambridge with my old 986 for years, so had massive visibility difficulties during busy/rainy winter days.)Glad you are OK, it's just the car at end.
Fl0pp3r said:
I was also thrown a bit by the brake lights flashing on the car in front - was that a factor? Looks like that’s not the driver’s input tho’, that appears to be new ‘emergency brake flashing’ technology that some manufacturers are employing now - similar to the hazards coming on (which I prefer I think as it’s more consistent).
The chap in the vectra certainly pulled up quickly - have you any feeling regarding the performance of your brakes/tyres looking back? Can’t tell from the footage if ABS worked and prevented lockup.
Anyway, hope you’re back on the road in sth suitably Porsche flavoured soon guv’nor!
I can see the thinking behind the flashing brake lights but does give rise to some doubt regarding what the driver was doing, especially when fractions of a second matter - I agree that flashing hazards in addition to solid brake lights is safer and more consistent.
WRT the brakes and tyres, I'm happy my new(ish) PS2's and brakes did a good job, ABS kicked in and the only skid marks were from after I hit the car in front.
I still drive over the skid marks every day I drive home from work :-(
OP, you seem to have been adhering to the 'two seconds' rule. But was your view ahead any better than that of the dashcam? In the video all I could see of the traffic ahead in lane 3 was the back of the car in front.. which looks like the only warning you had of anything untoward that might be going on ahead. I suggest it is good practice to hang back further to see (much) more.
On an M-way I drive with almost as much attention to what the traffic is doing a quarter mile or more ahead as I do to what's going on around me. If I can't see enough I drop back. If someone fills the gap I've left I drop back again...
On an M-way I drive with almost as much attention to what the traffic is doing a quarter mile or more ahead as I do to what's going on around me. If I can't see enough I drop back. If someone fills the gap I've left I drop back again...
Maxym said:
OP, you seem to have been adhering to the 'two seconds' rule. But was your view ahead any better than that of the dashcam? In the video all I could see of the traffic ahead in lane 3 was the back of the car in front.. which looks like the only warning you had of anything untoward that might be going on ahead. I suggest it is good practice to hang back further to see (much) more.
On an M-way I drive with almost as much attention to what the traffic is doing a quarter mile or more ahead as I do to what's going on around me. If I can't see enough I drop back. If someone fills the gap I've left I drop back again...
Completely agree and generally I do the same (I have actually timed the gap using a lamppost in the video and it's just under 2 secs).On an M-way I drive with almost as much attention to what the traffic is doing a quarter mile or more ahead as I do to what's going on around me. If I can't see enough I drop back. If someone fills the gap I've left I drop back again...
I'd also say (not as a defence but an observation) that as a road undulates and bends, visibility increases and decreases and its often dangerous to change your speed at every change. We all regularly take calculated risks in these situations, and this time it didn't work out. The important point here though is that it was a calculated risk, blindly adhering to the 2-second rule, or indeed any rule, is more dangerous when the unexpected happens (i.e. do we learn any kind of avoiding action or what to do when it all goes wrong in our driving lessons? Trying to think back 15 odd years but don't think I did??)
Anyway, the holes in the cheese aligned against me in this instance, a bad experience but one that I can use to stop it happening again.
The Dangerous Elk said:
It is not a blanket 2 second gap, it is about forward vision.
Teaching this mantra just keeps eyes fixed on the car in front only. Ride a M'Bike for a bit if you want to learn "anticipation".
Reminds me of my favourite quote:Teaching this mantra just keeps eyes fixed on the car in front only. Ride a M'Bike for a bit if you want to learn "anticipation".
"...[Rules] are for the obedience of fools and guidance of wise men..."
gwsinc said:
Completely agree and generally I do the same (I have actually timed the gap using a lamppost in the video and it's just under 2 secs).
I'd also say (not as a defence but an observation) that as a road undulates and bends, visibility increases and decreases and its often dangerous to change your speed at every change. We all regularly take calculated risks in these situations, and this time it didn't work out. The important point here though is that it was a calculated risk, blindly adhering to the 2-second rule, or indeed any rule, is more dangerous when the unexpected happens (i.e. do we learn any kind of avoiding action or what to do when it all goes wrong in our driving lessons? Trying to think back 15 odd years but don't think I did??)
Anyway, the holes in the cheese aligned against me in this instance, a bad experience but one that I can use to stop it happening again.
Fair do's OP. Enough 'mea culpa'! I'd also say (not as a defence but an observation) that as a road undulates and bends, visibility increases and decreases and its often dangerous to change your speed at every change. We all regularly take calculated risks in these situations, and this time it didn't work out. The important point here though is that it was a calculated risk, blindly adhering to the 2-second rule, or indeed any rule, is more dangerous when the unexpected happens (i.e. do we learn any kind of avoiding action or what to do when it all goes wrong in our driving lessons? Trying to think back 15 odd years but don't think I did??)
Anyway, the holes in the cheese aligned against me in this instance, a bad experience but one that I can use to stop it happening again.
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