Nearly killed yesterday!
Discussion
Thought I'd take the car out for a trundle before work yesterday afternoon. Nice blue sky, country lanes etc. Took the A513 Alrewas to Tamworth road which is reasonably fun. Anyway, I enter the nationals and pop one car off so I've got a nice clear road in front.
As I crest the top of a hill the road dips down and bends to the right. Travelling in the opposite direction are several relatively slow moving cars. I know that at this point the lanes are divided by solid white lines.
The next thing I see is a F****** T*** in a silver Pug 406 estate (I think) overtaking this line of traffic and heading straight towards me!!!!!! He's got my lane and must be only 5-6 car lengths away. I've got nowhere to go as the road isn't that wide and I'm probably travelling at about 50-60mph. There's one thing I never want to try and that's testing the Griff's structural intergrity against another car etc, especially head on.
I brake and it locks up, I come off the brakes, apply them again and steer left, the Pugs still there and closer. I end up having to launch the car up the nearside kerb and we pass without even clipping wing mirrors! No thanks to F*** Face.
I come to a stop, turn round and go after the Pug to get their Reg. No. (honestly). Luckily for them I get stuck behind the cars he'd just overtaken and then at some roadworks. I gave up and stopped to check the car over. I'd managed to get away without damaging the tyre or alloy. I think this is more in part due to relatively high profile tyres and a sloped kerb face. Tracking's slightly out though. (I've since checked underneath and all appears in order, visually). Two of the cars that the Pug had been overtaking stopped to check that I was okay for which I thank them. I won't type their opinion of the Pug driver! Unfortunately nobody managed to get the reg.no. but you rarely get time.
That's the closest I've come to a big accident and you'd be surprised what goes through your mind. I certainly didn't have my life flash before my eyes, didn't have time! The car responded well in an emergency and basically got me out of the brown stuff. I'm impressed but still don't want to test it's structural strength!
Just goes to show you never know when your time may be up, ended by some complete nob head. The driver of the Pug didn't even stop. For all he knows I could have left the road, hit a tree and been killed. Good job I never found him after!
I hope I don't come across as a 'drama queen', this was merely my experience.
Regards RR.
I apologise for some of the language.
>>> Edited by Recon Ron on Thursday 9th September 08:01
As I crest the top of a hill the road dips down and bends to the right. Travelling in the opposite direction are several relatively slow moving cars. I know that at this point the lanes are divided by solid white lines.
The next thing I see is a F****** T*** in a silver Pug 406 estate (I think) overtaking this line of traffic and heading straight towards me!!!!!! He's got my lane and must be only 5-6 car lengths away. I've got nowhere to go as the road isn't that wide and I'm probably travelling at about 50-60mph. There's one thing I never want to try and that's testing the Griff's structural intergrity against another car etc, especially head on.
I brake and it locks up, I come off the brakes, apply them again and steer left, the Pugs still there and closer. I end up having to launch the car up the nearside kerb and we pass without even clipping wing mirrors! No thanks to F*** Face.
I come to a stop, turn round and go after the Pug to get their Reg. No. (honestly). Luckily for them I get stuck behind the cars he'd just overtaken and then at some roadworks. I gave up and stopped to check the car over. I'd managed to get away without damaging the tyre or alloy. I think this is more in part due to relatively high profile tyres and a sloped kerb face. Tracking's slightly out though. (I've since checked underneath and all appears in order, visually). Two of the cars that the Pug had been overtaking stopped to check that I was okay for which I thank them. I won't type their opinion of the Pug driver! Unfortunately nobody managed to get the reg.no. but you rarely get time.
That's the closest I've come to a big accident and you'd be surprised what goes through your mind. I certainly didn't have my life flash before my eyes, didn't have time! The car responded well in an emergency and basically got me out of the brown stuff. I'm impressed but still don't want to test it's structural strength!
Just goes to show you never know when your time may be up, ended by some complete nob head. The driver of the Pug didn't even stop. For all he knows I could have left the road, hit a tree and been killed. Good job I never found him after!
I hope I don't come across as a 'drama queen', this was merely my experience.
Regards RR.
I apologise for some of the language.
>>> Edited by Recon Ron on Thursday 9th September 08:01
I`ve actually been told if you are going to have a big one in a TVR, best do the head on rather than a sideways blow. Glad you`re ok though - what is it with these people whos` time seems to be so important to risk lives for?
No Police around I suppose - a speed camera would have helped surely?!
No Police around I suppose - a speed camera would have helped surely?!
iandbeech said:
I`ve actually been told if you are going to have a big one in a TVR, best do the head on rather than a sideways blow. Glad you`re ok though - what is it with these people whos` time seems to be so important to risk lives for?
No Police around I suppose - a speed camera would have helped surely?!
Very true this. Griffs and Chimps have a fairly long bonnet and a fairly short engine giving a front crumple zone longer than most cars. The fibreglass absorbs a lot of energy as it disintegrates, the steel chassis is immensely strong and the backbone construction creates a tuning fork which helps prevent the engine entering the passenger cell. Sideways, however, there is a single sheet of fibreglass between you and that lorry/tree entering the car at say 30mph. The huge central tunnel means your body has nowhere to go so you are literally the meat in the sandwich. This has killed plenty of Griff/Chimp owners and is why I sold my Griff. Current models have evolved and have fantastic side impact protection.
"speed kills" - No
"Imopatient moron ignoring highway code and road markings kills" - bloody nearly
Glad you managed to avoid and Griff not too badly injured
PS iandbeech - I had a bad side impact in a previous Chimaera six years ago on M40. Everything flew off car as it bounced and absorbed the crash. I walked away with two cracked ribs - would not like to try sharing the passenger compartment with engine
"Imopatient moron ignoring highway code and road markings kills" - bloody nearly
Glad you managed to avoid and Griff not too badly injured
PS iandbeech - I had a bad side impact in a previous Chimaera six years ago on M40. Everything flew off car as it bounced and absorbed the crash. I walked away with two cracked ribs - would not like to try sharing the passenger compartment with engine
Always the effing same isn't it; not the driver in powerful motor but some a-hole who is reluctant (at best) to slow down. At least when you've got that power at your disposal, you know when best to use it --- these twa@ts just have their foot on the floor the whole time.
And it's not just the 'business folk 'pressed for time', hoow many times have you been held up on a decent A or B road by someone doing 50 only then to enter a restricted zone and the dickhead sails off into the distance doing the very same speed?!!
And it's not just the 'business folk 'pressed for time', hoow many times have you been held up on a decent A or B road by someone doing 50 only then to enter a restricted zone and the dickhead sails off into the distance doing the very same speed?!!
Nothing excuses the Pug driver, but I expect the only reason it happened (apart from his bad judgement of course) was the crocodile of slow-moving cars. And guess what caused that... an unreasonably low speed limit perchance? Humans being what they are, it's going to happen.
Edited to add: congrats on having more driving ability than all of them put together, thus saving your own skin and probably his
>> Edited by simpo two on Thursday 9th September 09:21
Edited to add: congrats on having more driving ability than all of them put together, thus saving your own skin and probably his
>> Edited by simpo two on Thursday 9th September 09:21
Glad your OK !
I went up North recently, driving up the A9 which is notorious for 'car trains' - usually stuck behind a couple of lorries or numpties pulling caravans. I saw several suicidal overtaking manouvers resulting in close head-on collisions like the one you described.
First time I've take the Tiv up there and I've never felt more comfortable overtaking on that road.....it's true, acceleration saves lives
I went up North recently, driving up the A9 which is notorious for 'car trains' - usually stuck behind a couple of lorries or numpties pulling caravans. I saw several suicidal overtaking manouvers resulting in close head-on collisions like the one you described.
First time I've take the Tiv up there and I've never felt more comfortable overtaking on that road.....it's true, acceleration saves lives
simpo two said:
Nothing excuses the Pug driver, but I expect the only reason it happened (apart from his bad judgement of course) was the crocodile of slow-moving cars. And guess what caused that... an unreasonably low speed limit perchance? Humans being what they are, it's going to happen.
Edited to add: congrats on having more driving ability than all of them put together, thus saving your own skin and probably his
>> Edited by simpo two on Thursday 9th September 09:21
Recon Ron said:
I know that at this point the lanes are divided by solid white lines.
No, I disagree, we had our car wiped out on a blind bend, double whites, brow of a hill by some power-ranger who thought he was Barry effing Sheen -- head on. That's why the whites are there, they give you a clue as to what you aren't able to see.
Recon Ron said:
The next thing I see is a F****** T*** in a silver Pug 406 estate (I think) overtaking this line of traffic and heading straight towards me!!!!!! He's got my lane and must be only 5-6 car lengths away. I've got nowhere to go as the road isn't that wide and I'm probably travelling at about 50-60mph.
That's the closest I've come to a big accident and you'd be surprised what goes through your mind.
OMG exactly the same thing happened to me a few months ago 
A bloke in a Cavalier swung out to overtake 4 cars despite the fact that myself and a BMW were travelling towards him at approx. 70mph. It was a long straight road, he should have had perfect vision and realised it was not safe. The BMW was in front of me and even though we both took immediate evasive action - ie, hit the brakes and pray (like you there was nowhere to go), it was such a close call that we ended up at a complete standstill on an A road with the BMW sideways on to me.
Unlike you, apart from braking - and it all happened in seconds - the only thing in my head was my family and the fact I was going to die.
Trevor (my Chim!) was fantastic - he saved me! The brake pedal was as heavy as anything and it reached the point where I couldn't depress it any further. But he didn't lock up, or swerve (although he squirmed!) and as I counted down the seconds to impact with the BMW, he finally stopped about 6" inches from the side of the beemer.
The chap in the BMW got out to check I was okay and I remember sitting there feeling completely numb as if it hadn't really happened to me (us)
The
in the Cavalier never stopped. What a surprise. I despair I really do. Glad you are OK..
If you want to catch the guy - people often travel the same road frequently .. park up and wait for the 'pug' to go past..
I had a similar experience on a B road ..
Went round a corner at 60 in the Griff and found
my side of the road full of a Volvo estate overtaking a tractor or a blind bend..
I have no idea how we all missed each other as it was a fairly narrow road.. but I now travel a wee bit slower !
If you want to catch the guy - people often travel the same road frequently .. park up and wait for the 'pug' to go past..
I had a similar experience on a B road ..
Went round a corner at 60 in the Griff and found
my side of the road full of a Volvo estate overtaking a tractor or a blind bend..
I have no idea how we all missed each other as it was a fairly narrow road.. but I now travel a wee bit slower !
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