My Porsche Crash - A positive view
Discussion
Good morning all
Yesterday I was unfortunately involved in an RTI on the motorway, luckily no-one was injured.
My 987.2 Cayman S, with PDK and almost every option, didn’t fair so well and will most likely be written off. I’ll post a few pics and more details once insurance/police investigations are complete.
I am beyond gutted, having worked hard to get this car, truly my pride and joy, I feel sick just thinking of all the lost time, effort and work I went through to get it to the ‘almost perfect’ standard it was in. I just hope the insurance company will pay out a reasonable amount (updates to follow).
As the title says, there is a positive side to this, and that is the frankly amazing safety systems built into these cars. Without going into too much detail the rear of another car ended up on my bonnet and an inch (literally) from my windscreen after an incident that took place at an effective speed of around 40mph. Once the airbag was out the way I could see no movement or damage to any of the interior, the crumple zones did their bit and the structure bent away from the cockpit, keeping me safe.
I am literally unscathed, and a day later have no bruises, aches or pains anywhere.
So if you are unfortunate enough to have an incident in one of these, there is some comfort in knowing they have been built to keep you alive if the worst happens.
Updates to follow...
Yesterday I was unfortunately involved in an RTI on the motorway, luckily no-one was injured.
My 987.2 Cayman S, with PDK and almost every option, didn’t fair so well and will most likely be written off. I’ll post a few pics and more details once insurance/police investigations are complete.
I am beyond gutted, having worked hard to get this car, truly my pride and joy, I feel sick just thinking of all the lost time, effort and work I went through to get it to the ‘almost perfect’ standard it was in. I just hope the insurance company will pay out a reasonable amount (updates to follow).
As the title says, there is a positive side to this, and that is the frankly amazing safety systems built into these cars. Without going into too much detail the rear of another car ended up on my bonnet and an inch (literally) from my windscreen after an incident that took place at an effective speed of around 40mph. Once the airbag was out the way I could see no movement or damage to any of the interior, the crumple zones did their bit and the structure bent away from the cockpit, keeping me safe.
I am literally unscathed, and a day later have no bruises, aches or pains anywhere.
So if you are unfortunate enough to have an incident in one of these, there is some comfort in knowing they have been built to keep you alive if the worst happens.
Updates to follow...
OirishKev said:
Sorry to see this.
Did we wave at each other whilst heading east on Friday? I was in a White Cayman R?
Hi Kev, yes it might have been me. Hopefully not long till I can get back to waving in mutual appreciation again. Did we wave at each other whilst heading east on Friday? I was in a White Cayman R?
It’s not quite the same in my Hyundai Q10 (I think) courtesy car.
Yes that’s the one, a minor incident up ahead (bad lane change or similar) had a concertina effect, leading the chap in front to emergency stop to a standstill from 65.
I was a fair distance away, but when I realised he was coming to a stop it was too late, and there was a car in lane 2 so I couldn’t turn in as the incident would have been much worse!
Having had the time to reflect and review the dash cam footage, I don’t believe speed or distance to the car in front was the issue here. Bad lane discipline was the cause, we all see it every day and when it’s busy, as in my case, there is often no safe escape.
I was a fair distance away, but when I realised he was coming to a stop it was too late, and there was a car in lane 2 so I couldn’t turn in as the incident would have been much worse!
Having had the time to reflect and review the dash cam footage, I don’t believe speed or distance to the car in front was the issue here. Bad lane discipline was the cause, we all see it every day and when it’s busy, as in my case, there is often no safe escape.
Hi all. Many good points here and if you take an unemotional step back the facts were that I was too close to conduct an emergency stop, I’ve accepted that!
But my point in my first post was that the gap between us was on the safer side of a daily M27 commute. Obviously not safe enough and I learned the hard way.
I’ll post the video when I have the chance later today and please feel free to comment, it’ll be a good lesson to us all.
When you watch it look out for the emergency stop flashing brake lights on the Insignia in front, which in the heat of the moment, led me to believe momentarily that he had come off the brakes, delaying my reaction. We’ll never know how long this delayed my reaction by, but it was probably significant enough to increase the impact speed.
The good news is the insurance company have offered me a fair amount and I already have (quite a special) 987 CS lined up. Watch this space!
But my point in my first post was that the gap between us was on the safer side of a daily M27 commute. Obviously not safe enough and I learned the hard way.
I’ll post the video when I have the chance later today and please feel free to comment, it’ll be a good lesson to us all.
When you watch it look out for the emergency stop flashing brake lights on the Insignia in front, which in the heat of the moment, led me to believe momentarily that he had come off the brakes, delaying my reaction. We’ll never know how long this delayed my reaction by, but it was probably significant enough to increase the impact speed.
The good news is the insurance company have offered me a fair amount and I already have (quite a special) 987 CS lined up. Watch this space!
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/gQnWsE8y.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/nHp7EXI6" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/nHp7EXI6.jpg)
No problem I’m happy to accept my failings or argue my point either way. The nose of the car was reletavly unscathed, to the extent I was able to reclaim my Zunsport grills completely intact. The chassis bent slightly, and the rear hatch wouldn’t close hence the decision to write it off.
Photos to follow tonight.
Photos to follow tonight.
Apologies for lack of video, BT have excelled themselves by being unable to provide broadband or indeed any kind of telephony to my new build house since moving in a month ago. I'll be waiting till late Aug apparently.. I'll post the video IDC
I have now received my payout which was fairly generous, and picked up another 987.2 CS last night - with a few nice extras like carbon buckets seats and carbon illuminated sills, as well as the full suite of buttons under the AC.
I have to say Direct Line were rather good and it was all sorted with the money in my bank 20 days after the incident.
Many people have said never to accept the first offer and play the waiting game. I played it a little differently and bombarded them with information on day 1, from Parker's (£3.99 for a value including options), Autotrader and any other source I could find. I told them what I wanted and their first offer was a few hundred under, still £2500 more than I paid for the car in the first place.
I count myself very lucky to come out of this unscathed and with a few extra pounds to spend.
I have now received my payout which was fairly generous, and picked up another 987.2 CS last night - with a few nice extras like carbon buckets seats and carbon illuminated sills, as well as the full suite of buttons under the AC.
I have to say Direct Line were rather good and it was all sorted with the money in my bank 20 days after the incident.
Many people have said never to accept the first offer and play the waiting game. I played it a little differently and bombarded them with information on day 1, from Parker's (£3.99 for a value including options), Autotrader and any other source I could find. I told them what I wanted and their first offer was a few hundred under, still £2500 more than I paid for the car in the first place.
I count myself very lucky to come out of this unscathed and with a few extra pounds to spend.
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 :-(
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..."
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