First, I will have to say never drive behind someone too closely. If you think you're safe, you’re not far enough back – know you’re a safe distance.

Today coming home from a quick jaunt to the store, I had one hell of an accident that involved no one but BLU MENE (my MCS) and me.

I will take blame for what happened, but I will not say I was responsible for the accident.

While accelerating to 45/50 MPH, and that’s the posted speed limit (45 MPH), shifting gears, an individual didn’t tap the brakes of their car, but did a full lock up to make a turn they had missed. I was focusing on the green light and did not expect this.

Not wanting to do damage to this thoughtful motorist, I also slammed my brakes and noticed the chatter that happens when your brakes say HEY, I’M NOT GOING TO STOP YOU IN TIME. So I turned my car to the curb, but I was lucky at that point (only that point).

There was a driveway entrance – COOL, I’ve dodged a bullet. No such luck. Going up the driveway was gravel and after that was grass / dirt. Physics lesson here kiddies; an object in motion stays in motion until…

Anyway I went down a small culvert and up the other side hitting the outboard motor of a boat in a parking area of a boat repair shop.

Our hero went on down the road realizing it was not the turn they wanted and never knew what had transpired behind them. In fact no one saw what happened. Two people did notice something wrong so asked if I needed any help. I told them I was fine and one of the people was more interested in the damage to the boat than myself – go figure.

No airbags deployed and I drove the MCS home and is still drivable except for all the damage to the front and drivers side.

The lesson is do not drive behind anyone to close – Please.

PS. This is the only true accident I’ve had in my life and it was nasty. The MINI crashed GREAT. Anyone out there wanting to know if MINI’s are safe, I’ll be a first hand expert of proof. They crash great. AND this is not a joke, they do crash great.


The radiator is bent, front Aero is toast, driver's side fender is missing the skirt and is bent along with the wheel. Not bad for only 45 MPH.







AND please please kiddies – don’t try this at home!


_________________


"What a gorgeous day. What effulgent sunshine. It was a day of this sort the McGillicuddy brothers murdered their mother with an axe." W. C. Fields

 

So sorry to hear about this. From what MINIclo told me earlier, I imagined the BLU MENE was in worse shape than it looks from the pics.

Most important is that I am glad that you are safe and that your MINI fared pretty well considering the circumstances.

In the event there is any wheel damage, I have 2 extra S-Lites that I would be happy to donate to get the BLU MENE back on the road!

 

Thanks Andrew - more damage to my feelings than anything else. I thought I was able to get out of the accident and only made it half way.

 

:evil:

Cheers!
Clover

 

Add me to those offering condolences. That said, it does look like you were lucky, if anyone who gets in an accident can be considered lucky that is. It seems both you and Blue Mene performed well!

By they way, is the name taken from the drumming Blue Men or something else?

 

>>By they way, is the name taken from the drumming Blue Men or something else?

BLU MENE is a spin on the Electric Blue MINI and also a take off of the Blue Meanies from the Beatles “Yellow Submarine” movie.

 

Hey, that's nothing!

Your accident was minor, the feelings were major.

Take it from me! I've totaled a few cars! Walked away from all and the damage was visibly Totaled.
Airbags inflating and tossing their nausiating gas at ya, not fun.

I wcan imagine that your repairs will be the most painful. Over $2500 I would guess. You will need a full inspection, which isn't cheap. How about the owner of the boat? Were they cool? Hope so!

Any accident is a painful one...

Good luck and your Mini still looks fine, it's just a flesh wound!

 

ooooouuwwwwwww,
2ndwave, as another EB owner I really feel for you, I'm really sorry to hear about this! At least you are ok, and it looks like BLU MENE is fixable.
Hope you get BLU MENE fixed up soon!
M.

 

Chow!

Donna
donna@dcmetrominis.org

 

sndwave,
Accidents do happen. Sorry to hear about this. Gotta assume the road is full of idiots- drive defensively and adjust for the weather and the obstacles- lost drivers in cars, Large trucks makeing turns, pedestrians, mopeds and bicycles, animals, children, organic and inorganic road debris. Makes you wonder why we do not run into more things more often.

My best accidents are the ones I avoid or prevent. I've had some close calls-that's bad enough for me.
At the instant it happened to you a really good thing to do is to blow your horn as a warning of danger no matter who did what. In big citys like NY and Boston they use their horns too much but in Hawaii we don't use them enough.
If the driver who was lost knew that someone was having trouble behind then they may have stopped to assist since they caused the problem. If one cannot make a safe turn then they should go around and not block or impede traffic so I think any obstacle in front of you that did not let you make a safe stop is at least partly to blame.

Its wise to keep enough distance from the car in front of you just in case of a dummy behind the wheel or an emergency (like a child that runs in front of that car or a wheel blowout, etc) You just never know. It's really tough sometimes to give yourself enough safety zone.

I think the accident could have been alot worse had you make full contact with the other car. You might have hurt something and broken a leg or risked spinal injury for yourself. Worse, the car in front of you might have sustained more damage and the passengers subsequent injury. Personal injury has much more potential for trouble than property damage. In any event it is not worth it.

Thanks for sharing this with us and I hope you recover and not have any ill effects.

And another question- was your sound system on loud- was it a distraction at the time of the accident?
I wonder if sometimes when I am enjoying the music that is so loud I cannot hear my exhaust and engine reving that it becomes a less safe environment when driving. I still pay attention and drive defensively but the audio input is hampered. It's almost as bad and wearing headphones and trying to drive the car-which is illegal in my area-but I catch people doing it all the time- sometimes I see people with a telephone ear piece and talking.

 

I just got my Mini back from my "fender bender". Very close in damage to yours.

It's perfect.

The way I look at it, if you can drive away with no problem, then they can fix it so you can't tell.

Good luck and I'm glad you are OK.

 

first of all, it's good that no one or your mini seems to have sufferred irreparable damage. too bad that idiot didn't experience some damage to his car. totally oblivous to the world and to the potential rear-end job that he risks by breaking all the rules of the driver's license exam. this includes not stopping in the middle of traffic to try to make a turn that you have missed; instead go to the next exit/turn and turn around. it also sounds like he did not signal at all. another no-no, especially when you're moving along at 35+ mph. otherwise, you're just asking to be rear-ended.

i have to vent my utter frustration with such idiots as that car that the slammed the brakes in front of you in a 45 mph zone. i cannot count how many times clowns like that idiot do such things as slamming on the brakes to try to make a turn or to just stop and look at something.

over here in hawaii my #1 pet peeve by far is some clown trying to cut over 2-3 lanes within a 10-30 yard zone to make a turn/off ramp that they have not anticipated coming for some damn reason. and this is often in the middle of traffic on highways or main thoroughfares where the speed limit is 35-50mph. these idiots don't give a rip about the cars that they are holding up, which includes those that are behind them in the same lane and those that are literally forced to stop to let this idiot cut into their lane. this happens all too frequently here, and i believe this is the main reason for all the massive traffic jams and accidents. people are flowing along and bam! they gotta slam on the brakes suddenly to accomodate some idiot who doesn't plan their exit/turn ahead of time. like in this case.

sorry about the ranting, but i strongly feel like cracking idiots who continue to drive like this. particularly those who slam the brakes without warning, no signals, no slowing or tapping of the brakes to even signal a potential stop or severe slowdown is about to occur.

 

oh sndwave, that totally sucks! Thankfully you're not hurt, and the MINI doesn't look all too bashed up, though it looks a new bonnet and bumper are needed ]

 

 

ah geez sndwave! Soooo sorry to hear about your accident, good news is you are not hurt and BLUE MENE will be good as new soon. YES they do crash great don't they?! (my crash was about the same speed..maybe a little less.) Anyway, glad to hear it wasn't worse. :smile:

 

Sorry about your car, but since it still drove at the time I woulda drove down the road and followed jackass until he stopped and would have kindly thanked him for his courteous driving.

 

:evil:

Cheers!
Clover

 

Morn'n Snd,
Very sorry to hear about your accident.
Glad YOU are ok.
Your MCS will be fixed good as new...in no time at all.
Every day is an adventure in driving nowadays... and we are always unfortunately "dodging bullets" while driving on the roads.

Wish you well

Peace,
D

_________________
I own a 2002 MCS w/ alot of stuff on it.

 

I too had an accident where the other driver who truely caused the accident acted oblivious to the whole thing. I ran her down and got the cops. Because our cars did not actually touch, I was told that her insurence company would not pay. Oh well, lesson learned. And thanks for the reminder to keep space between our cars and other "drivers". God speed.

 

Really glad to hear you weren't hurt! That outboard motor sounds like something out of a movie!

It's also good to hear that the MINI crashes great - we've seen that a few times now after your and Ryephile's run-ins with physics.

Be careful driving the car in its current state. Even though it may seem to be fine, you may have significantly reduced the radiator's effective cooling area. It looks like a straightforward repair.

Let me know if I can help - I assume insurance will be paying for the repairs anyway. I could get you a few parts at cost.

Randy

 

Sorry to hear about the crash.
Good to hear you are ok and that BLU will be fixed and made whole!

You are the Hero! It's drivers like you - looking for a way out, not hitting the car who shopped short, but hitting the ditch - that make me proud!

You will be paid back by the karma you have spent !

 

>>You are the Hero! It's drivers like you - looking for a way out, not hitting the car who shopped short, but hitting the ditch - that make me proud!
>>
>>You will be paid back by the karma you have spent !

I couldn't agree more, and it is obvious that this is the case as nobody has yet to come into this thread and flame you for the accident. Stuff happens that we cannot always avoid, but you were able to turn this potentially dangerous situation into one that only harmed some plastic and metal.

 

ouch, sorry to see that happened. Reminds me of the time I was at a gas station, and there was a VW at a red light. All of the sudden a huge van coming screeching towards the VW...and BAM!! Tears the whole rear end off. Then the VAN PULLS AWAY! Everyone at the gas station starts screaming at the van as it pulls off. But THEN....a COP PULLS OUT FROM THE ALLEY WITH HIS LIGHTS ON! Chased down the van and arrested the guy. Sometimes it works out in your favor, most of the time it does not.

 

Thank you for everyone’s remarks and kindness.

Please remember to keep that extra distance between yourself and the person ahead of you. You won’t get home any later or miss that appointment because of 10 more feet.

 

sndwave that's awful! very sorry to hear. glad you're safe.