I was on my way to work this morning on my usual route - little slippery, but not currently raining. I pull into the far right lane to pass the people stopped int he left lane (on-ramp traffic) No one ahead of me so I accelerate towards 55 or so - about 25 feet in front of me someone pulls out with no blinker or warning from teh stopped left lane into my lane and I am forced to make a drasti manuver into the shoulder to avoid him (slipperyness leaves not enough time to brake)

DSC kicked in to assist me under-skilled driving efforts and I safely avoided any accident. Afterwards I kept thinking how cool that must have looked to any bystanders watching. They'll probably want to go buy a MINI.

I've been in plenty of close calls but that one was a swift manuever like I've never take at 55 or 60. In slippery weather.

Damn that was cool.

 

WTG – MINIs aren’t they great.

 

congrats on not hurting urself or ur mini!

good chance u woulda crashed without DSC, no matter how good ur driving skills...it brakes each wheel individually to ensure that u don't spin out and u were able to do that maneuver, even in slippery conditions...

that money u spent on DSC may have just saved ur life/mini's life

 

I had a somewhat similar slippery road experience. I went too fast into a sharp curve and when I hit the brake.......suddenly found myself going off the road and about to hit a tree. The DSC took over and along with the help of some quick steering I ended up missing the tree and coming to a stop........ back on the edge of the road and facing the proper direction. No one else saw it, but like you, I also remember that one of my immediate thoughts was......."Damn, that was cool!" No mas!

 

Nice manuver!

I always keep my DSC turned on. Sometimes while Im driving fast
through some slippery corners when I think I *might* not be able to
make the turn, I put my trust into the BMW engineers and work
the gas instead of the brake to pull the car through. :smile:

 

That is a good example of why it should be illegal to pass on the right! In most counries it is, but the US cannot seem to see the need for such a ruling. Of course for the system to work, we would need to educate drivers to stay out of the left lane except to pass and we would need to eliminate left lane exits and entrances. With the level of incompetence of the average American driver we will probably never see such a system in place.

 

Uh.. I wasn't passing on the right. Hmm...

The left lane was the exit lane and the right lane was the "keep-going straight" lane.

 

Is it? Or is it just an example of a turn lane that wasn't built long enough to accomodate the volume of traffic that uses it? Maybe there was a hazard in the left lane that had stopped traffic in that lane? Could it have been a backed up left exit ramp perhaps?

And in many states it is illegal to pass on the right.

 

Heh, heh...

Driving in Washington makes me want to move back to Germany!!

Cruising on the Autobahn at 135mph was sweeeeeeet!!

 

Good to hear you are safe and sound.
Now that you have fully stress tested your DSC, just leave it on and be careful when the weather isn't the greatest. We don't really need more tests like this because the poor fella behind you following too closely might not have a MINI with DSC!
It could be ugly.

I always leave DSC on when I drive on the streets or in bad weather.

 

I'm pretty sure it's been illegal in every state I've lived in. In Michigan, it is illegal, though rarely enforced.

 

I'm glad you were able to avoid the other car. Now you're even more aware of how lame some drivers can be, and probably won't go quite that fast alongside a line of stopped cars, any of whom could get impatient and pull out....

 

Is one of the best features. Last Winter proved that to me while driving on high crowned country roads covered with a sheet of ice. Of course I was just crawling along but I could see other cars having a difficult time of it just staying on the road.
Any new family cars will not be considered unless they have this feature.
I got to try it out at Summit Point Raceway on a wet skidpad both on and off, it's amazing.

 

In Maryland, each lane of a multilane highway is considered a seperate road, so it is perferctly legal to pass on the right. Then they wonder why there are so many accidents...