Wow man...extreme bummer--I am sure the heart of all of us MINI lovers goes out to you and your car, but I am sure we can all agree that at least you didnt wipe that lady off the face of the earth--though, after hearing about that I could imagine that you almost wish you had...jk...you were right in the fact that its a machine, and can be replaced/repaired...so the real question here is, did you come out alright?! I am assuming that you were able to type to get the message up there, so that is a great thing, and something that is what is really important.

Serious bummer on your baby's damage, though excellent split second decision on your part...sometimes, hitting bushes and boulders is the best outcome--but even so, bummer.

 

DAMN RIGHT!!!!

 

I just got off the phone with Anthony at Ralph Schomp. He says "Not to worry, we will make her as good as new again, no problem".

 

dunno if that has been mentioned or not. If somebody opens their car door onto incoming traffic, and you hit it, it's automatically their fault.

The burden of responsibility falls on the parked car to not be a moronic douchebag, and check before opening their door.

 

Terrible is actually good.
Other people have gotten into crashes, even fairly limited ones and if you smash enough stuff and total your car like greater than 60% or 70% of it's value vs repair cost or something like that then your insurance can handle the replacement.
Best is to repair minor damage and get your car back
Not as good is to repair almost a totaled car and still have to put up with some of the residual damage.
So do we crash bigtime if there is an impending collision and NOT hold back?
I don't think so. As drivers we do the best we can given the split second of the moment. You do your best and not have to think about if you are going to be damaged.
No one can second guess what happened- we were not there to witness it. things can happen so fast there is no time for correction, just go with what comes naturally- or with training.
Darksky- you did good. no matter what.

A few weeks ago I attended a driving school which included a car control clinic where we did panic stops with emergency steering around cones and turns. We practiced this scenario right and left about 8 times each. Unless you practice, you may not have a good feel for what you need to do in an emergency. For those MCS drivers that get a chance to go to a driving school you should do it. the MCS is a great handling car and can do lots of stuff well including steering and stopping better than most cars. If there is just no room for steering around an obstacle the so be it.

I hope for your speedy recovery.

 

Schomp does not have their own body shop, they use Crestone. Does anyone have any reviews of this shop?

 

Thanks for all the input. It helps to vent these things out :smile:

 

You are a man of greater restraint than I. I'd have at least beaten the crap out of her car.

No I wouldn't, but man it would take me all the restraint in the world not to.

I tell you what, she'd be back in her car crying from the verbal barage I'd have given her.

I hope your repairs go well and quickly. :???:

 

I can only respond with one thing to threads like this. Bummer dude! Glad no one was hurt!

 

>>You are a man of greater restraint than I. I'd have at least beaten the crap out of her car.
>>
>>No I wouldn't, but man it would take me all the restraint in the world not to.
>>
>>I tell you what, she'd be back in her car crying from the verbal barage I'd have given her.
>>

And with any luck the police would choose that moment to turn up and arrest you. Unfortunately you wouldn't resist arrest, as being the big man you are, you probably only shout and intimidate lone women.

From the description the OP gave, the car in front of him stopped as the driver saw something in the road. The OP was driving too quickly to stop, and was attempting to swerve around the stopped car, whilst the driver of that car was getting out to move the obstruction in the road, to prevent problems to other road users.

You should always drive with sufficient distance to stop, as you never know what may happen.

Unfortunately most of the people on the board seem to believe they are driving gods, and everybody else should get out of their way. (I will get my coat).

 

>>You should always drive with sufficient distance to stop, as you never know what may happen.
>>
>>Unfortunately most of the people on the board seem to believe they are driving gods, and everybody else should get out of their way. (I will get my coat).

Well, hindsight is 20-20. Accidents happen quickly or this would not be an accident to write about. I will take a close call anyday.

Driving god? Nope- not even close but I will send myself to driving school if I can learn a little more and be a bit better which includes emergency stops and maneuvering as needed around hazzards.

The take home point about this post is to be honest enough to share about what has happened and to learn from our experiences. We are always trying our best at all times. Accidents are huge hassles, nobody wants more hassles.

 

>>I will send myself to driving school if I can learn a little more and be a bit better which includes emergency stops and maneuvering as needed around hazzards.
>>

If believe that if a driver gets themselves into a situation where they need to do an emergency stop, they have probably made a mistake, by not being aware of what is going on around them.

>>The take home point about this post is to be honest enough to share about what has happened and to learn from our experiences. We are always trying our best at all times. Accidents are huge hassles, nobody wants more hassles.
>>

Agreed, but with the number of posts from the immature plonkers on this board, who (I repeat) seem to think that they are driving gods, culminating in the rant from the prat who wanted to terrorise a lone woman driver; it makes you almost ashamed to drive a MINI.

 

I had a similar accident with my Mini Cooper S when I had had it just a couple on months. I was crusin' down a parkway when a driver pulled out in front of me. I had a quick decision: run into to her, or hit the center island head-on. I did the right thing, just as you did. The other driver was totally out of it, having just lost a boyfriend, or something. I needed only to replace the front plastic part below the grill. I suspect in another car I would not have been able to react as quickly. You may have wrecked your Mini, but you were saved by you Mini!

 

CooperBeagle,

Welcome to MINI COOPER Online :smile:

Dave

 

I was suprised to see my post revived. I have gotten my car back (after almost 9 weeks) and it seems fine.... a few minor issues but otherwise OK. I added Aero skirts and performance springs. So I am happy. I guess even a driving God (HAH) has an off day. No one was hurt, that is all that really matters.

pmm- you seem quite judgemental.
xanthus- violence is never the answer.

Was I following to close? No.
Did I err in attempting to go around a stopped vehicle? Yes.
Should drivers try and pick trash up on the interstsate? You decide.

As an EMS responder let me stress to everyone who reads this post:

Never Step Out of Your Vehicle Into an Active Lane While on the Highway!

I could just as easily have been distracted or fiddling with a cell phone,radio,kid, whatever and killed that woman.

 

Hello Pmm, and welcome to MCO.

Obviously that being your second posting you haven't been around here very long. I am proud to be a MINI driver and proud to say I am a member of MCO. It is true that some of us here express "immature" opinions from time to time, but that is all they are. I have found most people posting on this site to be kinder than others on the road.

I think we all agree that we would be angered somewhat if this situation occurred to us, and I think that is all Xanthus was saying.

By the way, if you think that "being aware of what is going on around you" will prevent you from ever being involved in an accident, you're mistaken. But we definitely support your right to that immature opinion. :smile:
It certainly pays to keep aware of what is going on around you and always maintain safe distances from other cars too, but you can never predict what another driver might do.

 

at least you guys all still have your MINIs! This happened to my WRX last Dec.:

Now I have a replacement 04:

and it has been rearended 3 times this month! Well in the last 4 weeks it's been rear ended 3 times (the last one was August first other 2 late July)....

Once in the auto car wash! (no damage)
Once when driving to the MINI dealer to get wife's new MINI!
Once while parked on the street (luckily they hit the same part as the accident #2 and did no extra damage. They manage to hit the side parked next to the curb....

I have horrible luck with WRXs. I think the silver paint is magnetic! I am seriously thinking of trading on a Cooper S, but I don't want to get hosed on the trade....

As for reprimanding people after accidents.....

In my first accident I was too shaken up to yell at the woman who "didn't see me" but I wish I had now. She turned left at a green light I was going straight through.... Totaled my car...

Second rearending (first one that left damage and was done my an idiot, not a machine.) I gave the guy a 5 minute french lesson... Soryy, but someone had to put soem sense into the guy. He didn't even feel the need to appologize for hitting me.... He was a space cadet, first class....

As for the woman from this accident, yes you can explain her actions away as said before, but you have to be a major IDIOT to get out of a car on an onramp or anything with fast moving trafic without looking very carefully first, which she did not. She had every right to stop, but opening her door was not smart, and I might have mentioned it....

I do not have raod rage, but complete lack of respect for others while driving really upsets me.... You want to kill yourself on a empty road be my guest, but try to think when driving on streets with others....

Ben

 

Driving home last Saturday evening I was cruising in the fast lane traveling 75+ on divided highway behind a large pickup. The right lane was mostly filled with 18 wheelers and slower cars.

All of a sudden the pickup darts into the right lane...... Now I see a pair of headlights stareing dirrectly into mine. so little time to react, but there was just enough space for me brake hard and get into the right lane!!

The bad part was, there was an 18 wheeler behind me.

I don't know how the car got there, but could not have been there long. There were no other cars stopped yet. I also don't know if the driver was still in the car.

VERY Very scarey!

I was shaking to badly to look back and see what happened

Ann

 

Sorry to hear very sad.... glad you're okay.

haf

 

>>pmm- you seem quite judgemental.

Yes; I judged the postings by some people in this thread to be rather immature, and some like Xanthus to be criminal.

>>Was I following to close? No.

Yes, as you couldn't stop in time.

>>Did I err in attempting to go around a stopped vehicle? Yes.

No, you took a sudden decision, possibly right, possibly wrong. However, that decision was forced on you by following too close.

>>Should drivers try and pick trash up on the interstsate? You decide.

Agreed, it depends on the driver.

>>As an EMS responder let me stress to everyone who reads this post:
>> Never Step Out of Your Vehicle Into an Active Lane While on the Highway!

Again agreed, which is why observation and distance are so important.

>>I could just as easily have been distracted or fiddling with a cell phone,radio,kid, whatever and killed that woman.

And would now possibly be unable to post here, as you could easily be in prison.

Don't get me wrong, it was probably not the most sensible thing for the person in the car in front to do, but as you pointed out, it was up to her as to whether she stopped or not.

It was up to you, in your ton of fast moving metal, to be aware that she might do something that you would not, and drive accordingly.

Keeping enough distance when traveling rapidly is something most people only learn when it all goes horribly wrong.

 

>>By the way, if you think that "being aware of what is going on around you" will prevent you from ever being involved in an accident, you're mistaken. But we definitely support your right to that immature opinion. :smile:

It may not prevent you being in an accident, but it might stop you causing one.

>>It certainly pays to keep aware of what is going on around you and always maintain safe distances from other cars too, but you can never predict what another driver might do.
>>
Which is why safe distances are so important, when the other driver does something stupid, you have the time (given by the distance) to do something sensible, not just something instinctive.

Part of the responsibility of driving, is guessing what stupid things other people might do, and avoid becoming part of that problem, even if you are in the right. It doesn't make a good line on a gravestone 'I had the right of way'.

 

O N E M I S S I S S I P P I

T W O M I S S I S S I P P I

That is the gap that you are supposed to keep, but on your next drive see what the actual space is...

2 seconds is a BIG gap at highway speeds.... I am not that good, and when the roads are crowded I am forced to go even closer than I like to keep people from constantly taking my spacing as their own spot, but see just how much space 2 seconds works out to be..... I try to keep my spacing so, as said, I can stop if needed.... A lot of good it does me, as the day we went to pick up the MINI I was rear ended because I stopped with plenty of space, (I didn't even have to slam on my brakes because I happened to have good spacing at the time) but the jerk behind me was in LA LA land and hit me.....

Ben

 

>>O N E M I S S I S S I P P I
>>
>>T W O M I S S I S S I P P I
>>
>>That is the gap that you are supposed to keep, but on your next drive see what the actual space is... 2 seconds is a BIG gap at highway speeds....

And that gap is likely going to be the difference between being able to take a sensible decision about what to do, and an instictive stamp on the brakes and hope for the best.

>>I am not that good, and when the roads are crowded I am forced to go even closer than I like to keep people from constantly taking my spacing as their own spot,

Annoying yes, but at the end of the day if they arrive 10 or even 20 car lengths ahead of you at the end of your journey, so what.

>>I try to keep my spacing so, as said, I can stop if needed....

At least one sensible person posting here.

>>A lot of good it does me, as the day we went to pick up the MINI I was rear ended because I stopped with plenty of space, (I didn't even have to slam on my brakes because I happened to have good spacing at the time) but the jerk behind me was in LA LA land and hit me.....

Agreed, not a lot you can do in such circumstances, apart from brace for the impact. If you have left sufficent distance though, any accident is not going to be your fault, unlike you slamming into the car in front followed by the car behind slamming into you.

 

>>Annoying yes, but at the end of the day if they arrive 10 or even 20 car lengths ahead of you at the end of your journey, so what.


Well if they keep taking my spot, I have to slow to get the gap back, and right when the gap is the right size and I can resume speed, they take it again making me slow down....

Catch 22

You end up driving like 5~10mph slower to maintain the gap durring the rush around here.... So I am forced to go a bit closer than I like to keep from getting constantly cut off. Although I have figured out the right way to do it. When I come into work at 6am there is NO trafic at all. I wish there were no speed limits either as the raods here are quite nice with great visibility. I could very easily drive these roads at a maintained 100mph plus with no cars on the road and no rules... 120 would even be safe, but again that would be on a closed highway.... people try it anyway, but bad things usually happen. Right now I usually drive 75~80 (55 limit) and find a very good rabit. But again, I stay away from everyone and do it when there is no one around except for the one rabit trying to prove something..... let them get tyhe ticket...

Anyway the morning commute is much more peacefull than at night at 5pm with 100,000 others....

Ben

 

Brad,

I know I'm late in adding my .02, but somehow I missed this thread.

As I said to Ryan after his accident: this could happen to any one of us. I'm just sorry it was you. I hope this is resolved quickly and your MINI is restored to near-perfect condition.