Expensive prang

[coxyhog]

Police attend supercar smash on motorway by Watford

The driver of a supercar walked away uninjured despite smashing their car into the central reservation of a motorway.

www.watfordobserver.co.uk

 

[zedmeister]

Very close to me. There's a guy with a black mclaren on my street!

 

[Ron240]

Without knowing the specific details...it would seem that the driver lost control due to aquaplaning with no other vehicles involved.
A very expensive lesson learnt there...for the drivers insurance company that is.
Its all very well having the money to buy a supercar, but it helps if you are able to competently drive the thing.


P.S. The driver was uninjured so it is ok to make light of the situation.

 

[oigle]

Without knowing the specific details...it would seem that the driver lost control due to aquaplaning with no other vehicles involved.
A very expensive lesson learnt there...for the drivers insurance company that is.
Its all very well having the money to buy a supercar, but it helps if you are able to competently drive the thing.


P.S. The driver was uninjured so it is ok to make light of the situation.

So, you have never been caught out with aquaplane?? Very scary when it happens and no amount of skill gets you out of it - just need to be lucky!!

 

[Ron240]

So, you have never been caught out with aquaplane?? Very scary when it happens and no amount of skill gets you out of it - just need to be lucky!!

Oh yes I have experienced aquaplaning, and yes as you say it can be a very scary thing.
Where I disagree is when you say you just need to be lucky to get out of it...because from the very few times it has happened to me I have been travelling at a speed low enough where my car did not go completely out of control.
I strongly suspect from reading the article and seeing the resulting damage that the McLaren driver has been travelling too fast for the conditions.

 

[oigle]

Oh yes I have experienced aquaplaning, and yes as you say it can be a very scary thing.
Where I disagree is when you say you just need to be lucky to get out of it...because from the very few times it has happened to me I have been travelling at a speed low enough where my car did not go completely out of control.
I strongly suspect from reading the article and seeing the resulting damage that the McLaren driver has been travelling too fast for the conditions.

No doubt he was travelling way too fast. I said "lucky" as one can not always judge how deep water may be on a given road. I was caught going down a hill with water running down the road at night in a 60kph zone and I wasn't speeding. I was a passenger for about 30 yards. Luckily car stayed straight enough that I didn't hit anything. Scary as it happens with no warning!!

 

[sausage]

I have been driving to Watford from home, and back, every other day for quite a few weeks.

I am astonished at how many idiots there are on this section of the motorway.

I used to live in the S.E. and would occasionally see someone speed from the right hand lane, onto the hard shoulder as fast as their little **** car will take them, so that they can overtake and then back out across into the RHL again, maybe a car ahead of where they were previously. In the last two weeks I have seen several people do this on every journey. That level of idiocy used to be quite rare, now it seems regular.

I have seen no end of times when someone is less than a cars length from the car in front, and doing 60 ish MPH.
Endless numbers of people staring at their phone whilst driving. No end of people in the third lane wine with two empty left lanes, completely in a world of their own.
I think that M1 from the M25 to Northants is now the most dangerous stretch of road I have driven on.

 

[Blobcat]

I have been driving to Watford from home, and back, every other day for quite a few weeks.

I am astonished at how many idiots there are on this section of the motorway.

I used to live in the S.E. and would occasionally see someone speed from the right hand lane, onto the hard shoulder as fast as their little **** car will take them, so that they can overtake and then back out across into the RHL again, maybe a car ahead of where they were previously. In the last two weeks I have seen several people do this on every journey. That level of idiocy used to be quite rare, now it seems regular.

I have seen no end of times when someone is less than a cars length from the car in front, and doing 60 ish MPH.
Endless numbers of people staring at their phone whilst driving. No end of people in the third lane wine with two empty left lanes, completely in a world of their own.
I think that M1 from the M25 to Northants is now the most dangerous stretch of road I have driven on.

Come up and try the M62 over to Madchester… makes the M25 look positively peaceful

 

[Rob7seven]

Come up and try the M62 over to Madchester… makes the M25 look positively peaceful

I agree, we have a declining number of relatives in that area and used to go regularly. It was noticeable that driving standards improved as we headed north from Dorset, and deteriorated again when we reached the Manchester area, but I think that things have got worse countrywide in the last few years, particularly in the last two or three. Maybe that's a little known side effect of Covid, but also it's car leasing. Cars used to be a big outlay that people saved for, but now it's just so much each month, less than 10% of drivers actually own the vehicle they're sitting in, which has a big effect on thought processes.

 

[Ron240]

Cars used to be a big outlay that people saved for, but now it's just so much each month, less than 10% of drivers actually own the vehicle they're sitting in, which has a big effect on thought processes.

I was just talking about this with my friend the other day...and that figure is probably much less for new registrations.
I sometimes have to pinch myself that my new car is 100% mine and I do not owe a single penny on it.

Couldn't agree more about the general standard of driving on our roads, because it can be truly atrocious!

 

[oigle]

I have been driving to Watford from home, and back, every other day for quite a few weeks.

I am astonished at how many idiots there are on this section of the motorway.

I used to live in the S.E. and would occasionally see someone speed from the right hand lane, onto the hard shoulder as fast as their little **** car will take them, so that they can overtake and then back out across into the RHL again, maybe a car ahead of where they were previously. In the last two weeks I have seen several people do this on every journey. That level of idiocy used to be quite rare, now it seems regular.

I have seen no end of times when someone is less than a cars length from the car in front, and doing 60 ish MPH.
Endless numbers of people staring at their phone whilst driving. No end of people in the third lane wine with two empty left lanes, completely in a world of their own.
I think that M1 from the M25 to Northants is now the most dangerous stretch of road I have driven on.

Interesting comment re phones. Don't know English rules but here in Oz, we face a $1000 fine for even touching a phone whilst driving. Special high res fixed cameras are now in vogue peering into cars looking for evidence of phones being used. It is understood that many accidents are caused by inattention and phones are a prime candidate. Tradies are the biggest culprits.

 

[Rob7seven]

Interesting comment re phones. Don't know English rules but here in Oz, we face a $1000 fine for even touching a phone whilst driving. Special high res fixed cameras are now in vogue peering into cars looking for evidence of phones being used. It is understood that many accidents are caused by inattention and phones are a prime candidate. Tradies are the biggest culprits.

Agree wholeheartedly, in my opinion the biggest mistake in the UK was to tell drivers that a hands-free phone was OK, and only using a non hands-free phone would constitute an offence. To my mind, both types are equally dangerous. If you're having a conversation with someone not alongside you, your brain is elsewhere which is clearly potentially very dangerous, the person on the other end of your conversation doesn't know that the driver is approaching a junction, overtaking or similar. Most car passengers would appreciate the situation and pause whatever they're saying to allow the driver to concentrate.

 

[Ron240]

Agree wholeheartedly, in my opinion the biggest mistake in the UK was to tell drivers that a hands-free phone was OK, and only using a non hands-free phone would constitute an offence. To my mind, both types are equally dangerous. If you're having a conversation with someone not alongside you, your brain is elsewhere which is clearly potentially very dangerous, the person on the other end of your conversation doesn't know that the driver is approaching a junction, overtaking or similar. Most car passengers would appreciate the situation and pause whatever they're saying to allow the driver to concentrate.

I agree with what you say about the concentration required, and have actually found myself stopping talking on my hands free system during a conversation at times when I need to devote more attention to the road and traffic.
Having said that I think it would be a step too far in the UK where the use an integrated hands free system is made illegal to use while driving.

 

[Snake Charmer]

From the two photos in that article, there looks to be a tow strop attached to the rear spoiler upright so that may not be the final resting point post accident. Where does aquaplaning and using a mobile phone enter the equation?

 

[Timeandleisure]

Interesting comment re phones. Don't know English rules but here in Oz, we face a $1000 fine for even touching a phone whilst driving. Special high res fixed cameras are now in vogue peering into cars looking for evidence of phones being used. It is understood that many accidents are caused by inattention and phones are a prime candidate. Tradies are the biggest culprits.

Not long now....

New 'game-changer' camera caught 15,000 drivers using their phones

The new camera could be a game-changer for police.

www.google.co.uk

Interesting by product though... seat belt enforcement too! Now that’s killing two birds with one stone...

 

[oigle]

Not long now....

New 'game-changer' camera caught 15,000 drivers using their phones

The new camera could be a game-changer for police.

www.google.co.uk

Interesting by product though... seat belt enforcement too! Now that’s killing two birds with one stone...

That's the one I referred to. We have had our trial periods and now are being caught and fined. Points (4) off licences too.... double demerit over school holidays. Just not worth the risk. Pull over if you have to - just don't use the phone whilst driving. And Yes, seatbelts too.... Big bother is watching everything and now covers all lanes of motorways.

 

[DSK]

That's the one I referred to. We have had our trial periods and now are being caught and fined. Points (4) off licences too.... double demerit over school holidays. Just not worth the risk. Pull over if you have to - just don't use the phone whilst driving. And Yes, seatbelts too.... Big bother is watching everything and now covers all lanes of motorways.

Outside my house we have a speed where one side of travel has to stop and give way. I am dumfounded at the number of drivers I see, who just have to have a phone in their hand the moment they stop, be it here, at traffic lights etc.... seriously wtf is going on in your lives that so urgent....

I always keep my phone in either a closed compartment or on the holder (if using as sat nav). Should calls be required well there's bluetooth.. Needing a phone in your hand or to occupy 2 seconds of your life is beyond me.

When I used to commute 1,000 miles a week, on the M25 I'd see people mount their phones, smack bang in front of their faces on the windscreen and either be doing video calls or watching some catch up TV

 

[Ron240]

New 'game-changer' camera caught 15,000 drivers using their phones

The new camera could be a game-changer for police.

www.google.co.uk

Normally I do not agree with big brother tactics to persecute the motorist, but honestly I wouldn't have a problem with that camera if the evidence gained from it was made legally enforceable in the UK.
The way I see it any driver holding a mobile phone and/or not wearing a seat belt on the motorway deserves all they get.
The vast majority of drivers who do this will be repeat offenders so it is time they were caught and punished.

 

[Botus]

ha, a McLaren, just today I was pondering this morning over Rowen Atkinson's driving skills and the 900k mods he made to his F1 all those year's ago showing off on a wet greasy bit of road.

Can it be right I pay for his incompetence - perhaps if you want to drive a car over 300 BHP, you should have to have passed your motorbike test?

I just took her car up the road gently, went round the roundabout on her winter tyres and got a two foot drift on. Quite remarkable, it looked reasonable - if damp roads at 15 mph can be that dodgy with the correct tyres, is it any-wonder when you are showing off putting 500 BHP down at 90 mph on a wet, obviously greasy road you come a cropper ?

I do wonder if people realise the physics involved, TC is always 6 years late to support it can't really add any value - how many people are close to flying off the road and are blissfully unaware ? When I stand on it in mine I back off a fair bit over white lines, puddles and gravelly bits or its just asking for fun that's going to be hard to handle...

 

[Botus]

This thread reminds me of another motorcycling proficiency need before you are allowed to take control, that I came up with yesterday.

Been watching a lot of Nat Geographic air crash stuff - bear with me, will get to why I'm rambling in a min - whilst my brother was an RAF pilot I have never played in a real one - but I have played on various simulator things mostly bored with a 2hr approach - but then I can never get the flipping thing to fit on the runway manually landing with a 20 min approach - so I tend to try aerobatics in big airliners to keep my spirits up and thus you lean how to fly ! And then when I can't do it, I ask a real pilot whats going on and with his coaching tend to find a fix.

All of which gets me back to accidents and nat geo - 9 out of 10 incidents I get the issue as they show the lead up to the crash in the first few mins of the programme and I'm screaming at the telly, wondering why the pilot doesn't know how a plane works !!!

There are two things happening that could be fixed the way I see the world - if all pilots were active motorcyclists first - their reactions and behaviors would keep more planes in the sky, and they must train fighter pilot / stunt work as part of their refresher training in the simulators for all airline pilots.

One biggy and a huge learning curve for me, was when I'm at 30,000 foot and pushing on in a vertical dive, by 10,000 ft and accelerating through 700mph you always hit the ground - it just won't pull out. So I said to my brother whats going on - he instantly responded - in normal planes once you hit over the speed of sound. all the control surfaces reverse. So I'm like whats that mean ?....its why all pilots aside from chuck died - they just flew it straight in to the ground. So now when your airbus A380 won't pull out as bits of the plane are falling off, you push forward on the stick, and every time the plane pulls the nose up !!! Then you calm down and everyone's alive.

How many Nat Geo one's show the idiot losing spacial awareness, the stick shaker is going off and the fools stay on min throttle and the plane becomes a brick and they all die, or its been falling out of the sky for the last 7 minutes and it takes them so long to understand how to use full throttle the plane is in the mud first.... its a bit like when the thing wont fly and they have half a million wheels down slowing it down - you are going to hit the ground at 500 mph, do you think the wheels are going to help, if you put them up, it might almost fly like an aeroplane !!!

How about this one - reverse thruster out on one side, notoriously dangerous, short runway with housing all around, bad weather, normal planes struggling and aquaplaing all over the place the whole day. So you go elsewhere ? No - you remember some OLD out of date training since scrapped for the A320 (coz everyone crashed) that by magic should give you a whole 50m shorter stopping distance

This is where you leave the failed side on idle, and only use no throttle and reverse thruster on the good side. But you forget the bad engine is still on FULL throttle and its not stopping (like all the idiots that crashed before you did !), so you're too busy stressing and fighting the plane - that both you and the co pilot never notice one engine is still on full throttle ! (I'd like to see the training manual where a conventional landing needs the engines on full power to land by the way ???). So as we whilstle by at 9 times conventional landing speed for this point on the runway, I eventually get it slow enough the plane remembers the set up I have, and the plane responds to full power one side and full reverse thrust on the other and does a U turn off the runway into a petrol station - with the usual consequences

If motorcyclists had these behaviors, analytical skills and reaction times you would be unlikely to get out of first gear before you had a one way trip to a morgue