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M5XTRM · 30th July 2002, 06:58

First, I'm fine. Second the M5 performed superbly with all it's safety features and third God was watching (perhaps not very carefully).

The accident occured tonight at 8:23 pm West bound I-4 outside of Sanford Florida.

It was raining very, very heavily, visibility at time of accident was very poor.

I was in second lane from the left in 4 lane highway, the instigator (who run away after causing the accident) was a Honda Civic on the second lane from the right.

Traffic was moving steadily at 65 ml per hour when suddenly the rain got really heavy. As we were going up a hill (It's Florida - more like a mound) the Civic move into my lane trying to pass a car in front of him. I had no time to even blow the horn, I had to stir to the left to get out of his way by that time we were going down the hill with no room to get back on the lane with out causing other cars to stir out of control. Neatly to say a combination of weather, road condition, angle of decent and gravity, the car lost traction momentarily, (remember BMW M5 driving school skid pad practice?- brake and cluth- it comes handy). I was able to stir out of the way of other cars as the car started spinning and the DSC was going on and off, spin one time, two times, I saw the mediam; tried to stir back into the highway, but half way into the third spin, the front tires hit the wet grass and started to go into the ditch. At that point all traction was lost, the car spinned two more times. I held to the stirring wheel and brassed for impact. The car hit the guard rail in the right rear side (It was loud and very hard impact since I had not being able to slow the car much before impact), then one and a half more spin and the car started to slide backwards (I was facing incoming traffic- lucky for me I was in teh ditch at that point). The car slide fro approximately 120 ft and stopped.

The instigator was no where to be found. An off duty police officer stopped to check if I was Ok. I rolled the window down, he saw I was wearing a racing harness, ask me if I was Ok and if needed help. I told him I was fine. He said well done wearing the harness, told me the person in his car was reporting the accident and took off. I did not even had time to ask his name or anything.

Neatly to say, I was still in the ditch, rain was very hard and no one else stopped. I got out of the car to assess the damage and see if the car could be driven of the ditch. To my surprise the damage is severe, but not as bad as I expected with that type of crash and speed. I got back in car and manuevered it back to the payment. I called the highway police and requested for someone to come and write a report. I called my wife and gave her the news of what had happen.

The highway patrol showed up 15 minutes later, help me check the car again as a couple of questions, assessed my condition and wrote the report.

I'm now back at home safely after driving the car for 70 miles more. The car drove very well given the damage it sustained. The DSC is not working, Lost the light array on the rear right, the right side is compressed about 1 ft into the rear wheel( but did not touched it). Both back doors cannot be opened. The left side sustained less damage overall. The car has a severe vibration over 60 ml hr, but besides that, the car is in good shape concidering.

No air bags were deployed, engine did not cut off, door seals have no visible damage, the cabin is perfectly dry and during the drive home, I did not hear any difference in road noise, except for the exhaust seems louder (I'm sure other parts broken, but not visible).

Will try to post pictures tomorrow after the severe headache goes away.

30th July 2002, 06:58	#1 (permalink)
M5XTRM Member, Sport: On DSC: On (>100 posts) Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Lakeland, FL, USA Posts: 179 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	65 ml/hr crash First, I'm fine. Second the M5 performed superbly with all it's safety features and third God was watching (perhaps not very carefully). The accident occured tonight at 8:23 pm West bound I-4 outside of Sanford Florida. It was raining very, very heavily, visibility at time of accident was very poor. I was in second lane from the left in 4 lane highway, the instigator (who run away after causing the accident) was a Honda Civic on the second lane from the right. Traffic was moving steadily at 65 ml per hour when suddenly the rain got really heavy. As we were going up a hill (It's Florida - more like a mound) the Civic move into my lane trying to pass a car in front of him. I had no time to even blow the horn, I had to stir to the left to get out of his way by that time we were going down the hill with no room to get back on the lane with out causing other cars to stir out of control. Neatly to say a combination of weather, road condition, angle of decent and gravity, the car lost traction momentarily, (remember BMW M5 driving school skid pad practice?- brake and cluth- it comes handy). I was able to stir out of the way of other cars as the car started spinning and the DSC was going on and off, spin one time, two times, I saw the mediam; tried to stir back into the highway, but half way into the third spin, the front tires hit the wet grass and started to go into the ditch. At that point all traction was lost, the car spinned two more times. I held to the stirring wheel and brassed for impact. The car hit the guard rail in the right rear side (It was loud and very hard impact since I had not being able to slow the car much before impact), then one and a half more spin and the car started to slide backwards (I was facing incoming traffic- lucky for me I was in teh ditch at that point). The car slide fro approximately 120 ft and stopped. The instigator was no where to be found. An off duty police officer stopped to check if I was Ok. I rolled the window down, he saw I was wearing a racing harness, ask me if I was Ok and if needed help. I told him I was fine. He said well done wearing the harness, told me the person in his car was reporting the accident and took off. I did not even had time to ask his name or anything. Neatly to say, I was still in the ditch, rain was very hard and no one else stopped. I got out of the car to assess the damage and see if the car could be driven of the ditch. To my surprise the damage is severe, but not as bad as I expected with that type of crash and speed. I got back in car and manuevered it back to the payment. I called the highway police and requested for someone to come and write a report. I called my wife and gave her the news of what had happen. The highway patrol showed up 15 minutes later, help me check the car again as a couple of questions, assessed my condition and wrote the report. I'm now back at home safely after driving the car for 70 miles more. The car drove very well given the damage it sustained. The DSC is not working, Lost the light array on the rear right, the right side is compressed about 1 ft into the rear wheel( but did not touched it). Both back doors cannot be opened. The left side sustained less damage overall. The car has a severe vibration over 60 ml hr, but besides that, the car is in good shape concidering. No air bags were deployed, engine did not cut off, door seals have no visible damage, the cabin is perfectly dry and during the drive home, I did not hear any difference in road noise, except for the exhaust seems louder (I'm sure other parts broken, but not visible). Will try to post pictures tomorrow after the severe headache goes away.