OT: Confession of poor driving - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

MarkM5Lauderdale · 4th January 2002, 23:16

Well, where else do I turn but to my fellow brothers for absolution from poor driving practices?
Yes, today I pulled a boneheaded stunt and should have a bent tail for my foolishness but got off scot free without any damage.
An imbecile in a U-haul truck decide to stop in the left hand lane of a blind left hand curve so that he could make a right hand turn!
The truck had travelled approximately 6 blocks with his right hand turn signal on and several people attempted to allow him over into the right hand lane even honking at him to allow him over. Instead he came to a complete stop about 60 yards from the next intersection. I decided to pass after 60 seconds of waiting for him to decide his next move. (No traffic had come by on the right hand lane and none was coming)
As I accelerated into the right hand lane he (U-haul) decides to floor it and head for the right hand lane too! Instead of backing off and letting him over, I give the M5 all she has to offer. As my tail is passing the truck and I'm shifting into 2nd, he attempts to swerve and hit the rear of my car. Needless to say, when hitting second gear under full acceleration the rear end excuted a perfect power slide right out from under the nose of the truck! Once my my now scared self straightens out and looks in the rear view mirror all I see is the truck attempting a hard turn onto the street he finnally decided he wanted and the infamous 1 finger salute pointed in my direction.
For this infraction I must admit my sins! I was impatient and reckless and could have damaged my favorite past time! At the same time I must commend the M5 for saving my b*tt once again.
Next time I promise to engage my brain first, then first gear.
I humbly request forgivness from the M5 gods.

MEnthusiast · 4th January 2002, 23:29

you will be forgiven for your transgression if you drive the next 2 weeks with no sport mode and no RPM higher than 3500 :p

j/k

we've all been there before. Glad you made it out to talk about it.

Aussie2U · 4th January 2002, 23:55

But the real question here Mark is - "did your passengers even look up from their DVD movies?"

Glad to hear you squeezed through!

EBMCS03 · 4th January 2002, 23:59

Wow... crazy story... I'm soooo glad to hear that the beast is ok... I would totally understand why u wanted to pass the jerk...

Wow... the car powerslided out of a crash... amazing...

Nice to hear that everything is ok.

RaysMD · 4th January 2002, 23:59

It seems that the U-haul was just looking for trouble. He wanted someone; anyone to pass on his right. He was probably just looking for a lawsuit. Although I think he would've been at fault.

Idiots like that should never be given a license.

Rays

farcknorf · 5th January 2002, 00:22

I dont think you need to confess! Congratulations for this very technical move... powersliding out of a crash! This is really great !

Martin

Dick Sickels · 5th January 2002, 00:24

Hey Mark,

Thanks for being so transparent, we can use our knowledge of incidents like these to remind us of how easy it is to get into a bad situation. Not trying to better your poor driving story but I do have one much worse. My buddy who works at the dealership and actually sold me the M5 and I were on the way over to my house after a dinner. He has this monster Land Rover and can drive it as well as I can my Beast in the twisties (go figure? he's just and awesome driver.) Well we were on one of those back roads that shouted to us "Hey nice curves smooth on camber come on and play together". He turned off a tee in the road at an
incredible speed while I was behind marveling at his skill and decided to play by blowing past him at light speed in the first short straight which eventually turned in to a fast hard left right left. I past him just in time to try to set up for the first left but only had him by a car and a half so decided not to swerve in front of him to set up for a good run off the turn (figuring my great driving skill tremendous hp great brakes etc would compensate for my foolish decision to come into the sharp left hander in the left lane instead of the right lane he was in. He never lifted but 4 wheel drifted up next to my bumper and I was so mesmerized by his skill that I could not keep my eyes off him in the rear view mirror as I proceeded to lose the rearend of the M5 in turn one (had DSC off oops forgot about that}then I showed extreme stupidity by trying to enter the off camber right hander in the wrong lane at the wrong speed and with my butt end still fish tailing and ironically him in this MONSTER Land Rover truck still eating my lunch I refused to pull up and almost swapped the rear and front end right as he was bearing down on me in the last turn thank God he is a buddy and an excellent driver. And all he so graciously said when we got home was "that bad boy has so much power it almost got away from you didnt it Dick? I thought what a nice a kind friend I have. Won't do that again.

Thanks again Mark

Regards
Dick

Philip · 5th January 2002, 00:40

Please be more careful arround U Haul's, I depend on you for technical answers

Also look out for cadilacs please!

JFB · 5th January 2002, 01:31

Mark

It's incredible that the truck driver tried to deliberately hit you as you were passing. What a jerk!

Good thing your rear slid out away from the truck.

Patience is a virtue that is hard to demonstrate while 400 horsepower are begging to be loosed. When faced with a "Do I use the brakes or the throttle" situation, there is something about the M5's capabilities that impairs a driver's better judgment. I, too, have experienced the false notion that I can just accelerate my way out of tight situations.

At least you've learned something in the experience, and you don't think it was your great skill as a driver that saved your behind. Chalk up the escape to a combination of a capable car, a competent driver and a whole lot of good karma.

No penance required.

rvacha · 5th January 2002, 01:55

So Mark... what was so wrong with what you did? You had an eye on him for blocks and waited patiently just in case he did a bonehead move. You met up with a guy that *wanted* to hit you - and sometimes, no matter how defensively you prepare for a situation, you can't always win against a guy that wants to get you (never mind that you didn't lose!)