car_dreamer

CTR wrote off in horrific crash....'Full details' below are from the driver himself. I've have copied this from the CTR forum. Owner and his GF are lucky to be alive. Go to the following address to see the scary pics of what was a CTR http://typer.christhomas.co.uk/crash/

EVERYBODY PLEASE WEAR YOUR SEATBELT!!!!!!

Full details:
Driving in straight line, front right tyre blew (not sure how) so the car pulled towards the central reservation. In natural response I turned the wheel to the left to stop us from hitting the Armco. This instantly started us spinning. We span a total of 3 and a half times (hitting the Armco on each revolution) leaving us facing the oncoming traffic in the fast lane on a road where there is no-limit as far as speed is concerned.

With the car unmovable (the front bumper was pushed onto the wheels from hitting the barriers) me and me Julie ran accross the carriageway avoiding any oncoming traffic.

phoned the police immediatly to explain they needed to shut the carriageway off ASAP. While standing at a safe distance away from the car (about 100 yards back from the site) we saw cars doing 100+ come within inches of the sitting duck (hazards and lights were on).

After several near misses a punto went into the side (pushing the passenger door past the handbrake and knocking the power out), followed by a Renault box van that took the front off of an "invisable" CTR

mike16v

holy cr@p! It was lucky they got out and got out of the way! The interior is a mess and I doubt they'd be here today if they had still been in the car!

car_dreamer

Its very scary to think where the passenger door ended up is where his GF was sitting! So so lucky they did abandon the car.

A car can be replaced a loved one can't.

andrewdelvard

Clicky...http://typer.christhomas.co.uk/crash/

turboman786

Bloody hell..makes you wonder about drivin eh?

andrewdelvard

Considering what you've just bought! A timely reminder hey?

brickboy

Bloody hell!!!

Just shows that **** happens that you cannot predict or anticipate -- never had a tyre blow but I was in my mate's Opel Ascona 20-odd years ago when it lost the NSR wheel (loose nuts ) on the A63 dual carriageway.

We span 180 degrees, but luckily didn't roll. I will NEVER forget the sight of an artic locking its brakes, heading straight toward us ..... luckily, it managed to swerve and miss us ....

ADP

Autobahn perhaps Sir?

Blowouts are hard to handle at 150

brickboy

ADP -- nah, he means the M40

zero_to60

**** that looks bad

Flat 4x4

Why has that door gone in like that but the bodyshell around the cabin is pretty good ?

Is it because the 3dr Civic's doors are so long that the Punto just hit that part and not much else, so all the force was on the one panel ?

Very worrying and one for HMUK to have a look at I would have thought ?

Mungo

Shame the door couldn't dissipate more of the impact into the sill and surrounding pillars - they're not badly damaged.
Good advert for cars with high sills e.g. Elise in a side impact.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

SH!TE that's bad. very very lucky people.

ando

I lost a wheel in the Mersey tunnel once, and almost went under bus, me and a bloody loose nuts! Managed to get the car out of the way of the oncoming though, and ground to a nice halt on my brake disk.

Ali-T

I'm assuming that the door has just been chucked there by the scrap yard. If they both bailed out then the door would most likely be open when the Punto hit it. I certainly wouldn't be making sure my door was properly shut, would you?

Stuart J

Followed a guy on the M27 a couple of years ago when he had a blow out, shot all over 3 lanes + the hard shoulder but basically kept it pointing the same way & ended up against the central Armco. Everyone braked like mad & missed him & we were left stopped in the fast lane about 75 yards behind him. Then began a frightening 10 mins before the police arrived. we decided to leave our car there (company Mondeo)to shield the car in front as he was making no effort to get out & the car was panned on the drivers side. by the time we had helped him out all the other traffic was flowing again (he was OK just badly shaken) so rather than try & get our car across to the hard shoulder we left it there with hazards on fog lights on & the tail gate open. Thankfully it wasnt actually hit but we saw numerous near misses & we were between the barriers of the fast lanes about 100 yds ahead of the pranged car. People were just not looking far enough ahead. The guy in this car did the right thing by getting as far from the car as possible, at least if you are out of the car you can run a bit. If you are in the car you are a sitting duck.
I believe in Japan you have to carry flares to use if there is an accident. Is anything similar available for purchase in the UK

MattN

Stuart J, yes there is, it's a little reflective trinagle.

Stuart J

Matt, without seeming to state the obvious if they cant see a car stopped will they spot a triangle a flare would be much easier to spot, or maybe a shoulder held surface to surface missile to get them before they get you

Attu

So did this happen in the UK ? just that the cars that you can see in the pics have all got UK plates ? If so how come there was no speed limit on the road ?
Glad to hear the two people in the Honda were OK wouldnt like to think what would have happend to them if they hadnt got out of the car PDQ.

Andy

MattN

Stuart, the mentality of most people on the road would be oh look at that bright light and then plough in to the car!

Anything that takes attention away from the road is bad, the only sure fire warning is to pay attention and then hope to god everyone else around you is too.

However a rocket would be good...

Mungo

I would imagine that the "flare" sticks on the stranded vehicle rather than being fired into the sky.
In my experience, hazard warning triangles are only really any good at night when you can actually see them reflecting. Most people put them 20 feet behind the stranded vehicle which is totallt useless. They need to be a good 100m.

Crush

holy ****, that's an incredible crash!

[Edited by Crush - 3/4/2003 4:02:19 PM]

Midmotorsteve

Had a tyre blow out on the front of my old audi once when i was doing 125 ishl, i only noticed after a few seconds from the odd noise simply slowed down and pulled over. It had sliced the wall of the tyre clean off the treaded part 205/40 17" i guess with less of a low profile you get more of a reaction from the car.

[Edited by Midmotorsteve - 3/4/2003 9:41:28 PM]

car_dreamer

Yes it happened in the UK. Regarding the speed limit, my take on what the person wrote on the CTR forum was that its a road were people are known for driving over the legal limit.

Just checked drivers original post on CTR forum, he said it happened on "the A10 at hertford".

[Edited by car_dreamer - 3/4/2003 10:44:05 PM]