I left the London area today (Sunday) to make the long journey back home. Six hours later and my shiny little sports car is reduced to scrap metal.
The crash happened not far from my home on a ‘flyover’ bridge. After some unusually warm and sunny weather conditions changed dramatically as I drove north this afternoon. At one point I was on the highway driving at no more than 40 mph in a heavy snow fall the like of which I am extremely inexperienced at driving in.
I was being very careful and on several occasions I felt the car get away from me momentarily on corners. The MG is notoriously bad handling in wet conditions and being very light and powerful things can get very interesting very quickly if you’re not careful. So with that in mind I was being very cautious indeed.
However, true to the statistic, within three miles of my home familiarity set in and I have to confess I was quite simply too relaxed. Heading onto a flyover bridge that is sided by two unforgiving crash barriers and no run-off area at all, I felt the back end of the car get lose and step out. I wasn’t particularly phased by this and simply corrected the slide. This time however the roads were slushy and greasy too. The car began to get too badly out of shape for me to have any hope to recover and I knew that I was heading straight to the scene of the accident.
It’s funny how in those moments everything kind of slows down and you are able to have a great many complete thought processes within what must amount to micro-seconds.
With no run-off area beside the road any error at this particular location would be unusually costly. Ominously the section of barrier I was about to smash into was covered in flowers. A roadside shrine to a recently killed motorist who died at that spot. I very clearly recall thinking to myself “That’s not a good sign.” Though as I tried to steer my way out of trouble I considered the fact that this might not actually be that bad because I wasn’t really going very fast at all, probably no more than 30 miles per hour or so.
SMASH! The first sickening impact with the barrier happened as the front left of the car crunched heavily into the barrier on the left side. “Ah, time to rethink this as being just a slight knock.” I thought to myself as the car now slid backward heading for the inevitable rear impact. SMASH! One final pirouette and then after the sound of shattering glass hitting the ground finished, all was quiet.
My first reaction, aside from “SHIT!” was to start the engine and see if I could continue on because I was sitting precariously in a dangerous spot around a blind bend on a narrow bridge. The car started without a problem so I drove it slowly off the flyover and then parked it.
I got out and reviewed the damage. The front is heavily damaged from what I can see and the impact with the crash barrier at the back of the car has made several unsightly dents. It might be worse that it looks of course, but in truth this surely will be an expensive accident.
I called a recovery truck and sent a text message to my friend Jon saying “I’ve crashed.” He rang me right back and arrived at the scene a few minutes later.
The annoying thing is that the accident is probably not worth putting though my insurance as the premium increase over the next five years will probably offset any saving I make by getting the insurance to pay out for the repairs or replacement car. In truth it will probably be easier and more cost effective to simply either repair the car on my own dime or simply buy another MG swap the Roadster roof and the other modifications then scrap the wrecked one.
I could have done without this drama. But as Jon pointed out, there was a flower memorial on the very same barriers I crashed into. At some point in the last few weeks someone never got the opportunity to worry about how much their accident was going to cost them.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 3:33 am
Oy. I’m glad you are not going to need a memorial at the bridgeside. :-( Sad about your car, though.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 3:45 am
I’m so glad you’re okay!
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 4:34 am
That really SUCKS!! The getting into the crash I mean. That is AWESOME!! The walking away bodily unscathed. I am sorry to hear about your car, but now that you are basically middle-aged shoudn’t your insurance company go easy on you? :-)
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 5:19 am
I’m glad you’re alright. Poor car :(
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 5:34 am
Phew!
Glad you’re okay. :)
Here’s to the next 8 lives you have left! Cheers! :)
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 8:14 am
Simon,
glad you’re ok.
Please get a proper german car next time, will you?
;-)
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 8:18 am
The car certainly does look a mess! Glad that you survived without problems. I agree about the MG in icy/slushy conditions, I have had a few near misses with mine too. How Anthony can think that this sort of thing is AWESOME is beyond me though.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 10:28 am
What Anthony thought was awesome, Mark, was that I was ok after the crash, not that I had a crash :-)
As for my insurance company “going easy on me”, they might indeed go easier than if I was a 20 year old, but I think the sting in the tail would come over the ‘payback’ I have to suffer when the policy is adjusted for the next five years in answer to the question “Have you had any accidents or claims in the last five years.”
Insurance is such a scam. It’s infuriating that this actually is probably cheaper for me to pay out of my own pocket for after dutifully paying insurance for years.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 12:43 pm
The only thing that sucks more than wrecks is dealing with insurance companies after wrecks. Trust me. I’ve had many….three of them were “head-on collisions”…and then about 5 or 6 others.
You didn’t know that when I picked you up at the airport, did you?
Relax….I haven’t had a wreck in years now….most of it ws due to youthful vigor…and that’s long since died, mostly.
I’m genuinely sorry for your accident, but thankful that you are alright. Smashing a car is inconvenient. Losing our Simon would be way more than that.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Yes I have had one or two bumps in the last few years. When my renewal came through I thought I was going to have to part with my beloved MGTF because of the cost. However at that point I could change insurers and the price was halved! Maybe claim and then shop around?
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 4:22 pm
you’re OK, that’s the main thing :op
Wrote the following comment on Mar 19, 2007 at 4:26 pm
How guilty do I feel! Simon rang me yesterday and asked to crash at my place which is half way home. Unfortunately I became ill in the afternoon and I stayed at my girlfriends.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 20, 2007 at 12:02 am
Simon, Yes! I was saying “awesome” to the fact that you were not physically hurt, and by no means in relation to the crash itself.
Also, I too often feel that insurance is such a scam for the very reasons you articulated. I really get bugged by deductibles, because it often means you pay for most of the damage and then they thrown in their little bit to show that they have you covered. Yeah! That was really worth my paying out a hundred or so a month for the past 10 years. I, of course realize that they are a profit making industry who have actuaries to run the stats to make sure that they rarely get the short end of the stick when tragedy happens.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 20, 2007 at 1:19 am
glad you came out of it okay. hopefully you’ll get a good resolution on repairs too.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 20, 2007 at 2:20 am
wow… i am glad you are okay. that’s freakin’ scary.
Wrote the following comment on Mar 20, 2007 at 2:21 am
ps. i love this little counter telling me i have 271 seconds to edit my previous comment. haha! rock on, simon!
Wrote the following comment on Mar 20, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I’m not sure which is worse… crashing… or being told in your blog about having crashed that you are now “basically middle aged”. Ouch. Did you walk away from THAT unscathed???? *wink*
Kidding.
So glad you’re unharmed. So sorry you now have to deal with all of the crap-o-la that follows this kind of thing.
What are you driving right now? Do you have a loaner car? I hear there is a slightly used Cadillac sedan in New Orleans…
heh heh heh