Drifted into a pole tonight. =(

[huck-jai]

I took a bus down to Seattle tonight. Roads were clear. I dropped my car off to Ravi for a vrh kit on Sunday, so I went back to get her. The vrh kit is awesome. A must for all nsx's. Thanks for the install Ravi.

As I was driving back home roads got wet. Then turned to packed snow around Bellingham. Must have snowed earlier. I had my hazards on and was going 25 miles or so. Should have went slower. I was in the left lane. Tried a few times to get to the right lane but couldn't car was sliding around so I continued straight. A car is coming up on my right and seemed to be going fairly quick. Over takes me and we go into a small bend to the right. He then starts sliding into my lane and I'm like wtf. Tried to tap the brakes a bit to avoid a collision. Guess I shouldn't have done that but really nothing else I could have done. No way for me to try and swerve out of the way.

So my car starts sliding. Total control gone. Sliding into the ditch in the centre. There's some small poles about waist high and in between the poles are big cable wires. The poles are very far apart. I know I'm going to hit something and I'm praying to just hit the wires in between. Bang. Front passenger bumper smacks dead on into one of the poles. Gotta be kidding me. Passenger side bumper corner cracked beyond repair. Passenger headlight shattered and the housing is recessed in a bit. Hood has a few scratches and small dents. Passenger fender is bent in the front. Does not appear to be frame damage hopefully. I've got 02 headlights at home to be installed. So no biggie. Pretty pissed though.

A state trooper pulls over and asks if I'm ok. He asks if I can drive the car as it looks driveable. I said there's ni way this car is getting out if this ditch. The ditch wasn't deep. More of a small dip. But rwd is not going to make it. He radios in a tow truck and said it'd be a long wait. Told me to sit in the passenger seat as my driver side is facing traffic. He leaves. I'm sitting in my car praying that no one slides into me.

45 min later another state trooper comes a long. Asks if a tow truck is on the way. Then asks for my license and registration. 5 min later tow truck comes. Then the trooper gives me a ticket for going too fast for road conditions and calls and tells my insurance company I was in an accident. Wow. Did you really have to give me a ticket? Car gets loaded and I tell the driver to take me to the closest motel. Will stay over night and attempt to drive the car back if it clears up tomorrow. I ask how much for the tow and he said if a trooper calls a tow truck its 168 an hour. Starting from when they start heading here to when they get back to the office. 250 bucks. Wonderful. At this point I'm not upset I crashed. I'm pissed at the trooper. Could have been nice and not give me a ticket.

So I'm at a travelodge now. Typing this all out on my BlackBerry. If this doesn't get posted, I've wasted my time typing all of this on a phone.

Thanks for listening. Needed to vent. Time for bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

 

[Jetpilot3]

Oh man sorry to hear! Drive safe tomorrow and remember its only a car. You're safe and that's all that matters.

 

[shawn110975]

I would have thrown it on the ground and told him did he see me driving to fast 2 hours ago? and that the driver thats long gone ran me off the road because he was going to fast.

and that the first trooper called the tow truck 2 hours ago.

and to KISS MY ASS.

troopers would give their own mother a ticket if she was speeding to the hospital to see his dieing father. and his wife and kids were in the back seat of the mothers speeding car.

I would fight it in court, it is your right.

its a WIN WIN situation, now while in court if the cops doesnt show up its dropped, and if he does show up

judge will say = " officer how fast was he going during the wreck? "
trooper = "UHHHH I dont know I wasnt there "
Judge = " you were not a witness to this wreck "
trooper = " no "
Judge = " so how do you know how fast he was going or what caused this wreck "
trooper = " I didnt, I just saw him on the side of the road with his hazard lights on and I noticed he hit the side pole with his FAST FAST SPORTSCAR, so I put 2 and 2 together and thought to myself he must have been speeding "
judge = " are you an IDIOT"
trooper = " uhhhh I dont think so your Honor"

then you speak and say
the tow truck was 168 an hour " and you shut up....

judge = " case dismissed CLANKKK....."

Victim = now you look at Trooper and smile and you whisper just loud enough for the trooper to hear, dumb ass "

you leave still pissed at this waste of your time the court time and the Tax payer Dime. the system is broken and it will never return.

get your baby fixed.

and I am sorry to hear this happend. Assholes in wet/snowy conditions are asking for trouble when the pass you in that kind of "weather" situation i hate them LOL

 

[Midnight_Raven]

You know this almost happened to me in my MR2. I drove it out on a nice day and a big snowstorm hit while I was at work. I was planning to leave before the storm hit but then my boss required me to finish something so I had to stay late. Regardless so I'm trying to drive my MR2 in what I felt was the worst snow that winter. I ended up getting stuck on an uphill and causing a traffic jam for about an hour... really embarrassing but luckily no accident. Just me an a couple of fools who couldn't make it up the hill. After I manage to start moving again I just drove for another 20 min looked for a nice parking spot and stopped there to weather out the storm for about 2-3 hours. This is what pushed me to buy my RL because I never wanted to be in a situation like that again plus I lost confidence in MR2 .

Before that incident I would of done exactly what you did and kept going... in reality you should of just found a parking spot and waited it out. Let the storm pass and if it wasn't going to pass I would of just called a taxi or a friend and leave the car there. IMHO I would rather have the car sitting in a public area under snow vs wrecking it just driving slowly home. Safest thing for you and your car.

Regardless I feel for you man, MR with no snow tires in a snow is very scary. I can only imagine how it would feel for a car that has more HP and TQ then an N/A MR2.

 

[s14_tat]

Oh man, that really sucks man. I would've been pist!!!!!! Here is a bottle of scotch for you

 

[synergy004]

Kev

Glad your ok for the first part. Second, you will know what to do as you arrive home. Keep us updated. Truly sux. I am surprised you did not check the weather forecast to prep your trip travels.

=g=

 

[synergy004]

sorry double post

 

[Moses]

Sorry to hear that, hope you get everything fixed. The most important part is that your okay and a car is always repairable or replaceable.

 

[996garage]

Cops can be such jerks sometimes. Years ago a big moving truck didn't see me and crashed into me and spun me around into a pole. 1st cop is cool and puts flares on the road & takes an accident report. Minutes after the 1st cop left, a 2nd one shows up and writes me a parking ticket! WTF?

Had to argue with him for 15min to until he finally changed his mind.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck.

 

[clr1024]

Sorry to hear this. I am with you, like it's not bad enough that you wrecked your own car, but he had to give you a ticket and call your insurance company, is that even his place to do so Glad you are though.

 

[nsxpilot]

Cop for almost 30 years.........if all is as stated, that was a really chickenshit ticket......
His basis for the ticket is the presumption that you were in fact traveling too fast for conditions......he doesn't need to see it happen......I would contest the citation, argue your speed was safe and prudent, that unexpected Icy conditions caused an unavoidable slide that no reasonable driver could have anticipated, that unfortunately, many cars like the rear drive Acura do not lend itself to avoiding this kind of accident.......ask the officer politely if at any time in his driving career he has experienced a loss of traction that could not have been anticipated or avoided.......if he says no, simply he state he must be an extraordinary driver......stay on topic, be respectfull and you can win this one

Btw, an attorney is usually a good investment too

Also, he likely called your insurance just to confirm coverage......

 

[tnguyen]

Sorry to hear that, hope you get everything fixed. The most important part is that your okay and a car is always repairable or replaceable.

Yup, that's the most important thing, just remember it could have been much worse.

Glad you are totally okay, sucks about the car, but at least now you're going to get a set of 02 head lights now.

-Steve

 

[GrounDDesignS]

Cop for almost 30 years.........if all is as stated, that was a really chickenshit ticket......
His basis for the ticket is the presumption that you were in fact traveling too fast for conditions......he doesn't need to see it happen......I would contest the citation, argue your speed was safe and prudent, that unexpected Icy conditions caused an unavoidable slide that no reasonable driver could have anticipated, that unfortunately, many cars like the rear drive Acura do not lend itself to avoiding this kind of accident.......ask the officer politely if at any time in his driving career he has experienced a loss of traction that could not have been anticipated or avoided.......if he says no, simply he state he must be an extraordinary driver......stay on topic, be respectfull and you can win this one

Btw, an attorney is usually a good investment too

Also, he likely called your insurance just to confirm coverage......

Awesome advice.

Sorry to hear man. Worst day possible. Hope everything goes better from here on out!

 

[huck-jai]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Car is safe in the garage. I feel so much better now that I'm home. Pictures attached. Everything seems ok. Im going to take it to a shop to check for frame damage to be safe. Only thing I don't get is how my driver side headlight got damaged like that. Top of the headlight housing is scuffed. The headlights were on during the crash, so no clue. Also in the pic where the hood meets the driver side headlight you can see scuffs and it's actually slightly dented in. The hood is aligned and closes and opens fine. I'm stumped.

I'm meeting up with the insurance company on Tuesday to assess the damage. If I do decide to fix it through them my insurance will go up by $300 next year, which isn't so bad. I might just do that and get the shop to fix everything properly.

I was trying to get to the right lane to exit, but there was too much build up in the centre and i couldnt cross over safely. That section of the highway was two lane traffic and I really didn't want to pull over on a highway as there is barely any room and it'd be bad to have someone rear end me on the highway. There were quite a few cars flying by me and it was quite scary. A few were sliding out a bit and they continued the same speed. What else was awesome was that a snow plow drove by as my car was getting loaded on the tow truck. These things always seem to happen to me.

Oh well, time to move on and get her all cleaned up. Possible build thread to come.

-Kev

 

[huck-jai]

More pics:
First pic is what I'm talking bout on driver side headlight. Top part is scuffed somehow while the headlight was open???

 

[huck-jai]

And pics of the crash scene:
Had to hit the pole right there. Look at all the sections without the pole. I'm sure if I went into the cables it would have absorbed the imparct better.

 

[GrounDDesignS]

And pics of the crash scene:
Had to hit the pole right there. Look at all the sections without the pole. I'm sure if I went into the cables it would have absorbed the imparct better.

Oh man. Looks little but a fortune to fix. No surprise that the other side has damage though. The Impact travels all the way to the other side. Im guessing the hood must have smashed into the housing of the light.

02 conversion?

 

[huck-jai]

Oh man. Looks little but a fortune to fix. No surprise that the other side has damage though. The Impact travels all the way to the other side. Im guessing the hood must have smashed into the housing of the light.

02 conversion?

The only thing I don't get is that the hood is straight. It lines up perfectly. Maybe it bounced back somehow? beats me.

I was already planning an 02 conversion. I have the headlights and brackets at home. Just need the bumper and hood. I'll try to negotiate with ICBC and get an 02 hood and bumper. hahaha.

 

[M Baker]

It looks like the cable went under the headlight cover and broke the light.

Very sorry to hear about this. Just rain down here in Seattle last night and bone dry today.

Contest the ticket, explain you were not driving too fast for the conditions. Don't say much. Talking a lot in a courtroom will always get you in trouble. "just the facts" Mention you were creeping along slowly and were focusing completely on the road and a guy going too fast ended up sliding into your lane. And when you took tried took evasive action you slid off the road. Mention nothing about the speed you were going. You don't know.

It is possible to have the damage you had with a 5 to 10MPH hit on an aluminum car.

 

[Dynamic-uzed-auto]

Sorry to here but your safe which is what really matters

 

[shawn110975]

.


I just looked at the pictures and my expert advice is that is will buff out with some hardcore Carnuba wax. J/k

it actually looks worse than it is. going by the pics

new front bumper including the lip, lower and upper bumper, new corner guards, possible foam in the bumper, acura emblem, bumper turn indicator
headlight/ headlight cover, hood, and I would just get a new fender as some autobody shops do better work than other when tring to save a fender that is.

and paint.

and then dealing with the Post Dramatic Stress from all this

your on your own with that one.

 

[goldNSX]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Snow and summer tires don't work well. Low-speed crash = high costs. You need a fender, a bumper cover and a headlight at least. I don't think the frame is bent. Sad to see but be happy you're ok.

 

[Kyras]

..As I was driving back home roads got wet. Then turned to packed snow around Bellingham. Must have snowed earlier. I had my hazards on and was going 25 miles or so. Should have went slower. I was in the left lane. Tried a few times to get to the right lane but couldn't car was sliding around so I continued straight. ...

^That is a scary situation, for sure, and you did the best you possibly could. I'm sorry your NSX got damaged. :frown: I'm glad you're okay and really hope you win the fight against the ticket.

...On Oct. 3, 2009, my boyfriend and I were in Colorado driving our S2000s in light rain that became light snow, on a two-lane road (Hwy 550) . There was nothing we could do as the road climbed to higher elevations, but go slow, with our flashers on, and find the first turn-out, to turn around and go back to Durango. The turn-out was slippery and our cars were spinning their tires to get back to road, although we never slipped on the road. We were lucky we didn't have an accident. I've never been so scared driving a car.

^My car at Coalbank Pass, where we turned around.

^His car.

^Driving back to Durango.

 

[latzke]

More pics:
First pic is what I'm talking bout on driver side headlight. Top part is scuffed somehow while the headlight was open???

I have to assume scuff on driver headlight cover and next to it on the hood are from getting under one or two of the cables. I'm assuming you were facing near perfectly at them when you hit...and the pole helped rotated you farther before you stopped.

 

[latzke]

On Oct. 3, 2009, my boyfriend and I were in Colorado driving our S2000s in light rain that became light snow, on a two-lane road (Hwy 550) . There was nothing we could do as the road climbed to higher elevations, but go slow, with our flashers on, and find the first turn-out, to turn around and go back to Durango. The turn-out was slippery and our cars were spinning their tires to get back to road, although we never slipped on the road. We were lucky we didn't have an accident. I've never been so scared driving a car.

Californians.