A scary (but fortunate) end to Z4 Ownership

[Lazza]

Had a very very similar experience just before Christmas.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/662511470452229?view=permalink&id=1495283290508372

Just had a very VERY close call. Driving home from Norwich on A11 the roads are pretty dangerous with the cold & snow but don’t actually look that bad. I am sticking to the left hand lane being kept clear by traffic. Just after Thetford someone in a Family hatch went past in the right lane. A few minutes later the traffic stopped. It took a good 45 before I passed the spot where he has spun & wiped out the barrier in the central reservation.
Straight after, someone in a Smart tried to go past me in an outside lane that had little traffic on it. As it was passing me it started fish-tailing, so I braked as hard as I dared. It did a full 360 then slid across the carriageway no more than about 6 feet in front of me and off into the fields backwards. I considered stopping to see if he was ok but then thought, f@ck him.
I’m sat in a Starbucks with coffee & cake relaxing before going back out to finish the journey back to Wokingham.

 

[ronk]

I considered stopping to see if he was ok but then thought, f@ck him.
.

Isnt it the French that have a law that makes that illegal?

 

[Lazza]

I considered stopping to see if he was ok but then thought, f@ck him.
.

Isnt it the French that have a law that makes that illegal?

Stopping wasn’t really possible seeing as there was only really one open lane and no useable hard shoulder. His car stayed on all 4 wheels but was a long way off the road. A guy on his own in a Z4, leaving it in the carriageway forcing passing traffing to drive through the snow in the outside lane really wouldn’t help anyone.

 

[ronk]

I only asked as I’m off to France in the spring and I had the recollections of a must stop / Good Samaritan type of law in the country when seeing an incident like this.

 

[Kugaman1]

Glad your OK mate but your cars a disgrace.
You could have washed it before taking the pictures.


Seriously, glad you walked away unharmed and able to reflect on it with a bit of humour.

 

[paddy wright]

Sad end to the z but glad you walked away to tell the tale.

 

[cj10jeeper]

I considered stopping to see if he was ok but then thought, f@ck him.
.

Isnt it the French that have a law that makes that illegal?

Stopping wasn’t really possible seeing as there was only really one open lane and no useable hard shoulder. His car stayed on all 4 wheels but was a long way off the road. A guy on his own in a Z4, leaving it in the carriageway forcing passing traffing to drive through the snow in the outside lane really wouldn’t help anyone.

That's the best back peddling I've ever seen...
You write this initially: "I considered stopping to see if he was ok but then thought, f@ck him."
Now you say you couldn't stop. Of course you could have done so and phoned the emergency services, but had decided not to :thumbsdown:
If he'd have clipped your car you'd have been able to, I guarantee it..
The other lane was drivable albeit at low speed, so clearly you did just what you say "f@ck him"

 

[firebobby]

I only asked as I’m off to France in the spring and I had the recollections of a must stop / Good Samaritan type of law in the country when seeing an incident like this.

I thought it was a legal responsibility that you had to stop in France.
I would like to think someone would stop if me or my family had an accident and left the road. :|

 

[ronk]

I only asked as I’m off to France in the spring and I had the recollections of a must stop / Good Samaritan type of law in the country when seeing an incident like this.

I thought it was a legal responsibility that you had to stop in France.
I would like to think someone would stop if me or my family had an accident and left the road. :|

Personally I would always stop and have done so many times in the past - never mind about the law!

 

[firebobby]

I only asked as I’m off to France in the spring and I had the recollections of a must stop / Good Samaritan type of law in the country when seeing an incident like this.

I thought it was a legal responsibility that you had to stop in France.
I would like to think someone would stop if me or my family had an accident and left the road. :|

Personally I would always stop and have done so many times in the past - never mind about the law!

I only asked as I’m off to France in the spring and I had the recollections of a must stop / Good Samaritan type of law in the country when seeing an incident like this.

I thought it was a legal responsibility that you had to stop in France.
I would like to think someone would stop if me or my family had an accident and left the road. :|

Personally I would always stop and have done so many times in the past - never mind about the law!

It's the decent thing to do

 

[Lazza]

I only asked as I’m off to France in the spring and I had the recollections of a must stop / Good Samaritan type of law in the country when seeing an incident like this.

I thought it was a legal responsibility that you had to stop in France.
I would like to think someone would stop if me or my family had an accident and left the road. :|

Personally I would always stop and have done so many times in the past - never mind about the law!

You can think what you like mate. You weren’t there. I have nothing to prove to you either way. I just say it as it is. Truth is, even if I could stop safely I probably wouldn’t have bothered. We were so close to the previous incident, I wouldn’t be surprised if the police could see him anyway. He didn’t exactly put himself on my Christmas card list though so I don’t feel much for him. I’m sure his car would be fine once it was dragged out of the field and the mud was hosed out of it.

 

[ronk]

I only asked because of my France trip later this year but personally I don’t think I could just drive away never knowing if the guy had bumped his head etc., and I could have helped - no matter how much a pillock the fella had been.

We all make our own choices - people made some good choices when I had a no fault bump years ago and I will always be grateful to those folk whoever they were.

 

[Nanu]

I think it's all down to personal choice and circumstances at the time. I did stop as I usually would to make sure the guy was OK and made sure his hazzards and mine were on warning other motorists the best I could until the Police and ambulance arrived. Made sure my wife was out of the car and safe and it also allowed the nurse to concentrate on what she did best with me acting as a runner getting kit from her car. I am comfortable dealing with that type of situation but not everybody is but you cannot criticise them for that. You can only hope that if any of us are in that situation there is someone around that can help and is willing to do so.

 

[dk345]

OMG !!! Just seen this. Glad you are ok ! So sad to me my old car though :-o I was a bit shocked to see the car like that .... meant in the nicest possible way ...

The most important thing is you are ok ... any car can be replaced.

I actually feel quite bad for ruining your lovely car! But, like everyone has said, it did a great job of protecting me.

Glad your OK mate but your cars a disgrace.
You could have washed it before taking the pictures.

Actually got a lot of grief from the emergency services for the state the car was in before the accident :rofl:

But yes, anyways, went and collected my belongings from the car on the 2nd of January as it was being collected by the insurance company later that day. Here it is post recovery:







Also received a settlement figure from the insurance company on Friday... £18.5k. Told them to do better... :roll:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Wow - I think it must have been your lucky day OP.

I'm glad the car did a good job of protecting you! It probably helped that most of the damage seems to have been to the nearside - lucky you didn't have a passenger.

 

[ronk]

Go to your dealer and ask them what they will charge you to supply a car of similar age and spec - I would suspect you already have!

 

[Busterboo]

Not bad for a car with a folding aluminium roof, OP.
It looks as if the windscreen and the roll-bars did a good job in protecting you.

(I remember standing in a recovery yard, looking at my written-off car. The yard owner walked over and, not knowing who I was, looked at the wreck and said, 'I'll bet he didn't get out alive.' Plainly, he was wrong. During the accident, the windscreen had kept the roof up enough to, I reckon, save my life.)

 

[Kugaman1]

There’s a 14 plate at Peter Vardy Jaguar in Aberdeen. They want £23000 for it if your looking for comparisons to show the insurance company.

https://www.petervardy.com/item/66380/BMW/Z4-ROADSTER.html

 

[Nanu]

Ask for a replacement car like for like and let them source it. They are keen to source you a tradesman to do an insurance job rather than give you cash these days so why don't they do it with cars?

 

[BMWZ4MC]

(I remember standing in a recovery yard, looking at my written-off car. The yard owner walked over and, not knowing who I was, looked at the wreck and said, 'I'll bet he didn't get out alive.' Plainly, he was wrong. During the accident, the windscreen had kept the roof up enough to, I reckon, save my life.)

The driver’s door did a great job of holding up the roof of my inverted car right up to the moment I kicked the door open to get out... :slaphead: