Mini Cooper Crash at MOTD!

I can only speculate.

From what I saw it appeared the MINI turned into Fontana in front of that poor lady & her dog in the red Mitsubishi. She T boned the MINI spinning it 180 degrees. Luckily it looked like everyone was only shaken up.

 

WOW, just WOW.... I am really glad the lady in the Sentra was ok.

 

We were right there when it happened.. First Mini in the line turned into Fontana, second Mini started to but then went on, third Mini turned...BAM! Lady coming up the hill didn't even have a chance to hit the brakes. Fortunately all involved were physically OK (airbags work) albeit shaken up. Unfortunately both the cars will be headed for the graveyard....

 

So was this an issue of not paying attention, or not being able to see well enough around the car directly in front ?

 

How could you tell it was red, a lady and with a dog?

Jim

 

Think we have all been quilty of not paying enough attention after following in a line for awhile.....

 

This is why I don't like following in lines...

 

Negative. I can honestly say i have never pulled directly out in front of someone after following in a line for a while. Even then, thats zero excuse to not pay attention to your surroundings.

The MINI driver gets zero sympathy from me. It is good to hear they are all ok though, sincerely.

 

I'm sure the driver's account of the story will come out, when he/she is ready to talk about it.
-Jim

 

Saw the damage after as the driver was staying downstairs from us. Car was clearly totaled but drivable (in fact I thought they said they were going to drive home.) Glad everone was ok. These are tough little cars.

 

Turning into Fontana there is always dangerous when the sun is setting. You can't see anything until you get down into the tree area. This accident has happened many, many times because of that.

 

When I saw the video I was thinking the same thing. The driver probably had the sun in their eyes. Which makes it doubly important to make sure before making the turn.

 

FYI
The driver of the car was with us in our cabin, the car was hit dead center on the passengers side. Luckly no one was in the passengers seat. Both parties where ok. The MINI was indeed driven back to philly by me. It is currently at the repair shop, and as a testament to the little car, it will live again.

 

In driving school, the most often repeated lesson is keep your eyes up. Why? Because you have to unlearn the habit of watching the bumper in front of you. I've seen many many many people succumb to pack mentality, especially on group drives where the skill level varies widely. It's the most important thing to do behind the wheel, and it's the biggest different between drivers with and without performance driving school education.

I was one car behind the camera man, and I thought for sure that somebody was going to be broken; it's a good thing the six-airbagged MINI was the side impact and the older Nissan Sentra was the frontal impact.

 

There's also a dip in the road there after you crest the hill that would have hidden the Nissan a bit. Still, it's very clear who was at fault.

 

Amazing. That thing was hammered.

 

You weren't there, no need to come across like an @ss.

 

+ 1 ^ IMHO running in large groups is dangerous.

Jim I know about the color of the car the lady & her dog because I stopped & went over to check on her. She was out of her car standing there with her terrified dog. She was pretty shaken up. She told me that it happened so fast she didn't have a chance to even hit the brakes. I felt & still do feel very bad for her. Innocent person minding her own business & bam!

 

+1 ^

I came up in the same direction of the MINI involved. The sight-line is bad & the sun was low & in my eyes. I can completely see how this could happen. A huge thank you to the folks directing traffic. They quite possibly saved another running into the accident scene.

All weekend I chose to turn into Fontana at the Pit Stop. It seemed safer to me.