bmw5forum founder killed in car crash last night :(

[M-Sport]

Sad news

http://m.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/1430 ... n_on_A350/

[Speedtouch]

Indeed. RIP.

[darkchild]

Just read this on the 5 Series forum. Tragic news.

RIP.

[Jesus325iTouring]

This is just down the road from me, very tragic, yes, excessive speed the cause, most certainly. There is a lot of crashes on this road and there is no excuse for it. A big wide road with good visibility, it is only ever poor driving causing these accidents.

There has been three recently, the last being on friday morning. People quite simple drive to fast down it without consideration of turnings and traffic lights. Locals keep saying something should be find about it, the only thing that needs doing is driver education.

[HairyScreech]

That road has needed dueling as long as I have been alive. Accidents will continue to happen on that road until the road is made adequate for the volume of traffic it has to handle.

I would disagree on the speed thing as I have driven that road at pretty high speeds without even a whiff of an issue, however the road is often busy with slow traffic on it, with nowhere to pass the slow moving traffic you get the accidents like the two at the Lacock lights and the one before Christmas where people take a gamble on a gap that just is not there.

While you are right that driver education would fix it Wiltshire badly needs it's arterial routes dueling, you can be sure they wont though and I bet you the whole fucking road is made a 40.

[Jesus325iTouring]

And that's the nail on the head, people take a gamble. And lose. There is no patience anymore.

[pacerpete]

The deceased was obviously traveling at a serious rate of knots, the Fiat pulled out on him, he clipped it and was then a passenger until the tree stopped him

[HairyScreech]

[edit] - just a disclaimer on this for any of the 5 lot reading, no disrespect in any direction intended.

I would actually be interested to see the report on this one, your suggestion would mean the punto has pulled out of mons lane (several hundred metre visibility in both directions) the tree he has hit is ~60m after mons lane.

However the damage is on the wrong side of the M5 and the wing is ripped off in the wrong direction on the Punto.

I think people are jumping to conclusions it was the fault of the M5 going too fast just because it's an M5.

I think the punto may have been trying to turn into mons lane and has turned into the side of the M5 without looking properly.

It looks to me like the young drive in the punto simply got it wrong as even at 120mph the M5 would have been visible for a long time before it reached the junction, even if the headlights were not visible even longer before.

Damage on the two vehicles is not consistent with high speed crashes either. Trees rip cars to pieces at high impact speeds and there looks to be very little damage to the M5 and none intruding into the drivers side.

[pacerpete]

[edit] - just a disclaimer on this for any of the 5 lot reading, no disrespect in any direction intended.

I would actually be interested to see the report on this one, your suggestion would mean the punto has pulled out of mons lane (several hundred metre visibility in both directions) the tree he has hit is ~60m after mons lane.

However the damage is on the wrong side of the M5 and the wing is ripped off in the wrong direction on the Punto.

I think people are jumping to conclusions it was the fault of the M5 going too fast just because it's an M5.

I think the punto may have been trying to turn into mons lane and has turned into the side of the M5 without looking properly.

It looks to me like the young drive in the punto simply got it wrong as even at 120mph the M5 would have been visible for a long time before it reached the junction, even if the headlights were not visible even longer before.

Damage on the two vehicles is not consistent with high speed crashes either. Trees rip cars to pieces at high impact speeds and there looks to be very little damage to the M5 and none intruding into the drivers side.

I agree, it was more than likely the Fiats fault BUT the M5 was obviously traveling at a serious lick to sustain the damage it has . From the picture, it appears the 5 has taken a pretty major impact on the passenger A post which has done the roof etc .

Either way, a very sad scenario and a clear example of how things can get really ugly really quickly at speed

[ross_jsy]

Makes you think how little protection an e30 would offer in a crash when someone dies in a safe modern car

[Pinchy_Larou]

^^^ Very true, not a great deal of protection!! People live in the bubble of "it wont happen to me" but as Peter says, it only takes a second for things to get uncontrollable. Sympathy's to the guys family

[HairyScreech]

Ross - About this much.



A lot of people are under the illusion that cars are sturdy, they are really not, even modern ones.

[Jesus325iTouring]

Pete is most likely correct here, the Fiat probably did pull across the road, the issue is, the BMW was most likely (going from the damage) traveling at a excessive speed for the area (just because it's a national limit doesn't mean it's the right speed to drive at), so this creates two issues. Firstly, traveling through a set of lights fast is not a sensible thing to do, it is an area of hazards and should be treated as such, going through fast there is no time to avoid said risk, this accident being a case in point. Second issue, the Fiat driver may have seen the oncoming BMW and misjudged the speed it was traveling at, thinking it was moving at a slower speed than it was, how can you tell 40 from 80 when you can only see oncoming head lights? Two faults with that really, the Fiat driver should have waited, the BMW should have been driving slower.
This brings me back to my original point, there is nothing wrong with the road layout, merely errors by the people using it. Patience & speed being the main culprits.
Dreadful thing to happen for sure, but ultimately, like most other accidents, avoidable.

[AndyG]

all so sad really and probably so unnecessary when all the facts do emerge, but the Fiat crossing the path of another sounds all to similar to the biker who died while doing something like 150mph on the road because he hit a car that was crossing his path. The driver of that car didn't judge the speed of the bike and thought it safe to cross (if I recall).

Can't recall all the details nor the outcome of that but the driver who crossed his path I'm sure got quite a penalty because he went across the path of oncoming traffic, judgement of speed is key to much of this I expect?

[DanThe]

It looks to me like one of those junctions where somebody sat waiting to turn right thinks that because their green light is lit up the traffic they are about to cross will have to stop, when in fact they should be giving way to it

[HairyScreech]

It looks to me like one of those junctions where somebody sat waiting to turn right thinks that because their green light is lit up the traffic they are about to cross will have to stop, when in fact they should be giving way to it

Good point, hadn't considered that.

There are quite a few of those around here, personally I think if the light is only indicating ok for one direction then it should be one of those with the outline of an arrow masked onto it.

Note - more than aware of the green means only ok to proceed with caution etc etc.