Avoiding an accident in an emergency situation

[HanJackaL]

Would like to discuss about safety and tips about how to avoid an accident during emergency situations.Lately my friend just crashed my EK while taking a high speed corner.

This is the scenario : We were on the highway on the way to Genting at about 3 AM at night on a Saturday.Roads were very clear since its so late at night.The highway was the one after the Genting Toll where you have to pay RM4.I forgot the name of it.Well My friend was cruising at 120 KM/H and got suddenly tail gated by a BMW 330 with very wide rear tires..At least 255 width.The BMW could easily overtake us from the left since the roads had totally no cars on it but he didnt..he just kept on tail gating and flashing.So my friend moved aside for him to overtake and proceeded to tail gate the BMW to return the favor.He purposely did not want to overtake because he wants to see the high end potential of a big CC continental car since they are legendary for their high end.Very soon the speed was up to about 180KM/H.When we arrived at a long left hand corner,it was one of the many high speed corners the genting highway have which are quite dangerous because you can take it at extremely high speeds because its 3 lanes and roads are very big..i dont know how to explain it.But those who often take the highway going to genting should know what i mean.Well, my friend was still tail gating that BMW at 180+ KMH.Then suddenly,even though roads were clear,the BMW jammed brake twice.I think he did it on purpose as there is no reason to brake so hard.My friend panicked and jammed his brakes and swerved out to the right hand sharply.The car understeered and went towards the divider,so my friend tried to regain control of the car by counter steering and the car ended up spinning madly (360 degrees 4 times and drifted sideways for a bit) and the front end crashed straight in to the BMW's driver side door and since BMW was still accelerating,my car's front dragged his car from his driver's side all the way to his rear fender. It spinned 1 more time and my friend manage to regain control to stop by the side of road.The BMW driver stopped about 2 KM ahead and turned on his hazard lights.But he drove off as soon as we got off the car instead of talking about the damages.I dont know why he did that for...i dont blame my friend since he is not used to my car.He only been driving a 1.5 Stock standard wira special edition.So i guess he learnt a lesson not to tail gate during cornering.My damages are surprisingly quite minimal...Cost about Rm1.5k to fix.Broken bumper and lip,a small dent on hood and fender,panels went in but radiators was intact but power steering belt broke.Lights all intact..

But anyway, my question is this : When someone jam brake on you during a corner,what do you do?Or if you are taking one of those big high speed corners at a high speed and suddenly a Kancil cuts into your lane at 80 KM/H..how to avoid an accident?Please dont say things like "Drive slower...etc" ..lets discuss about how to avoid an accident in an emergency situation when you are speeding so that we can save the holes in our pockets and avoid injury.


Leave comments and stories here please =D

 

[crappy]

bro,if u dun tiong ppl,then u no need avoid anything lo....all smooth
drive safe n wear saafety belt

 

[HanJackaL]

bro,if u dun tiong ppl,then u no need avoid anything lo....all smooth
drive safe n wear saafety belt

Thanks for reply bro.No offense but please dont state the obvious.What we should be discussing is how to avoid an accident when we are "whacking" our cars or playing with friends on the road or track.I am sure some people with those 400HP monsters dont travel at 100 KM/H all the time...surely got moments where we are driving relatively fast and some idiot decides to cut into your lane suddenly.How to avoid and accident then?If its straight road and braking system good enough,then can stop in time...but what if its a "not so straight" road ,corner or blind corner?Whacking a blind corner at 160KMH then suddenly got construction in front,idiot cut to your lane or got cars blocking your lane that you couldnt see in time?I wonder how those F1 drivers tail gate each other during cornering at 200KMH + and not have accident when the driver in front slow down or something...

 

[hattech-v]

ur car equiped with abs or not?

 

[kompak]

try to brake slowly....avoid braking so hard to prevent wheels locked

 

[tortis96]

if for me... i will shift down gear, from gear 5 to gear 3 and start pumping my brakes... i was testing my h22a with my friend that day at cyberjaya. i was going more than 180kmh and was reaching my condo already. i notice when i touch the brakes, the car was like going to spin already. but lucky i m using good brake pads.

my advise is, alwiz be ready to shift down gears and don panic. do not swirve esp at high speed! confirm buang wan. start pumping ur brakes if no abs. if u r the type that likes to speed, maybe u should upgrade ur brakes as well such as changing to steel braided paiping and using good brake pads. 4 pots caliper will be a good choice as well. remember that ur life is more worth it compared to the amount u spend to upgrade brakes.

cheers

 

[ace79]

if for me... i will shift down gear, from gear 5 to gear 3 and start pumping my brakes... i was testing my h22a with my friend that day at cyberjaya. i was going more than 180kmh and was reaching my condo already. i notice when i touch the brakes, the car was like going to spin already. but lucky i m using good brake pads.

my advise is, alwiz be ready to shift down gears and don panic. do not swirve esp at high speed! confirm buang wan. start pumping ur brakes if no abs. if u r the type that likes to speed, maybe u should upgrade ur brakes as well such as changing to steel braided paiping and using good brake pads. 4 pots caliper will be a good choice as well. remember that ur life is more worth it compared to the amount u spend to upgrade brakes.

cheers

yah, a good thing to do : steel - braided hose, good brake pads ( EBC Greenstuff etc ) and better discs ( like Dixcel grooved discs ) and if got extra 4-5k, go for 4 pot calipers ( three brands can fit into 15 inch wheels : Endless, Spoon and AP Racing )

 

[chris2000]

Just my two cents...

My 1st advise is to attend some Advance Defensive Driving Course like those offered by www.aadasb.com . You will be amazed with so much you learn and you can actually practise and experience how emergency brake and skid feels rather then really waiting for real emergency to practise your skill.

"The BMW could easily overtake us from the left since the roads had totally no cars on it but he didnt..he just kept on tail gating and flashing"

To tell you the thruth, i don't think the BMW wanted to tail gate you on purpose! If it was me or many more other experience driver, they would have done the same. The right lane is an overtaking lane. So if i'm coming real fast or faster than the front car ahead, I would have also flash my lights to warn the car ahead that fast car coming and move to the left. This actually promote safe overtaking. If all fast driver just go zig zag left right to overtake cars, this is where the danger and accident happen. And when the fast car comes near and you still not moving, we will still not cut to the left even though no cars as it is dangerous for fast cars to overtake on the left as the car ahead may also suddenly swerve left to make way. So I think the BMW DID NOT DO it on purpose to show power or what not!


"Then suddenly,even though roads were clear,the BMW jammed brake twice."

What do you expect a driver to do, when he approaches a corner? Of course brake right if speed is high! This is again a driver problem and error. Lack of driving concentration and anticipation! THe BMW driver may have just felt that he is too fast for the corner or he may not be comfortable with taking the corner at 180KM/H. He may have just brake once and then felt that he is still too fast so just brake again.

Again it was a driver error for over reacting to the car ahead because you were tailing without having any anticipation of what the drivers might do or conditions of surrounding. All this accident could have been avoided if you had been properly taught or attended proper advance driving courses.

"i dont blame my friend since he is not used to my car.He only been driving a 1.5 Stock standard wira special edition.So i guess he learnt a lesson not to tail gate during cornering."

If your friend is only driven a normal low power car, I wouldn't had let him drive your powerful EK at that kind of speed!!! I think its just insane to let someone drive a more powerful car than he may able to control!

"My damages are surprisingly quite minimal...Cost about Rm1.5k to fix."

I think you were just DAMN LUCKY man.. I have seen so many cars crashed onto the barriers along the highway to genting.

"But anyway, my question is this : When someone jam brake on you during a corner,what do you do?"

I felt it should have been an avoidance. Try to steer away with minimal steering movement and not jolt your steering hard to one side as it will just induce massive understeer or oversteer. Never jam your brakes in the corner as this will 100% cause your car to oversteer and spin like what your friend did!

"Or if you are taking one of those big high speed corners at a high speed and suddenly a Kancil cuts into your lane at 80 KM/H..how to avoid an accident?"

Again if you are in concentration and aware of your surroundings, you could have seen that the kancil might want to cut out, so way ahead if you know you are coming fast, you should have flash your lights to warn him fast car coming, like what the BMW did to u.

"lets discuss about how to avoid an accident in an emergency situation when you are speeding so that we can save the holes in our pockets and avoid injury."

Sometime it is very hard to explain all this situations to anyone. Even if you have the theory or what not, how to correct skid and this and that, ALL this are just therioes we talk about among friends, and will never be able to test or try until that real emergency situation!

And also i'm spending so much time to type all this, is because i just hope it may acknowledge one or two people in this forum and prompt them all this that could have save someone from a major accident or their life. Just sharing some of things i learn in life and in advance defensive driving courses from www.aadasb.com

Happy Driving!!

 

[xtremeleo]

its in ur breaking technique bro, using a 4 potter or steel braided hoses is much more dangerous IF u cant control them. tailgating on high speed is asking for trouble, so dont do dat. give d car in front plenty of space to make mistakes such as sudden braking, because we dont know what the driver in front will do, wether he do it on purpose, or not. dis is important on straight strech, more important on corners. if i were u, key is off to ur fren dude. RM1.5k isnt dat cheap for me, even if he was paying all the damages

 

[xtremeleo]

thanx for the infos chris, appreciate them a lot. dat course may come in handy one day guys

 

[SC-A1]

Hey,

Drive with your sense!

1. Right lane is for overtaking - why you need to stay there ?? u mentioned that no car there.

2. Your friend just a 1.5 Proton Wira Driver, sudden change of car, he might not understand your car behaviour well enough, then want to play game with other.

3. Is your insurane cover for all drivers?

4. Do u understant what is slow in fast out. You fast in might not come out from the corner forever.

5. Please think, if you want to let some one drive your car again! Are they a pro or a very good driver? Even pro can make mistake sometimes. Ask yourself which F1 driver never spin or flew to gravel?

6. U mentioned, if emergency what to do? I think, a TRAINED driver will never face the emergency like yours!! They know what are they doing...... i am not surprise the BMW guys is a trained driver. He stopped in the save place......that allowed him to check his car!!

7. Purely your friend MISTAKE !! Don't blame others !!

 

[SataniC]

i feel like stating the obvious that your fren...are indeed one stupid idiot dumbass...but since you dont want to hear the obvious...then i probably shudnt...

 

[J101]

"lets discuss about how to avoid an accident in an emergency situation when you are speeding so that we can save the holes in our pockets and avoid injury"

this is not like a fire or some earthquake thing where you have few seconds or even a minute to think for your next escape route.

in the first place you shouldnt have speed and fool around on normal roads. avoidance can be achieved when u are aware, awake and having control of the situation.

i think the statistics are huge when it comes to genting accidents. everybody seems to know about it but they seems to forget when its their time goin up or down.

 

[SataniC]

weh...dun say the obvious...pegi tido la woi

 

[TiBuN]

I believe HanJackal just want to learn more from this experience, instead of his own logic thinking, he wanted the public opinion on what can be done to improve responsiveness next time.
Instead of being afraid to die, I think confronting fear is a better option.

Chris already answered most of the question, for situation like this (very high speed, cornering and an equally high speed car in close proximity), one need to take care of the distance / anticipation between 2 cars. Give room for newbies in case of sudden brake or change lane. This is not Tsuiso battle so shouldn't tailgate DURING cornering, tailgating is done on fairly straight road with minimal variable or with a friend u trust.

Another thing is driving technique, at such speed, turning of steering should be done minimum, cutting apex is 1 of the way to reduce steering turn.

But conclusion leh, don't let your friend drive your car again. :_:

P.S. BMW330 got TCS ?

 

[WhiteSpoonCivic]

my 2 cents, u wanna whack, take it to the track..
don't be a clown on the road..

there's no marshals to save u on the road and the tow truck takes ages to come if u need them..

dun endanger other ppl's lives and cars.. how would u feel if u were driving normally on the road and suddenly some car just spun in a corner and whack u coz he was whacking his car.. damn putih right?

 

[xtremeleo]

putih? ha ha.. nice advice whitespooncivic (such a long nick, phew!!)

 

[HanJackaL]

Thanks for replies and flames my friends!! =) I guess i shouldnt let someone who is not experienced with a powerfull car drive my car...personally, i would never have tail gated anyone on the road.Not a fan of tail gating as i see no point in doing that...But if i was the one driving and racing with that BMW,i would have dropped to a low gear for more traction and released my throttle so that my car would have some distance from the car in front.Then i will wait for a straight line in the apex before acceleratign out...in fact, during the corner i already felt very funny and dangerous when my friend was tail gating the BMW,i told him to be carefull but the very next split second,bmw was jam braking and my car was spinning....quite sad.Because of that accident,no car for valentine's day!!!

Anyway, i feel my car's braking is not responsive enough.When i tap brakes at low speed,i dont feel the halting response.I am using Front Honda Prelude BB4 rotors and calipers with steel braided hose..Type R master pump.Only normal metal king brake pads though..and no abs.Somehow at low speed,my car dont brake responsively enough.But at high speed,even tho i tap a bit, i can feel speed dropping.Is that normal?I did my brakes at Amoil and serviced calipers many times but still same problem.

And guys,how come even at the slightest corner,if i tap my brakes at 160KM/H+,i can feel back of my car sliding a bit?Is that normal?When i say slight corner, i mean the tunnel on Penchala link...almost at end of tunnel got a bit of winding road.

Thanks again guys..keep the flames and comments up!

 

[SataniC]

disrupting the car's balance...ie. braking during high speed corner will get your tail fly....its racing 101...

 

[zeddd]

Hi,

Apart from the driving techniques and other things mentioned, a driver must be able to understand his driving machine/car 'behaviour' and ability to perform in a given situation. Before he decide to tailgating on top of driving at such a high speed, he must understand how good the brake of that particular car will perform, how the suspension will react, how the tyres will interact and so forth plus his ability to stay alert and his respond time will contribute as well. Plus a car dynamic balance will keep changing as the engive rev higher and the car goes faster n faster, rite. Knowledge and awareness of certain things... should he decide to do that, my opinion.