I have just gotten home from one of the worst nights of my life. I just wrecked my 2002 SSEi. The "before" pictures can be seen here: http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=429

There has been some arguments as to when the speed limiter kicks in. Well, my HUD showed 129MPH before I lost control. Basically I was going way too fast for the stretch of road I was travelling. The pavement appeared to be dry, but I may have hit some oil or something. There were some curves, but I never thought they would pose a problem. Anyways, I really have no one but my self to blame.

I had been at a cook out of a few hours (yes, I had a few beers) and was heading home (alone). I swung out to pass some slower traffic and just kept going. The car kept accellerating, so I let it go. Half-way into a curve, the back end started coming around, I was going too fast to adjust. I spun at least twice, tore the whole nose off and came to rest against an embankment in the right-hand lane. Neither myself or anyone else was hurt!

One of the first people to stop was an off-duty cop that, after seeing that I was not injured, pointed out the he thought I was doing over 110 when I passed him. I just looked at him shook my head...I didn't say anything. When the police and fire crews got there, he talked to them for a few minutes before they ever walked up to me. I thought that I was dead meat. I don't know if it was adrenaline or what, but after talking to the numerous fire fighting personel and police officers, they seemed to think that I was lucid enough and no one asked me to take a breath-test. That was really a small blessing in the "big-picture" sort of thing.

Well, I got dinged for a "reckless operation", which, in Ohio, is almost half the points you can carry on a liscense. The car got towed to some lot, but the wrecker driver seemed nice and gave me his card. I need to make some phone calls in the morning...

I don't think it is totalled, but after the ticket, insurance deductible and my sure rate increase, I bet I will have at least a grand out-of-pocket.

I don't know what anyone can learn from this. I am still thinking hard myself. I am not a religeous kind of person, but I do think that someone was looking over me!

Just THINK before you are either racing some ricer, showing off to your buds or just seeing what it can do!


Jay

Glad your ok. That'* the important thing.

Now as for the car, chances are that it isn't totalled if it is just the front clip that'* been damaged. You got a newer car where the value is still fairly high. So to hit the totaled mark will usually take something like a rollover and getting sandwitched. It all depends on the damage though.

Yea, your insurance and stuff will take a nice hike upward for both the accident and probably the ticket too. You are VERY lucky they didn't do a breath test, even if you weren't intoxicated. If you were close to the leagl limit and the breath test was a little off, well, you know how bad that could be.

Yours is the second acciedent I've seen posted in the last few days. In both cases the driver has seemed to walk away unhurt. I know that'* reassuring to me that if I ever get into a high speed accident (my fault or not) I know my car will take the abuse and not me.

Hope everything works out for the better, or as good as it can.

Yikes!

Well, as the saying goes, the important thing is that you're okay. The fact that you were doing about 130 mph, crashed, and had only minor (if any?) injuries speaks volumes for the safety engineering.

I think that the best way to describe the incident would be: D'oh!

One word of advice about drag racing....Always check out the stretch of road BEFORE you race on it! That way you know what to expect.
As for your accident, glad to see you were okay. Yes your insurance will go way up on your next renewal. Mine went up 75% & that'* was my first accident in 22 years of driving. The accident itself was 50/50 too.

Man, glad to hear your ok, that IS whats important. I just feel for you man... You've been spending alot of time and money on your car too :( :( That can all be replaced though, no worries, people cant.

Hopefully it didnt tweak the frame. If it didnt, your all set. Replace the front clip, etc.. and learn from the costly mistake, but if it did :( I would pawn it off and get another one personally, but thats just me.

Did the airbags go off?? And I'm sure you dont remember because it happened so fast, but I'm trying to think of what the heck would cause the rear end to come out on a FWD car :?: Did you feel your Stabilitrak come on at all, either before / during the spin? Sometimes I dont know about that fancy crap... Yes, I would love to own a 2002 SSEi with Stabilitrak and everything, but then again it also makes one think. How can a computer in a car REALLY know whats going on? Granted it has sensors all over the frekin place, but for all we know maybe the car thought something was wrong and pulsed one of the rear wheels brakes, causing the rear to pull to one side. At 100 MPH it doesnt take much, to seriously effect handling. That is what the system is designed to do, to providie stability in higher speed manuvers such as passing, by pulsating brakes here and there on one wheel or another to keep the car going straight. I'm just wondering if something like this might have been a contributing factor. I definetely wouldnt rule it out. To see what I'm talking about for those of you who dont know what Stabilitrak is, click "view demo" in the middle of this page (and yes '02 SSEi'* have it): http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/...abilitrak.html

Anyways man, real sorry to hear about your car. Keep us posted on its progress :( Takes some pics if you get a chance, but I'm sure thats not first priority on your list

That is scary as hell when the back end starts to step out.

I had that happen to me once. I was driving, in the rain, on bald tires. I was doing around 60mph (45 was the limit on the road). Came to a curve and there was a water draining across the road. I hit the brakes (dumbass move on my part) and started to spin right into the oncoming lane. Thank God there where no cars in the lane.

I spun about 60 degrees or so to the right (rear slid into the oncoming lane), corrected, spun 60 degrees or so to the left (rear hanging off into the shoulder), corrected, then slid the whole car off the road onto the right shoulder.

There was rock jutting up out of the ground that my front passenger tire cranked into while I was still doing 30mph or so. It stopped the car. It ripped a huge gash in the sidewall of the tire but the tire still stayed inflated (Goodyear Regattas are good tires!). The impact also wrecked the pass lower balljoint as well (although it had been a tad loose for a while).

My guardian angel must have been watching out for me that night, I though I was going to wreck the car or worse! I'm sorry to hear that your car was wrecked but its just a car. At least you're ok. Good luck with dealing with the body shop and insurance company.

Glad you are ok and that things did not become as bad as they could have. I am sure the bonne will not be totaled it is just too new.

I have been in two wrecks. Both of them were in my 1990 Jeep Cherokee.

The first one was not that bad only about 7500 dollars in damage and the insurance covered it all.

The second wreck totaled the jeep. I either swerved to avoid somthing or feel asleep at the wheel I hit my head to hard to remember. Either way I ran off the road, into a ditch, at about 50 or so hit the side of a guys driveway that acted like a ramp and launced me about 6 or 7 feet into the air. Oh and I hit the driveway at an angle so it also rolled the jeep upside down. I hit three trees at 40 something probable while i was upside down and about 5 feet in the air.

The jeep fell to the gound and i was knocked unconsious for a minute or so. I walked away with just a welt from the seat belt and a big cut above my left eye. I found out later that I crushed the sinus cavity in that part of my head but other then that i was fine.

New cars can do some pretty amazing things to keep us dumbasses alive can't they

I have been in many many wrecks actual total since I was 9 are 14. Only one of those wrecks was my fault. Two of my crashes happened while jumping 4X4'*. The rest were getting rear-ended. A fun one was when my friend rolled off the rod into a huge ditch full of mud. (I woke up hanging their upside down watching the mud ooze up the windshield. that was crazy.) What I have learned is if im supposed to die I will die. lol. To tell you the truth I am very careful with any vehicle until I find its limits, then I play. This usually leads to non-threatening crashes. It’* when you don’t know the car or road and push to far that you are asking for a bad situation. My only real close call was when I took out a traffic light poll with my brand new 1999 ZR2 Chevy Blazer. lol the worst part was it was in rush hour traffic and the poll landed on the car of a retired judge who was loved by all in the town. LOL talk about bad luck. The blazer was fine except for a little plastic damage. Imagine this the poll was in the air while the truck passed underneath and as I left the falling zone the poll then came back down on the judges car. That was a new vehicle (I found out later prown to plowing) that I was new to and a new road. I was caught speeding by the same cop in charge of the (poll) incident the very next day LOL boy that was an expensive ticket.

P.* Chevy trucks can eat traffic polls.

TY

I heard a rumor that Chevy Trucks, aka: *cough* Avalanches *cough* can eat not just poles, but Bonnevilles too... :P

Jay-
I'm sure your probably still pretty shaken up, but I would just be happy to still be typing, and plan the rebuilding process Probably hard to do now, but in another month or so, this incident will be a thing of the past, and you'll be all that much smarter next time your taking your bonny down the highway at high speeds ( and you WILL be taking the Bonneville down the highway again, dont loose hope! Maybe not at 100+, but you'll get her back as good as new, or be driving a new one, guaranteed!!)

If you need any help, post it up!! Aside from what the body shop needs to do, maybe a bunch of us can get together and help ya rebuild the rest (aka: all your mods) some weekend. I think it would be a fun trip, and I'd be willing to help out a fellow bonny owner in no time, and I'm sure alot of others here would too You'll have that thing back in your driveway as shiney as the pics in the link above in no time!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you guys for some encouraging words and for helping me put it in perspective. I spent most of the day reflecting on what happened and came to the conclusion that 1) I screwed up 2) I got lucky and 3) I will live to run another day.

Here are some pic'* from the impound yard. Notice that other than the radiator/fans, no part of the engine is hurt. Also, all four tires held up, but I did notice that the left front rim has a ding. Otherwise, the biggest damage is the nose that was tore completely off.