Smashing Pumpkins
 

It was too close.

I was driving home from the Neb Spring Game. Both lanes of I-80 are full of cars going 70+mph. I was driving in the left lane and was making the lady behind me in a Honda Element impatient because I was leaving about a 2 car gap in front of me.

We crest a small hill when suddenly the 2 cars in front of me are coming to a complete stop and I MEAN NOW! I felt confident I could stop in time and as soon as I was sure I would make it I looked in the mirror. Oh oh, it doesn't look good. Luckily Honda lady was able to jump over a lane (don't know how there wasn't somebody there) without clipping my rear. She would've definitely plowed into me if she would have had to stay in the left lane. 1 bullet dodged. The 2 cars behind her were now coming. The first one dove onto the shoulder / ditch and got stopped. 2 bullets dodged. The car behind him got stopped before running into me too. Third and final bullet falls short. Whew! That was close. In the few seconds that all the cars are flying around me I'm thinking, "Damn, they're going to wreck my new car". About a 1/2 mi ahead there was a 3 car accident in the left lane that must have just ocurred.

Punkin is home now and resting safely in the garage. That was live ammunition out there today.

I check my rear view mirror all the time. If people tail-gate me I move over to another lane, if possible. I know my car is fast, I have nothing to prove.

Our cars have amazing stopping power. Great big calipers and the car is pretty light-weight. Don't forget the calipers pre-set (they start closing on the rotors) when the sense a quick (emergency) movement off the accelerator peddel.

In an emergency situation, we have a pretty good chance of stopping. It's the idiot behind us we have to watch for.

Husker, glad nothing happend. You're like a cat! 6 lives left!

I bet the color of your car may have saved you. Plus, people say to themselves, "$hit don't hit the Porsche, dive into the ditch instead!"

Stay out of that left lane. It is for passing only. :)

Nebraska has a Div 1 football team???

You forgot to mention she was yapping away on her cell phone.

Too many idiots everywhere these days.

Glad you dodge the bullets

I agree, there are too many idiot drivers!
I am constantly tailgated, but so is everyone else. I took a defensive driving class when I got my Boxster. After seeing how horrible most driver's are it was money well spent.

Glad you dodged the bullet! :cheers:

I will have to agree about worrying about the 2 second rule. The main 2 lane highway where I live is always getting accidents because people drive 80+, tailgate and the road has many turns (fun on a boxster but this is still Suzy Miss Homemaker driving an bloated SUV by herself while talking on the cell phone land).

And of course if I have a 2 second gap between myself and the car ahead someone will pull in between us, almost guaranteed.

Anyways my rant is over. Glad you avoided the bullets!
Chris

Where did you get the idea that they do this?

Some Mercedes Benz do this too.

I'm not an LLB in normal conditions, but I've been going to NU games for 17 yrs and when the traffic is solid you have to get in the left lane and go with the flow regardless of the speed. If congession breaks up and someone has to get by me, I'll let em go. But yesterday was like the start of a NASCAR race. There were solid cars in both lanes for as far as I could see. So if I let Honda lady by, she's still got 50 cars ahead of her. And like Dragonwind said, it's tricky to figure out how much room you can leave w/o someone jumping into your safety zone.

It's funny (now) how all this happens so fast in real time but while you're in the eye of the storm everything slows down. Today I can't count how many times I've replayed Honda lady zooming past my right rear. That was definitely the most lethal shot.

And yeah BMuss, we do have a Div 1 football team. They even have helmets and uniforms and numbers! We came close to losing our D1 status last year, but the Bozos responsible for that have been asked to take their act elsewhere. We are in the process of restoring the order. There were 80K people in attendance yesterday to watch a glorified practice. Also, I seem to remember playing a certain school from the Chicago area in the Alamo Bowl a few yrs back. Wasn't the score something like 66-17?

I'll try to be judicious with the 6 lives Punkin has left. Be careful out there.

Whew,glad your alright.

That would stink if your new ride got smashed.

Yes, Mercedes does it, and boosts the pressure on the brake pedal when it senses an emergency stop. But what makes you think Porsches do it? I've not seen any documentation to that effect.

In fact, I'd only heard of (some) MBZ cars that have this feature. First I read of it was on the new model (at that time) E500 a few years ago. It may have spread to other manufactures by now, but I concur that I haven't read about a boxster having this feature.

Quote:

"I'll try to be judicious with the 6 lives Punkin has left. Be careful out there."

Posted by husker boxster.

My wife's from Hastings, and I swear everyone lives to like 100 out there. "The Good Life" she keeps preachin' to me, talking about Nebraska and longevity. I'm not quite ready to move there, but I sure do miss those horizons. Anyway, not sure this phenomenon is transferable to cars, but if so Punkin may have more than 6 left.

http://i32.tinypic.com/skupn4.jpg

That reminds me of a similar experience. it was approaching dusk on a late Saturday afternoon. Northbound traffic on 400 was zipping along at about 75 to 80; traffic density somewhere between congested and not bad. Around a left curve, a POLICE car was STOPPED IN THE LEFT LANE, no whirling lights on, no cones, no warning. You just come around a turn and wham, there's a parked car in your lane! He had a car stopped in front of him. Why they weren't in the emergency lane I cannot understand. I moved over a lane but the van behind me had to try and brake it down. She didn't hit the cop car, but she did skid and squirrel and bounce all over, along with two other oncoming cars that also did some bouncing and braking. I had to brake down to a near stop because the skidding, bouncing van came in to my lane and I couldn't tell where it would stop. The guy behind me sat on the horn and plastered his middle finger to his windsheild to let me know what he thought of having to brake down along with me, stopping inches from my bumper. I don't think he even saw what was going on. Once all the cars found a crashing spot and I was moving forward, I stared at the cop as I drove by and he was looking straight ahead, oblivious [for the moment] to the mess he created a few yards behind him. That was a surreal experience.

Have only had to make one panic stop (where you feel the grind of the ABS) in the 2 years I've owned me Box, and (oddly) it involved nobody else. Was going down some country road I'd never been on, not flying but scootin' along OK, probably 55-ish. I crested a slight rise and, BAM, road suddenly became a dirt road, complete with fairly deep wash-board ruts, etc.

Pretty much locked 'em up. Stopped with inches to spare. "Damn," I thought, "These brakes are as good as my reflexes!"

I've been in a couple of extremely close calls and had the same time slowing experience. One being a semi taking my lane while on a motorcycle...I could count the lugnuts.

A friend sent me this to show me that it wasn't all in my head...or maybe it was.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RjlpamhrId8

Holy cr@p Husker - that really would have sucked. Personally I would love to upgrade my rear bumper and exhaust, but you definately don't need that on your new ride!

I've always thought that if you are getting in a crunch up - having the braking power of a Boxster (S in your case) will save you money.
In Canada:
You rear ending someone = your fault = $$$
You braking on a dime = rear ended = their fault

As you can see, I've all the angles on how owning a Porsche is cheaper than my old SUV. I've also convinced my wife that driving a convertible will help me live longer, but I'll save that for another thread.....