Spitfire owner killed in blameless crash

[JohnD]

This appeared in the Star Press, of Muncie, Illinois US,

https://eu.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2020/09/26/one-dead-crash-muncie-bypass-mcgalliard-road/3550583001/

Matthew Adams was killed instantly when a truck driver "failed to see" his 1972 Spitfire stopped behind another car at red traffic lights.    The Spitfire was crushed between the two.

It would be nice if we could say that a modern car would have withstood the onslaught, but pictures of the car in front show minimal damage, while those of the Spitfire frighten by the devastation.

No doubt all Triumph owners will feel sympathy for Matthew's family.

Let's be careful out there!

JOhn

One killed in three car crash on the Muncie Bypass 2.html

[Paulfc]

What a nightmare scenario. Condolences to Mathew’s family and let’s hope a speedy recovery to his wife. And, let’s all be careful out there.

[NonMember]

I saw a report of an incident on a UK motorway where a truck driver (looking at his mobile phone) ploughed into the back of a queue of stationary traffic. The first car in that case was a small modern hatch. It came off even worse than that Triumph but, again, the car in front of it was relatively unscathed. That's just the way that sort of impact sometimes works. It's scary.

BTW, having looked at the photos on your link, it was a GT6, not a Spitfire.

[JohnD]

I stand corrected!

[Colin Lindsay]

The roof has been cut off by the emergency services to access the occupants, but that's been a very nasty crash.

I'm tired of meeting HGVs on the country roads round me, there are too many Haulage firms running out of small premises and using single-track roads where they just barrel along, and everyone else has to get out of their way. A surprising number of drivers seem to be on the phone, given that it's an automatic court case if caught - no tickets - and probably a driving ban.

 

[poppyman]

I simpathise with you Colin, i have just finished writing yet another letter about the so called "drivers" of DPD van's down our lane..... Total lunatics.......  

Tony 

[Colin Lindsay]

The biggest problem I have on twisty, windy roads is that the HGV driver may follow the line of the corner as he comes towards me; but the trailer goes straight and follows the cab by the shortest route - thereby cutting the corner and frequently putting the oncoming car into the hedge, or removing the door mirrors at the very least. I worry that my own GT6 will go right under the trailer thereby putting me in line with the rear wheels. I blame Sat-Nav for sending vehicles down the shortest, but not necessarily the best, routes.

[daverclasper]

On 28/09/2020 at 10:46, JohnD said:

Let's be careful out there!

Goodness, though not sure you can be careful if a truck doesn't see you, as it's a low car your in.

I wonder if there was a lack of concentration as the car "not visible" would have to be pretty close?, and some speed to cause that?. Dunno, though I guess it must have been investigated?. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by daverclasper

[Ascalon]

On 28/09/2020 at 10:46, JohnD said:

This appeared in the Star Press, of Muncie, Illinois US,

https://eu.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2020/09/26/one-dead-crash-muncie-bypass-mcgalliard-road/3550583001/

Matthew Adams was killed instantly when a truck driver "failed to see" his 1972 Spitfire stopped behind another car at red traffic lights.    The Spitfire was crushed between the two.

It would be nice if we could say that a modern car would have withstood the onslaught, but pictures of the car in front show minimal damage, while those of the Spitfire frighten by the devastation.

No doubt all Triumph owners will feel sympathy for Matthew's family.

Let's be careful out there!

JOhn

One killed in three car crash on the Muncie Bypass 2.html 141.58 kB · 21 downloads

 

[Ascalon]

I’ve had three TR 6’s.   One white, one red and one magenta.   Because of the small visible frontal area of most sports cars I always told my then wife to drive everywhere on dipped main beam.  She always disputed the need for this, but grudgingly did it.   When we split up and she moved to France and took the Magenta car, she obviously chose not to follow my instructions.   One morning on a clear summers day, she was commuting on her short daily trip and a tractor pulled out of  a side road.   End of car, end of driver.     When on the rare occasions I think of this, I call to mind the black painted rear panel that constitutes the rear end of TR6’s. When I owned the car I fitted it with after market high intensity rear fog lamps.  The owners of all small profile sports cars should bear this in mind.   After owning three Aston  Martins of various colours , I eventually acquired one painted in their green racing colour. I believe it is called Californian Sage.   It is , however, nearly invisible when driving in leafy country lanes, so I  ALWAYS drive on dipped main beam, irrespective of daylight conditions.  Not only that, but in addition to the sense of patriotism I feel,I have had my car trimmed in the Aston Martin racing colours of their original green plus yellow grille surround,yellow mirrors and a yellow stripe over the car.   If any SOB pulls out in front of me it’ll be because he’s blind or stupid, or both !

[PeteH]

Was ever thus on `Bikes. Too many pals over the years lost or crippled to the "tune of" -- "Sorry mate didn`t see you". 

Someone told me once, "regard every other road user as a lunatic incompetant, you`ll survive longer". At the time I was having my Co car`s changed annually on mileage alone.

Pete

 

[NonMember]

47 minutes ago, PeteH said:

Was ever thus on `Bikes.

Many years ago I read a letter or article in the IAM magazine from a biker. He had conducted an experiment. For a week, he had ridden to work on a black bike, wearing black, and counted the number of cars that pulled out in front of him. The next week he rode a bright coloured bike and wore hi-vis, and counted. The numbers were identical. Then he dressed himself in an approximation of police bike colours... and nobody pulled out in front of him.

[PeteH]

5 minutes ago, NonMember said:

Many years ago I read a letter or article in the IAM magazine from a biker. He had conducted an experiment. For a week, he had ridden to work on a black bike, wearing black, and counted the number of cars that pulled out in front of him. The next week he rode a bright coloured bike and wore hi-vis, and counted. The numbers were identical. Then he dressed himself in an approximation of police bike colours... and nobody pulled out in front of him.

Strange That???. My own attempt at similar, was leaving my M-N cap (badge to front) on the rear shelf of the car. At least the "tailgaters" would backoff!, and I got waved through the Dock Gate!.

Pete

[Anglefire]

I remember being on holiday in the Nordic countries with my parents when I was about 21 - at that time the UK had no requirement for daylight running lights not even bikes I think? - but over there dipped lights were compulsory. I always remember thinking at the time how much earlier you could see oncoming vehicles - but also that it was irrelevant!

I also always thought dipped lights on motorbikes a very good idea - not so much on cars and am still of the view that excepting some cases - like described above - that lights on cars means bikes disappear into the general traffic noise.  I'm convinced it was something invented by the German manufacturers as they wanted to sell more stuff on their cars that they could promote as a benefit. 

[PeteH]

I do remember 60/70`s?. When Volvo`s where being sold with daytime running lights. We would "flash" them thinking they had left their lights on. Most if not all cars of the day would have a flat battery if when you turned the engine off you stopped and parked the `cos headlights stayed on!.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

29 minutes ago, PeteH said:

I do remember 60/70`s?. When Volvo`s where being sold with daytime running lights. We would "flash" them thinking they had left their lights on. Most if not all cars of the day would have a flat battery if when you turned the engine off you stopped and parked the `cos headlights stayed on!.

Pete

Yes, you always knew it was a Volvo coming when you saw the headlights. In my own car - which was not a Volvo, to me they were too exotic and expensive - I had flat batteries all the time from leaving the lights, interior light or radio on... the radio / tape player was always an add-on that I usually just connected straight to the battery and if you remember cassette tapes often used to have long silent bits on the end, I'd forget it was still playing and so leave it running... so had a permanent set of jump leads in the boot.

[PeteH]

3 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Yes, you always knew it was a Volvo coming when you saw the headlights. In my own car - which was not a Volvo, to me they were too exotic and expensive - I had flat batteries all the time from leaving the lights, interior light or radio on... the radio / tape player was always an add-on that I usually just connected straight to the battery and if you remember cassette tapes often used to have long silent bits on the end, I'd forget it was still playing and so leave it running... so had a permanent set of jump leads in the boot.

Now that definitely comes under the heading "been there, done that, got the "T" shirt". STILL have jump leads in the car boot(s), got others out of trouble, but not self in recent times. The Motorhome has Solar Panels on the roof, so it maintains charge, including Chassis battery.

[Peter Truman]

Don’t think dads 1973, 164 had the dipped beam driving light function!

My son brought a 3yr old Mits ASX ex Govt which always had its dipped beam lights on when ignition switched on we assumed it was a Gov’t requested mod but when he put it in for its first service they replaced under warranty the defective light switch/controller now no driving lights on!

[Pete Lewis]

one of the better idea's that got over ruled by EU logic was the dim dip headlamps idea when lamps were wired in series to give a low but visible 

running lights was in force around the early 90s

Dim-dip History
At the 18^th Sessional Meeting of the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) in London in 1975, a joint committee concerned with visual signalling, road lighting and automobile lighting came to the following conclusion:

 

It is recommended that a 'town beam' be introduced which is intermediate in intensity between that of the currently used low beam and side lights. Such a light should have a luminous intensity between 50 and 100 cd and should have an area similar to that of current headlights. Therefore it is recommended that all relevant organisations consider this matter seriously and take the necessary steps to introduce a town beam as an essential part of the lighting systems for road traffic.

The committee believed such a beam would provide conspicuous and glare-free front lighting on vehicles. They suggested the beam could be simply realized by using the existing dipped beam headlamp on a lower voltage.

[PeteH]

25 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

one of the better idea's that got over ruled by EU logic was the dim dip headlamps idea when lamps were wired in series to give a low but visible 

running lights was in force around the early 90s

Dim-dip History
At the 18^th Sessional Meeting of the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) in London in 1975, a joint committee concerned with visual signalling, road lighting and automobile lighting came to the following conclusion:

 

It is recommended that a 'town beam' be introduced which is intermediate in intensity between that of the currently used low beam and side lights. Such a light should have a luminous intensity between 50 and 100 cd and should have an area similar to that of current headlights. Therefore it is recommended that all relevant organisations consider this matter seriously and take the necessary steps to introduce a town beam as an essential part of the lighting systems for road traffic.

The committee believed such a beam would provide conspicuous and glare-free front lighting on vehicles. They suggested the beam could be simply realized by using the existing dipped beam headlamp on a lower voltage.

That (Sort of) rings a bell. I think some of the Hull Police Patrol (Panda) cars where so equiped during the early 70`s???. Or maybe the Old Anglia`s they used just had Crap lights?.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

Interesting!  Yet, in recent decades we always had sidelights on our cars, so we had sidelights, THEN dipped beam THEN full beam. The original intention of the sidelights was as marker lights to show that a vehicle was present and indicate the dimensions, but there was always the option to turn them off. The sidelights were mandatory long before headlamps so the idea was for others to see you first, and it was only a secondary concern that you needed to see where you were going.

My current modern has the hi-visibility LED running lights that stay on whilst the engine is running; problem with those is that in the darkness you think your lights are on as they're so bright, until you meet someone else...

 

[Anglefire]

Dim-dip was actually a good idea - one reason being the light pollution would be reduced and lets face it, in towns you don't need full brightness headlights - but it required manual intervention by the driver - so it was very rarely used - and then the EU got involved and as it wasn't a German idea got deleted.

By current modern (And previous ) 2 cars had auto lights - both when it goes dark and if the wipers are on.

I don't have auto main/dip though - I know someone that does and it works well. But it strikes me as something else to go wrong.....

[PeteH]

1 hour ago, Anglefire said:

I don't have auto main/dip though - I know someone that does and it works well. But it strikes me as something else to go wrong.....

My wife`s Nissan Has it. I find it too slow in response, she uses it although she rarely drives at Night (My job!!) I switch it off and go manual. It has a tendency to switch down too early (IMV) and not quick enough to fire back up.

Pete

[Anglefire]

Ah the one I was thinking about was the led one that cuts a hole to stop reflection from signs as well as cutting a hole in oncoming cars.  Never seen it personally in action - but I’m told it’s brilliant.  
 

But as I say just seems to complicated - at least out of warranty 😂

[Colin Lindsay]

17 minutes ago, Anglefire said:

Ah the one I was thinking about was the led one that cuts a hole to stop reflection from signs as well as cutting a hole in oncoming cars.

LED, or Laser?  This thing below will cut a hole in an oncoming car for you... Watch about 8.20 to see it in operation... and 12.58 to see it at night. DIP, you b@&&%$!