Techno_Funky Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 A motorist drove for 60 miles at a speed of 135mph after the accelerator on his BMW car jammed and his brakes failedAgencies Yorkshire: Kevin Nicolle, 26, was on the A1 near Thirsk in North Yorkshire when the car started to accelerate. “I was in tears most of the time on the phone to the police - I really could see myself dying,” he said. He had to drive on the hard shoulder to avoid crashing but eventually lost control and hit a roundabout near Blyth, Notts, but escaped unhurt. “I remember the 999 lady saying ‘he’s crashed”, said Kevin. Speaking about the incident on March 5, Mr Nicolle said: “I was travelling down the motorway and I came to traffic in front of me. “I took my foot off the accelerator because it’s automatic - but I wasn’t slowing down at all. “I hit the brakes. They were braking ok, they were keeping me at about 70mph. “So I phoned up the police after I called the AA and they said straight away ‘stick your hazard lights on and headlights on - we’ve got a helicopter on route to you’.” Police patrol cars were also sent but struggled to catch up with the BMW 318. “I survived the accident but I thought I was going to die in the fire”. Mr Nicolle said: “Then the brakes started burning out - I could see smoke coming from the brakes.” He tried to put the car into neutral but the gears were jammed. Mr Nicolle was in constant contact with the police on a hands-free phone. As he approached Blyth he saw a sign for a roundabout. “There was a load of cars parked waiting to go onto the roundabout, so I went on the inside on the hard shoulder to try to get around it. “But doing that sort of speed there was no chance and I hit the roundabout head on. “I remember the 999 lady saying ‘he’s crashed’. “I survived the accident but I thought I was going to die in the fire.” But miraculously he walked away completely unhurt - and said he is now considering giving up driving for good. Mr Nicolle said the police took the car away for tests and BMW said they would carry out a full investigation. The R reg car had 107,000 miles on the clock and had three months remaining on the MOT. Source: Mumbaimirror.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lyle Global Moderator Posted March 12, 2006 Global Moderator Share Posted March 12, 2006 ive always wondered if that was possible, and this story proves it is possible.. i would freak out if i was in that situation as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ObiWanToby Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 I wonder if they tried turning the engine off. Either way I'm glad he survived! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zirus Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 whats a roundabout? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deron Dantzler Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 What's an MOT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caster316 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 "whats a roundabout?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L3thal Veteran Posted March 12, 2006 Veteran Share Posted March 12, 2006 That is a scary scenario to be in. I'm surprised it was a BMW that failed on him; they are one of the best car makers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebula2020 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Incredible. I watched an interview with him on Sky News yesterday. He broke down as he was telling his story, he really thought he was going to die. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fels Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 I was riding in a car, my brother was driving, and that happened, although not to quite an extreme sense. It happened for around a minute, then stopped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebula2020 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 What's an MOT? A legal document to say the car is roadworthy. You need a MOT every 12 months. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixFootJockey Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 I wonder if they tried turning the engine off. Good point. Probably would have worked too. I don't know if it was such a good idea having him on the phone while he was going 135Mph though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samg Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Good point. Probably would have worked too. I don't know if it was such a good idea having him on the phone while he was going 135Mph though. ITs not a good point. The FULL artical states he didnt do that in fear of the stearing not working. But surly if they found a stright bit of road (like the motorways he was on) and turned it off, it would just slow down... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japlabot Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 As if The Breakes, Gearbox and Accelerator would fail all at once. If you can't put it into Neutral/2nd Gear then Kill the ignition and slowly easy the hardbrake up gradually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauvoir Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 a roundabout: Although roundabouts aren?t discussed on these pages, it is a method connecting two or more roadways without an at grade intersection. It is essentially a loop in which traffic flows in one direction (counterclockwise in countries that drive on the right side of the road, clockwise in countries that drive on the left side of the road). All roads to be intersected are connected to the loop. Basically, the driver enters the loop, goes around it, and exits at the desired road. www.donovanmartin.com/roads/terms.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dummyusername Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 hes probably going to try to sue bmw. this is one of the most retarded things ive ever read and i honestly cant fathom it being true. first of all, the brakes would indeed stop the vehicle even if it was under full acceleration. they make front brakes stronger than the rear for a reason. and how the gears were "jammed" is also beyond me. what really got me was the thing about him not turning the thing off. ive never driven a BMW before but every other car ive driven would not allow you to remove the key while the vehicle was in gear. you can turn the key and disengage the ignition but it would not allow you to turn it enough to remove the key. the reason for this is that when you do turn it enough to remove it, the steering wheel lock is engaged. this wouldnt be good while you were driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webeagle12 Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 A legal document to say the car is roadworthy. You need a MOT every 12 months. :) another word is inspection in USA is required each year :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deaf Spacker Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Good point. Probably would have worked too. I don't know if it was such a good idea having him on the phone while he was going 135Mph though. If you read you'd have realised it was a hands free phone ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avalanche Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Articles are so bad written, I have a hard time to read them, each phrase is a paragraph. No wonder that some people here didn't understand the full thing ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie_webbuk Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Heh, that sounds like fun. Seriously though, the motorway is completely straight, he could have killed the engine, taken it out of gear and then restarted the engine, that would have probably even reset the ECU too. Reminds me of Ford Explorers (or Ford Exploders as I call 'em) that had this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony-inpo Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 I wonder if they tried turning the engine off. Either way I'm glad he survived! Yeah. I would have tried to wack it out of gear (even though its an automatic) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouldy Punk Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 I wonder if they tried turning the engine off. Either way I'm glad he survived! It was in the paper yesterday, if he turned hte engine off the the steering wheel would have locked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piggger Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 wow, i bet it was an excuse just to go really fast :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie_webbuk Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 wow, i bet it was an excuse just to go really fast :p Pffffffff! In a 1800cc BMW? ROFL! Also 135mph ain't fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+s55 Subscriber¹ Posted March 12, 2006 Subscriber¹ Share Posted March 12, 2006 IF it was an automatic then there pretty hard to kick out of gear as u dont have a usable clutch pedal as far as i know. The 2nd point is even though the breaks are powerful the car is quite old so they wont be as effective. That combined with the continued usage at high speed will probabily cause damage. Have to say musta been scary for the guy. IT happened to my father once but it was nowhere near as extreme as this. I certainly wouldnt have turned the engine off unless i was sure that the Steering wouldnt lock. (I am going to check to see what actually happens in my car now :/ Better safe than sorry) I mean it only takes a second to hit a bump in the road and ur car will sprial into something nasty. Its also on the bbc news site for anyone interested. Theres also an audio interview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie_webbuk Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 The steering wouldn't have locked if he'd killed the engine and put it on the second notch on the keyturn, no power steering, but still steering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts