Today my BMW (2005 545i) saved my life. No question about it.
Here's what happened:
Driving home at 60mph on a road with two lanes in each direction, separated by a curbed and grassy median.

Approaching, and entering an intersection, 60 mph, a Ford F350 decides to run a red light. He is perpendicular to me, coming from my left, moving through the intersection to the right.

From 60mph I slam on the breaks. ABS kicks in. Looking over into my right lane is a minivan, can't swerve right. Besides, by that point, he F350 is closer to the right anyway, no good.

Look to the left, clear in the intersection, so swerve left. My BMW kicks out sideways, skidding at 90 degrees now, my car regains control, and just in time, because I was about to hit the curbed median sideways at about 45 mph, which probably would have sent me in a sideways spin roll.

My BMW grips again, quickly jerk the wheel back to the right, avoiding the median, then jerk left to get back into my lane, safe.

The whole experience lasted about 1 second. I drove past again just now, and my tire marks are there, at a 90 degree angle to the road. The tire marks are SIDEWAYS. Basically, within 50 feet, I went from having my car pointed South at 60mph, to pointed East at 45mph, to South again at 40mph.

My son still has a father thanks to this BMW. This was accident avoidance and emergency maneuvering at it's upper limit. I hope you never have to push your car to this extreme, but if you do, you'll be thankful to be behind the wheel of a BMW.

glad you are OK .. but really .... ==> https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...sswithoutp.gif

Glad you're ok!

What is your location........

I am in Alpharetta, GA, and this happened on Windward Parkway. If you know anyone who drives a black F350, please ask them to be more careful.

Pics? My car is fine, looks good in fact. When I got home I washed it, lol! Probably nervouse energy, and being thankful. I may be in need of an alignment and new wheels/tires. I can try to post some tomorrow morning.

Alpharetta ... nice area. I used to live off North Shore Pkwy/US 41/Cobb PKWY right by I-75 where the IBM / Trinity School is .... we used to stop by Andretti all the time ... hahaha.


pics fo the skid marks i was refering to, or maybe a drawing of how you skitted ;-)

take care!

pics fo the skid marks i was refering to, or maybe a drawing of how you skitted ;-)

take care!
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Yeah, I could try to snap a shot of the skidmarks tomorrow, although I fear standing in that intersection with a digital camera might mean my wife is writing the next post here about how I was run over while doing it.

cattman, I'm glad you're okay! It's for this exact reason that I feel everyone should take at least one driving school on a racetrack with your BMW. Many people have no idea what the limits of their car is (and usually the car's limits are higher than the driver's skill level) and after some training (as often as you can) some of these evasive manouvers become "automatic" and happen without any real panic.

You stayed calm and did what you had to do to avoid the accident and it paid off -- happy new year to you and your family...

Glad you're Ok. People often forget how frivolous life can be.

Glad you are ok :thumbsup:

You are 100% correct, sir. These cars are capable of far more than I am. While I did manage to stay calm and make split-second decisions, the car did, too, and more.

I have to admit it was a rush to go through that, and it's gratifying to know that my car can handle it!