Your number is 185

• Harvey & Paula Darden

Accident Report:

"The accident I had the Monday before the Z3 Homecoming in Spartanburg

More phots of the wrecked car coming......Here goes with the story:

	It was a clear night, and although it had rained earlier in the day, the
pavement was moist in places but not what I would call wet.  I had just
finished working a 12 hour shift and was on my way home.  The traffic on
the Atlanta perimeter I-285 south of the east intersection with I-20 was
moderate.  I had just entered the traffic flow and was working my way over
to the third lane from the right, when I looked up and there, right in the
middle of the expressway was a wheelchair.  All I can remember next is a
crash and feeling myself in the cockpit engulfed in some sort of dust or
powder.  I couldn't see anything, nevertheless I was aware that I was still
moving and had no control of my car because the front suspension had folded
up under the car.  My car and I kept on moving for what seemed like a
minute or more.  Then, though it was much quicker than that, I became aware
that I was not moving any more and seemed to be off the highway and in a
wooded area.  I tried to open the driver's side door, but it was lodged
against a tree.  I became aware of the dust in the cokpit from the air bag
and the amber illumination from the instrument cluster and I feared that
fire was possible, so I scrambles over the center console and opened the
passenger side door and crawles out onto the ground.

	I felt unhurt, only shaken since I could see no blood, so I figured I was
OK.  I walked toward the road, and fould that a pickup truck had stopped
and a man was rushing up to see if I was alright.

	I later put everything together and learned that I had, in an effort to
avoid hitting the wheelchair in the road, crashed my 97 Boston Green Z3
into the concrete dividing wall at about a 45 degree angle on the driver's
side, and slid along the wall a way, the veered right across four lanes of
traffic and landed in the brush on the right side of the expressway.  Other
cars took evasive action to miss the wheelchair which I had set in motion.
I seem to have hit the wheelchair with the right front corner of my car.
The car in the next lane, which hit the wheelchair dead center, sent the
pieces of the wheelchair all over the road and that car began to spin and
hit the wall also.  Other cars, while trying to avoid the debris in the
road still ended up with cut tires and in collisions in spite of their
efforts to miss the tubular steel fragments from the wheelchair.

	When the police arrived later, I was to learn that there were many
witnesses who saw the entire event unfold and I learned that no one had
been injured other than a few small cuts and bruises although some 5 or 6 cars
were involved.  The accident was ruled unavoidable and no charges were
filed. I was lucky to be live as were all of the others who got cought up
in the accident.  This was the first major accident in which I had ever
been envolved and I am thankful that I was not hit by another vehicle as I
passed from the far left lane of the expressway, across
four lanes of traffic and into the woods on the right side of the road.

	Before I bought the Z3, Paula my wife, remarked as we were driving a
demonstrator east on the Stone Mountain
Expressway that this car is the kind of car that could kill you.  This is
true of any car and she was right, but on the night of September 1, 1998,
if I had been in anything less than a BMW under the same circunstances, I
do not believe that I would have been so fortunate.  The car was a total
loss bucause the engineers had designed the car to sacrifice itself in
order th save the passenger and this it did.  I hate that I destroyed the
car that I had ordered  built to my own sepcifications and waited nine
months for it to be delivered,  but I am very thankful to the people at BMW
for designing a car that is an absolute blast to drive and yet capable of
crashing into a concrete wall at 65 mph and allowing the occupant to walk
away unhurt.  Now I know that BMW is not responsible for the fact that I
was not hit by another car, truck or bus as I careened across four lanes of
traffic from the dividing wall into the bushes; thanks for that goes to
almighty God.

	I have had several months now to reflect on the events that I just
described and I want to share them with othe BMW owners, especially Z3
owners and also with the men and women who designed and produced the car.
I want to thank those workers in Spartenburg, each and every one, for
building a car that is so safe and yet such a pleasure to drive.

	My new Z3 was ordered in mid September, and was built and delivered by the
middle of October.  It is an exact copy of Z3 #1 with only a couple of
upgrades and with new standard equipment now available on the 1999 models.
Paula and I are looking forward to a long and exciting life with our new Z3
and to many more gatherings with the friends we have made and with the new
friends we will meet at future Z3 and BMW gatherings.

I was sore from two cracked ribs and some pulled
muscles for a few weeks but am fine now.  I have decided not to take the
new Z3 to work with me and to use it on my days off, weekdnds and other
outings of that sort.

Glad to say that all has turned out just fine and I have a 99
clone sitting in the garage downstairs."

Homecoming Picture