Accident Update
 

As some of you might remember I was run off the road on May 29th of 2010 by a woman that didn't use her outside mirrors and pulled out while I was passing her.

She was charged with three counts of "Failure to preform the duties of a driver in an injury accident, Hit and Run" because she didn't stop. In Oregon this is a class C felony, Max 5 years in prison and $125,000 fine. Because of my injuries the DA raised this to a class B felony, Max 10 years in prison, $250,000 fine. The three counts is one for my wife's injuries, one for mine, and one for the Jaguar (rest in pieces). Strange that you can be charged for a car the same as for a human but that's the law in Oregon.

My wife and I appeared before the Grand Jury last month and they decided to put a warrant for her arrest and put her in jail where she had to get bailed out because she didn't stop.

She was given a plea bargain of which I do not know what the bargain was but she decided not to take it and is going to trial Dec. 16, 2010.

She does not know what my wife and I look like, we never said hello... but as my wife and I left the court house and were walking down the street to our car, she and her lawyer were behind us. He lawyer said the DA is going to push for jail time.

I'll update this next month and post what ever sentence she is given. I'm sure it will be just probation due to the state being hard up for money and doesn't want to house anyone due to the cost to feed them and have guards watching them.

Several of you have asked if I was going to replace the Jaguar with another and the answer is yes, after all of this is over with and if/when I can find a coupe that I like. I have a 2000 XK8, the next one will be a late model XKR. I've played with the idea of leasing a new. Time will tell.

In the mean time, now no laughing :icon_teeth:, I bought a new 2009 smart car carbo that had 17 miles on the clock. I sure do like the MPG. I drive 60 miles a day to work and back home and my wife then drives another 40 miles round trip and we're getting an average of 39.27 miles per gallon. It uses premium grade gas with an 8.3 gallon tank. I've yet to put in more than $24.00 per fill up! It's a short car but very well engineered. German engineering with a 3 cyl. 71 bhp engine made by Mitsubishi and the smart plant is in France. A real international car!! :)This little pimple really moves out for a 3 cylinder car, and 70, 75 mph freeway speeds are 3000 rpm (6800 red line).

Good! I'm glad the DA is taking this seriously! I don't think the woman should get ten years in jail unless she was drunk and had prior violations, but I definitely think she should spend a little time in the slammer.

And I won't comment on the Smart car, other than to say that I'm surprised it only gets 39mpg. I thought they would get 60 or 70. My daughter's Prius gets 50mpg, and my brother-in-law has a Toyota Yaris in which he says he gets about 37 or 38mpg. It seems like a car that small should get better mileage.

Good luck with the trial......Any your Smart car should be over 60mpg a friend of ours get 67mpg which is good considering we pay $8 a gallon :(

Very much appreciate the update greenJ, I too will be hoping for a just outcome, she deserves a big fine and I think along with a couple years probation, 30 days in jail will make a good impression on her (and be worth it to you as a taxpayer, to which you will be partially funding her lodging)

As was pointed out to me not all that long ago: 1 US Gallon = 0.83267384 UK Gallons

The mileage is mixed city highway, 35 mph to 75 mph. I've gotten higher than my average of 39.3 mpg, that's my average for 46 fill ups. I've seen several 42.5, 46.7, 46.0, and a 50.7 mpg. I use a program called aCar on my Android phone. I bought the smart at the end of July and so far we've racked up 11,000 miles.

If I were to take a lot of trips and keep the speed at 55-60 mph I'd see higher mpg or constant city driving I'd see mpg in the high 50's but we don't drive like that. It's 70-75 then city 30 to 40 mph stop and go. Our shift points are 4000 to 4500 rpms. If we drive and have the car do it's own shifting at 28 to 3200 rpm then the mpg goes up a lot. No matter, it's a lot better than the 16 to 18 mpg we see with our F250 diesel driving the same routes.

The smart is not an arrow dynamic car. It's more like a box and doesn't slip through the air. I tried the Yaris and it has more power than the smart but I didn't care for the why the inside was layed out with the gauges in the middle of the dash and for me, hard to read. My wife doesn't like the way the prius looks like or is layed out on the inside or the way a Honda Fit looks so the smart was it. To each their own. NONE of them are a Jaguar! :)

Didn't mean to hijack this thread.. sorry.:icon_hijack:

It's YOUR thread. You can do with it as you please! :icon_playing:

I think we lost something about 20 year ago. I had an '81 VW Diesel Jetta station wagon that you could not force below 44 mpg. Commuting to downtown Atlanta in horrible traffic consistently produced 45 mpg.

Yeah, I know, it had 53 hp and a top speed of 85 mph. What about the 'smart' car?

I do remember that the laws in Oregon have been pretty stiff on this kind of thing for years. Had a friend who was involved in a an auto accident in Oregon, minor injury to the other party. Came back to Canada and missed his court date. A couple years later he was arrested, at gun point, coming off a plane at LAX. All they knew was that he was wanted on a felony warrant out of Oregon that had to do with bodily injury. Spent 5 scary days in the slammer before his wife bailed him out. Went directly to Oregon to straighten things out.

Smart car? Hope you never have to find out if it lives up to it's safety rep in the same way your cat got killed. I just couldn't see myself on the freeway in a Smart.

Ugh...sorry for the accident...sorry for the drawn out judicial process. I am not sorry for the next round of XK8/R ....in fact I am veeeerrry jealous. Albeit in a good way. Enjoy the new wheels and keep us informed.

The most interesting car I've had was a 69 Lotus Europa S2. It went like stink, looked, sounded and drove like a race car and got 39 mpg no matter what. The fuel tank was similar to a #4 tomato can and held 6 gallons. I commuted in this car for years and never had any problem with it. Just amazing! The lack of air conditioning finally did me in.

When you get your new Jag, you can keep the Smart Car in the trunk as a spare.

LOL chazaroo :D
At least buying a smart is a smarter chioce than prius ;) lol

How are you and the wife doing? I hope the injuries have healed by now.

All the best,

Jerry

The best I've seen since I bought the car this past July is 46 mpg US. That's fine with me. If I were in just city traffic then I'd see a higher mpg because that's what the smart was built for, not really built for USA 55 to 75 mph freeways. What is the top speed in the UK, 70 mph?

Ahhhh looks like I had ANOTHER Senior moment! :icon_doh:

[quote=Yeah, I know, it had 53 hp and a top speed of 85 mph. What about the 'smart' car?[/quote]

smart has 71 bhp and electronically crippled to 92 mph. I've been there twice and don't like it. It doesn't like the wind and gets the shakes around 80. It's just a commute car to take the miles off of my F250 (and save some bucks on diesel fuel cost) and the SHO.

It cost less than any of the other cars around its class such as the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris. I'm not sure what options the others have but this one allows me to put the top up or down at any speed, is a automated manual tranny with paddle shifters, has a/c, CD/MP3 AM FM, Traction Control, Electronic Stability Control, ABS, power windows and power heated outside mirrors, glass heated rear window, leather heated seats with two temp setting, burn your butt in 5 seconds or burn it in 10, two speed wipers with speed sensitive intermittent wipe with washer, fog lights and I added an after market cruise control unit. For the 34 mile drive to work, it works for me.

It's better than a 1970 VW that I bought new when I got out of the Submarine Service and if I get into an accident who knows what will happen. I never thought the roof in a Jaguar, from the driver's side "A" pillar would cause the roof to fold down almost flat up to the inside rear view mirror either but it did. That's the chance you take when you drive now days.

It's getting so people can't even park on the street without getting hit. :icon_no:

I don't plan on testing its safety rep anytime soon. :) As for being on the freeway the speed limit on the part that I drive is still 55 mph and every LEO from City LEO to State LEO is running laser 24/7. Oregon's top freeway speed is 65 mph in the boonies. The LEO's in Oregon are just revenue collectors and the fines are steep.

I got a $158.00 fine for doing 42 in a 35 zone and a $258.00 fine for doing 70 in a 55 zone, both while driving my Arrest Me Red Vette. Another couple of brain fart moments. :icon_teeth:

Hi Jerry.. we're doing okay and just about back to normal. Still some back pain once in a while... living better via chemicals!! Hope to see you next year at cars & coffee for a chat.. I've heard that this could take a year to settle and that would make it May of 2011 and just in time for the start of Cars & Coffee. Maybe we'll have an XKR round that time...I hope!!

Mark

Mark,

That's the most important thing, that you are doing better. We plan to be at more Cars & Coffee this coming year and are going to have one in Creswell just south of Eugene (on a different weekend) as well. Let me know if you want me to keep an eye out for a nice XK for you.

All the best,

Jerry