Bikepacker67

This is just too damn funny!

Texas Man Drives Bugatti Into Pond; Blames Bird

Police say a low-flying pelican distracted a driver in Texas, causing him to veer off a road and drive his million-dollar sports car into a salt marsh.

La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist says the man claimed he lost concentration while driving his French-built Bugatti Veyron on Wednesday because the bird swooped into sight.

Gilchrist says the driver dropped his phone, reached down to pick it up and strayed into the brackish water in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.

Gilchrist does not know if the car can be salvaged but conceded that "salt water isn't good for anything."

He says the man, whose identity has not been released, was not injured in the accident.
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As much as this caused me major , I can't help but wonder how many cyclists have been buzzed, injured or killed by these idiots?
Ohhh, and dollars to donuts this jackhole was speeding, too.

GojiSube

He was in a Bugatti Veyron the sucker has like 1000hp, of course he was speeding. Sounds like a case of too much money and not enough sense.

coffeecake

That's one expensive phone call. Shame about the Veyron, though. I'm by no means a car nut, but that's a nice piece of engineering.

brianmcg123

There is a video of this on youtube. Doesn't look like he was speeding, or that there was a bird for that matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkdQT...eature=related

Digital_Cowboy

I hope that that call was worth it.

Chris516

I weep for his car but, not for him.

Chris516

The video is no longer available, due to some copyright claim, according to Youtube.

BengeBoy 

The original video of the car was on Jalopnik, but is now gone.

https://jalopnik.com/5404403/exclusiv...yline=true&s=i

I watched the video the other day; it did not appear to me that the car was speeding.

In some of the comments posted, folks claim to have spotted a pelican while reviewing the film frame-by-frame. They have posted some video captures on Jalopnik.

There is an entire website dedicated to photos of wrecked exotic cars.

They claim to have located one man who has wrecked 10 rare and expensive exotic cars:

https://www.wreckedexotics.com/articles/039.shtml

sd_mike

The local news, yes, it was on the local news (San Diego), had it that the driver was surprised by the bird, causing him to drop his phone, and while looking for it (and not at the road to which was a slight more important) he drove into the water. Now, can someone please tell me how on Earth this person has a license? And yes, I know that a license doesn't actually mean they know what they are doing. I'd also like to know why anyone really cares that it cost a million dollars? I'm more concerned about this person and their lack of driving skills. Cost of the car doesn't really matter, other than to brag about. How much does a life cost?

BengeBoy 

Because it's news, by definition -- unusual, remarkable, doesn't happen every day.

Distracted driving happens everywhere, every day.

People wrecking $1 million sports cars is an unusual event, which is why it made the news. The fact that the driver attributed the wreck to a pelican just made it more odd/unusual.

BTW, if you view the original video, the "wreck" is not as bizarre/unusual as the print description makes it sounds. He's cruising along at what appears to be an unremarkable speed along a frontage road. The frontage road is *right* next to the water. At the point where the pelican supposedly went under the car the car suddenly is off on the shoulder and it just keeps going into the water. It happens in a split second.

mikeybikes

For every rare and exotic car you crash you should have to donate money to charity in the same amount the car was worth.

But, this should be foo. Not much to do with advocacy or safety.

hairyman

The video's available again as of now. Funny as hell since nobody got hurt, but imagine what would have happened if this driver had "seen a pelican" a few hundred feet earlier where that pedestrian was walking.

unterhausen

as much as I'd like this to be a warning to cellphone users, I'm wondering if it wasn't insurance fraud. Reports are the owner was trying to sell this car.

sd_mike

My point being, who really cares about the cost of the car? Someone could have done the same thing with an inexpensive car, result is still the same. When this idiot injures another as a result of doing the same thing, which they most likely will, does it really matter how much the car cost?

DX-MAN

Glad of two things:

1.) This azzclown drove into a body of water instead of an informal peloton.

2.) There were no swimmers in the way, either.

brianmcg123

Corrected link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkdQT...eature=related

sd_mike

Yes, two good points!

GraysonPeddie

LOL!!!

I keep laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, and laughing...

Gee-- I felt fainted...

*yawn*

I wish they could've kept the camera up.

(Minutes later...)

After I get myself some sweet hot tea, I feel better now.

BarracksSi

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha...

If it's insurance fraud, I really hope this video shows up in court.

What's he going to say, that it wasn't his car?

Digital_Cowboy

You know he will. I mean there are just thousand and thousands of Bugatti's on the road these days and it could have been anyone's. ;-)