Well the title pretty much explains what happened, let me give you guys a little more specifics.

I'm traveling to South Padre on I-37 with my cruise control set to the speed limit, 70mph. It's raining and I'm in the left hand lane. All of the sudden, I hit this huge puddle of water and my rear end is sliding to the right, and my car is heading right for the median. Well at this point, I'm thinking to myself, "FUUUUUUUUUUCKKK!" I applied the brake a bit and kept the steering wheel facing forward. The only thing that was going through my mind was, "as soon as I start sliding over the ground, my car is going to start flipping and I'm toast." Here I am spinning around flying off the highway onto the median, and luckily for me it was so muddy that I was sliding instead of flipping.

I finally come to a stop in the middle of the median, with steam coming out from under my hood thanking God I'm not hurt. At this point the rain is coming down. I get out of the car, take a look around the car, and to my surprise, it doesn't really look damaged, except for the fact that the rear wheels are covered in grass and mud. So at this point, I'm calling the cops to let them know that I've gone off the road and that I'm okay, and they tell me that someone already called it in.

There must've been a lot of wrecks because about 3 different cops drove by, asked if I was okay, and then said they had to go to another wreck. Through all this, I'm just thinking, "All I need is a damn tow truck."

One of the local cops comes back, says a tow truck is on the way. I'm standing there talking with him and this guy's pretty cool. He tells me, "look, I don't know if you were speeding or not, and I'm not going to write you a ticket, but the state trooper over there probably will because they're usually dicks."

So like the local cop said, the cop begins to write me a ticket for reckless speed while giving me a lecture about how he's "seen a lot of these accidents and you were probably going 85 or 90." And in my mind I just want to say, "f*ck you, I was going the speed limit" but I don't say anything. He says, "even if the speed limit is 70, if you have to slow down to 45 to be safe then you have to slow down to 45." I'm thinking, "WTF it's not my fault the highway was improperly designed for drainage and has a huge *** puddle in it."

As if the ticket isn't bad enough, the damn tow truck charges me $180 to pull my car 20 feet in like 4 minutes. Needless to say, this spring break got off to a pretty damn bad start.


Here's some pics, sorry they're not very good, my buddy didn't want to run across the highway to get closer.




I slid about 200 feet. If I would've hit that puddle just one or two seconds later than I did, I would be wrapped around a nearby bridge support beam. I feel very lucky. When I got to the gas station I bought a lotto ticket, but I didn't win lol.




Right after I wrecked:




After I got pulled out by the Tow Truck:




My car covered in grass at a gas station:

 

I did something similar a long time ago in my Maxima. Hit a big puddle and lost control..ended up sliding into the grass in the median. I got lucky though, there was no traffic around and no damage. I was even able to back out of the grass and continue on the way home. There was, however, a ton of mud/grass that I had to clean off when I got home.

 

damn lucky you weren't hurt. you should just write in contesting the ticket. I can't see how they'll hold you to it considering the state trooper "speculated" you were going 85-90 mph. and how is the condition of your tires before hydroplaning?

 

Well, I'm glad you and your Z are okay. Sucks about the ticket and towing bill, but I'd think you'd be able to fight the ticket. All they know was that you hydroplaned, nothing else. (I wouldn't advise or approve of driving 70 after it has rained, but they still can't prove you were doing 85-90)

 

dam that sucks, good thing you got lucky and the car didn't flip and that you're safe. take care

 

Probably only about 4 months old z rated tires.

 

I'd definitely contest the ticket. It's an insult to injury and the officer is taking advantage of the situation.

 

180$?!?!?! WOW I had to call the tow truck once before and I only paid the guy 100$ thats including tip. He drove me to the nearest pep boys and I believe that was about 4-6 miles away


glad your alright though.

 

i love awd

 

Yeah, I probably could've gotten out myself with AWD.

 

You should of said something about the ticket. If he did not clock you and if he has no proof that you actually were speeding(since you were not) then he has no right to give you a ticket. Take it to court/talk to your lawyer. That's pure bs.

 

Wow that sucks. I've hydroplaned in some of my vehciles a little including the Z.

As far as going the speed limit goes and getting a ticket, I know why he wrote you one. There is a thing called the basic speed law or something, that states you are not to drive faster than conditions permit, regardless of the posted limit. Even though you were going at the posted speed limit, you were not following the basic speed law, by slowing down for rain. This may mean driving 10 MPH or more below the posted speed. Would you drive 70MPH in fog where you can't see more than 30 feet in front of you? Hopefully not.

They went over this basic speed law a lot in drivers ED some 20 odd years ago, I guess they don't teach it anymore.

 

I agree unless he can provide that he clocked you. he cant ticket you ... especially if he wasnt there in the first place... and if he did clock you ask them to show the papers when was the last time the devices were calibrated and if they cant provide record or its been a while it gets thrown out.

 

There's really no point arguing a ticket when he's writing one, especially with a State Trooper since they are notoriously strict, but I will fight it in court.

 

Cruise control in the rain!

Lots of information but you left out two important facts:
What kind of tires?
How many miles in the tires?

 

Z rated Nitto's

Under 2,000 miles on them.

 

Bro, its common sense..

You are not suppose to use cruise control while its raining...

 

Fixed.

 

There are a dozen “crashed in the rain” and “Nitto NT 555” threads. Independent testing clearly shows that its a poor tire: https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....ighlight=tires.

 

Glad youre allrite.