This qualifies for more than an “OOPS!”

Published on November 12th, 2009

On Wednesday, a man drove a Bugatti Veyron into a lagoon in Texas after avoiding a low-flying pelican.

According to The Galveston County Daily News, the driver was checking out real estate in La Marque, Tex., when the pelican swooped into view:

The man jerked the wheel, dropped his cellphone and the car’s front tire left the frontage road and entered a muddy patch, which foiled his attempt to maneuver away from the lagoon…

The man was uninjured, physically, though after drowning the Veyron, which is priced at around $2 million, his ego might be a little damaged.

I’d be hard-pressed to feel sorry for someone dunking his $2million car in a salt-water lagoon. Distracted by a fracking pelican. And trying to pick up his cell phone.

27 users responded in " This qualifies for more than an “OOPS!” "

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# 1 Zybch said, on November 12th, 2009 at 2:29 pm

Serves the stupid moron right for using his phone while driving. Imagine knowing that fools like this are quite common among incoming traffic.

# 2 Cephus said, on November 12th, 2009 at 2:44 pm

Anyone who can afford a Veyron in the first place can afford to have it fixed, especially when I’m sure it’s heavily insured. If there’s any justice in the world though, his insurance will deny the claim because he was being a complete moron at the time of the accident.

He deserved it.

# 3 Daniel Kaiser said, on November 12th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

That wing on the back raises at 70 MPH, he obviously didn’t slow down before he hit the water and killed the engine or that wing would of had time to lower, also the wing doubles as an air brake. Blame it on a fracking bird.

# 4 sargasso said, on November 12th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

The old, Pelican excuse. Let’s keep both hands on the wheel, shall we.

# 5 smartalix said, on November 12th, 2009 at 3:22 pm

I’d have hit the damn pelican.

# 6 Mark T. said, on November 12th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

Well, that is one way to spend your kids’ inheritance.

I would have loved to see video of it going in. Sad. I wonder how fast he was going (awfully damn fast based on the win position.

I like the way the wrecker operator washed his hands in a muddy puddle before reaching in to turn the steering wheel. I bet the steering wheel cost more than the wrecker.

# 7 Mark T. said, on November 12th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

oops, wing, not win

# 8 Mr. Fusion said, on November 12th, 2009 at 3:43 pm

I’d have hit the pelican and said the damn pelican was distracted on its own cell phone.

# 9 chuck said, on November 12th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

“dropped his cellphone” – that’s the critical error. You can drive a car. Or you can talk on a phone. You can’t do both.

One more bit of advice: try to keep it under 70 when you driving near a marsh.

# 10 hhopper said, on November 12th, 2009 at 4:00 pm

That moron should not own a car like that.

# 11 WhataPutz said, on November 12th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Can’t this dork afford a Bluetooth headset?

# 12 Buzz said, on November 12th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

The richer you are, the dumber you’re allowed to be. It’s the eleventh commandment.

# 13 Animby said, on November 12th, 2009 at 5:37 pm

# 11 WhataPutz said, “Can’t this dork afford a Bluetooth headset?”

Doesn’t the Bugati come with built-in Bluetooth? Must have been texting. Pelican, my ass.

# 14 Bob said, on November 12th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

Two things:

1. I don’t see where the article states he tried to pick up his cellphone. Just that he dropped it. I don’t see where the article states that he was TALKING on his phone at the time, either.

2. Why did he admit any of this? Just say “Yep – I crashed my cool car in to the water.”

# 15 Ethan said, on November 12th, 2009 at 6:53 pm

Finders keepers?

# 16 ECA said, on November 12th, 2009 at 7:08 pm

Im looking hard at this..
100′ of MUD…DEEP WET MUD..the front tires are hardly spinning MUD..
20′ OUT into the lagoon…

Umm, HOW FAST WAS HE GOING??

# 17 chudez said, on November 12th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

don’t car about the owner, it’s a shame what happened to that pretty car though…

# 18 Mark T. said, on November 12th, 2009 at 8:21 pm

ECA, don’t forget that the Veyron is four wheel drive. He must have had mud tires.

# 19 ECA said, on November 12th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

Rear tires arent spinning..Looks like they are PULLING FROM THEM NO frame…independent suspension??? that is going to RUIN the whole rear end.

# 20 conrack said, on November 12th, 2009 at 10:18 pm

Animals in the road are god’s way of saying “You’re too stupid to own this/live.

Always cracked me up how people in western states swerve to miss the chipmunk/rabbit/deer and roll the car and kill the whole damn family. happens all the time. SURVIVAL TIP: RUN BAMBI’S ASS OVER !!!!

# 21 (Pedantic) Thinker said, on November 12th, 2009 at 10:52 pm

Interesting Bughatti fact: That cars spoiler deploys at 70 mph.

Though he probably hit the gas when the tire caught the mud, so who knows if the wing was deployed when he was still on the road.

Academic I guess. Perhaps if he’d killed the engine when he landed it might still work. Be interested to hear what happens.

# 22 WmDE said, on November 12th, 2009 at 11:26 pm

I suspect it would be difficult not to take evasive action when a bird with a seven foot wingspan appears in the windshield.

# 23 zorkor said, on November 13th, 2009 at 3:37 am

I hate to joke in this situation but may be he was trying to impress the pelicans??

# 24 Benjamin said, on November 13th, 2009 at 6:48 am

At 2 million for the car, it is probably cheaper to fix it than total it.

# 25 Buffet said, on November 13th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

I can’t help but wonder if everyone might not be just a little more compassionate if the car wasn’t so expensive. I hope, for his sake, it’s repairable. Thank God no one was hurt.

# 26 Mark T. said, on November 13th, 2009 at 8:37 pm

This is late and most people won’t see this here but someone DID catch this on LIVE VIDEO!!!

http://tinyurl.com/ylh3m66

# 27 Mark T. said, on November 14th, 2009 at 7:56 am

Upon further review and some reading of comments on other blogs, like Jalopnik, this is sooo suspicious that it boggles the mind. Was this insurance fraud?

First, what are the odds of this being filmed at the exact moment of impact? A Bugatti Veyron sighting is impossibly rare in the U.S. There are only 15 in the country. You have better chances of getting hit by lightning. Now, after spotting one, you are filming it at the exact instance it crashes. Billions to one odds.

It appears that the owner is a exotic car dealer/restorer from Lufkin, Texas. People that restore cars are rarely multi-millionaires unless they made their money elsewhere, like Jay Leno or something. However, the owner reportedly lives in a sub-$150,000 home.

Regular maintenance on a Veyron is stupefyingly expensive. If you have ever been shocked by BMW service, you ain’t seen nothing. Try $20,000 for the first service. Tires cost $10,000.

What do you do if you own an exotic car restoration company in Lufkin, Texas, sales have plummeted due to the economy, and you are sitting on millions of dollars of inventory that are many times the value of your home that you can’t unload?

Well, if you were unscrupulous, you might ditch a car for the insurance payout. That is, if you think you could prove you were not driving wrecklessly and the car would be a complete write-off so that it did not get returned to you after repairs.

Hmmm, you could drive it into a saltwater bath and then leave the engine running to that the saltwater gets sucked into the engine. And you could have a buddy film it so you could prove that you were not driving wrecklessly.

Too suspicious for words. I think this guy is going to get hosed.

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