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Don't know that I'd have been hurt that badly (I was in a big truck), but I came within a couple of feet of hitting a wrong-way driver in a Toyota Camry. He was coming around a blind curve (I was on I-264WB to Dixie HWY's SB off-ramp in Louisville, KY) and, fortunately, we saw each other in time to avoid what would've been an UGLY crash. I stopped and watched him turn around before someone else hit him...whew!
It was near rush hour heading towards the beltline. The road is nothing but a large string of strip malls and stop lights that are way too close together. I nearly got ran off the road while heading to the store with my younger brother. I was in the far right lane, one light away from my turn. Traffic was packed, but moving pretty steadily at ~40-45. I was just keeping pace with traffic until my turn about 1/4 mile ahead. I'm talking to my brother, and the next thing I see is the rear passenger quarter panel of an Altima headed for my front driver wheel well. No turn signal, nothing. I slammed on my brakes and veered as far to the right as I could without running up on the curb at 45 mph as he continued into my lane, regardless of my squealing tires and horn. I was lucky the guy behind me was tailgaiting too bad, but I heard his tires squealing too... I'm trying to make sure a) no one is going to slam into me from behind, b) i'm not going to go airborne on this curb and c) i've made sure i stopped enough to keep this dumb*** from doing a reverse PIT manuvere on me, thus causing a and b. But what absolutely infuriated me the most was that he/she had no regard for me, and floored the gas once he was in my lane, then did this again to the next person.
All the possibilities flashed through my head, and all I could see was me hitting the curb and either spinning back around into oncoming traffic and getting t-boned, or flying up on the curb and hitting one of the trees. It scared me so bad i wouldn't get back on the road for another hour.
I'm just thankful I was able to manuvere my car just right, and that the guy behind me was paying attention.
I was rear-ended while sitting at a dead stop at a red light. The woman who hit me was talking on her cellphone and hit my little Toyota Matrix compact at 40 mph, pushing my car under a high clearance SUV in front of me. What was really scary was that the airbag did not go off. They took me to ER strapped to a back board. My car was totalled out at $18,000 damage, it was only 1 year old. The worst part was the driver walked up to the car (I was crying and could not move my neck or back, in such pain) and she said to me (still talking on her cell phone) "Oh You're OK just get out and walk around." Sobbing I kept saying "My new car, my new car" and she sneered (honest to goodness I am not making this up) "My car's newer, it's a 2007."
I will never buy another Toyota. I bought a full size pickup truck, high clearance, so I won't get squashed again like that.
When I was young and dumb, I was headed down a rural road in hilly farm country when I topped a hill at just over 100 and there was a John Deere 7720 with the 6 row corn picker attachment at the bottom of the hill making his sweep from one pass down the field to the next. Well a few heart stopping seconds later I was at a dead stop sideways with one of his tines less then 4" from my head. If I would have had the top on and the window up it would have broken the window out. Thank God for high speed driving training and good brakes. Missed either one of those and they would have been picking me out of the front of his combine.
Many years ago, I was driving on Angeles Crest Highway, north of Los Angeles, when a car behind me decided to attempt to pass me on a blind corner. Angeles Crest Highway is a narrow, two-lane road that winds through, and ultimately over, the rugged San Gabriel Mountains. Where this clown decided to pass, there was a sheer drop-off to my right, and a cut-out embankment rising steeply on the other side of the road, where the roadway was cut into the side of the mountain. The shoulder of the road was essenitally non-existent at this location. As the car attempted to pass me, another car passed by headed the other direction. There really wasn't room on that road for three cars to pass side-by-side, but somehow, we managed to make it work. When I saw the car attempting to pass me, I got as close to the edge as I felt I could safely do. I'm sure the car going the other way did essentially the same thing. The guy in the middle who was trying to pass me lucked out and came through without serious injury from what I could tell, though he never ended up getting around me. At the next turnout, he pulled off the road, and I never saw him again. I presume that was so he could clean out his shorts!
I don't know how far down the mountain I would have gone, but I am convinced that if I had gone off the edge, I would not have survived, nor would any of my friends that were in the car at the time. I know God was looking out for us, and He kept us from being knocked over the edge.
I was headed eastbound on Interstate 10 in Upland, CA at around 1:00 or 2:00 am when traffic came to a stop due to construction to retrofit the freeway pavement. Cars were merging to the left and I am sitting in the fast lane. Because it is late, I am the last car in 'line' and behind me there are no other cars. So I'm sitting there when all of a sudden I hear a skidding sound and I look in my rear view mirror and see this car heading right for me at high speed. I was thinking, "Oh, sh..!!" At the last second or so he swerved to the right still kind of skidding past me...
I was in Orlando for a trade show and my Brother, who's also my boss came from Bradenton to pick me up at the airport and took me to a hotel near Disney World. When the thing was done, he drove me to a hotel near the airport (sort of) for the return trip.
The hotel was kind enough to have a shuttle company pick me up the next morning and drive me to the airport. It seemed like some private company because the guy who picked me up seemed like he was driving a personal minivan. As we're heading to the airport, he took some frontage road to avoid a busy highway. We were crossing underneath an overpass and came to a stoplight to turn left onto another frontage road.
We were talking about his wife and kids and how they're into soccer and stuff. Well the light turned green and he proceeded to turn left and I yelled, "STOP STOP STOP!!!!!!!!!" This dump truck was running the red light and we were halfway into the intersection before my driver slammed on his brake. He didn't even bother to look left before he proceeded to turn on the green light. The dump truck swerved left to avoid hitting us and nearly hit vehicles stopped at the other side of the intersection, then swerved back right, left, right... This truck almost tipped over. They must have been going 40 to 50 mph.
What would have happened to us if that 20,000 lb + 10-wheel truck would have T-Boned us?
The shuttle driver was very shook up and apologized to me profusely, but I told him, "We're ok. Pull into a gas station and I'll get us a soda, we'll calm down and be ok." I also told him it was as much my fault for talking to him so much while he was driving and took his concentration away. We left it at that.
Almost got a little old lady last week. I followed her in a right turn onto a one way 4 lane street. I was going to turn left onto the freeway in a few blocks so I moved my way over to the left lane. She was still ahead of in the lane to my right with her left turn signal on so I stayed back a ways to let her change lanes.
She didn't change lanes. She hit her brakes and turned left in front of me. ABS brakes saved that woman's life. I don't think she ever knew I was there. Even with me leaning on the horn she never turned her head to look.
Me. A couple of times. The closest was on the freeway crossing a river at night. I was in the left lane next to a semi. I realized the truck was coming into my lane and I had no where to go. No shoulder, I was on a bridge. I flashed my high beams on and off and they just kept coming. I had my brake pedal to the floor and was lucky no one was behind me. Trucker missed the front of my car by inches and just kept going.
I've had some interesting experiences on ice, snow and mud. I have come to appreciate ABS braking systems.
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