scariest driving moments (II)

[bonnevillain]

I know i created this on the old forum, but i figured there must be some new stories and some were worth hearing again

what was your scariest moment behind the wheel? (or maybe just riding along)

[bonnevillain]

d'oh! meant to post this here..

[radomirthegreat]

A while ago, I posted about almost crashing into a couple of SUVs. One rammed itself one lane over without a turn signal, and the other behind me was gunned to accelerate as fast as possible. I was stuck between the two and somehow managed to gesture one off the road without touching it. The guy that swerved without a turn signal looked really pissed off at me.

[CJCroel]

It's a toss-up...

1) The 90-mph in a Dodge Intrepid and almost mowed over 4 deer on I-96 story...

2) Driven off the expressway by a truck and *almost* ran head on into the end of a guard rail.

3) Driving the Schwan's truck in an ice storm down here (rare) and having a fed-ex driver fly by, came into my lane, caused me to lose control, spun my truck around twice, hit a curb...bounced around a bit...got whiplash (no truck-to-truck contact was made)

4) Pulling a flatbed with a ford ranger on it with my old Silverado, minivan mom turns across traffic on a 3 lane divided, but stops partially in my lane while waiting for the other side to clear...I was only doing 45, but i had a FERD behind me on a trailer ...barely stopped that one.

5) Same thing, driving a 30' straight truck in MI

6) Same straight truck, on I-94...traffic is stopped around a bend...I'm hauling a box full of PVC pipe...truck is loaded down. I barely stop in time, then I look in my side mirrors and see a tractor-trailer jackknifing down the expressway, right at me. I actually put it in park and was ready to bail out...

7) Tire blowout on a tow-dolly while pulling a car down the road

All of these scary moments...yet no tickets, and no accidents to report! I have reflexes like a ninja...hahahah

[00Beast]

Pulling a 2000 gal water tank (16,000lb just of water, 2500 lb trailer) behind my dad's 05 Chevy 2500HD duramax, having a trailer tire pass me, all 8 lugs broke, luckily it had 2 per side, semi tire on a steel 2 piece wheel, not fun to go find and put on tractor loader. Luckily i was 3/4 mile from a site we own, limped there and parked it. THAT was scary

[Allmachtige]

Scary like "OMG CRAP!!!" or scary like "LOL we almost died!"?

Scary OMG CRAP: Flying off a snowy curve totaling my 98 SSEi.

Scary LOL: Turning lights off after booking it from my friends house that I did a burn out in front of in my old '70 Coronet, then turning the lights on at 50 to see a telephone pole at 12 o'clock. Talk about some massive body roll.

[superchargedSSEi]

I have two due my own stupidity. The good news...I'm still here and learned a lesson from both of them.

-Booking along on I-4 at ~105mph in my old 97 SE with the nearest traffic a good half mile ahead of me, when suddenly the cars started getting a lot closer...fast. Traffic had gone from 70mph to a standstill due to a lane merge...immediately went to full braking...brakes toast by the time I slowed down to 60mph...aimed for the shoulder...multiple cars also swerved blocking said shoulder...I shot off into the median at probably 40mph, did a huge powerslide in the grass and pulled back into traffic like nothing had happened. Last time I've ever sped excessively with traffic around.

-Left rear tie rod had seized up on my current 96 SSEi so my alignment was way off. I kept putting off replacing it because I didn't care about the tires I had on at the time. Rain, bald left rear tire, serious negative camber...I took an interstate off ramp with a sharp turn at what I thought was a low enough speed. Felt the rear end break loose and immediately started countersteering...did a nice slow 3/4 spin within my own lane and almost had the car straightened back out when the back tires just slipped off onto the soft shoulder (how cool would it have been if I actually pulled of the full 360 and kept going straight ). No damage to the car other than mud and grass kick up onto the sunroof. I replaced the tie rod end and got an alignment a week later...

[92BonneSE]

When someone cut out of the car in front of me and they were able to slow down and I was standing on the brakes. I probably got within an inch of their bumper

[JMH1950]

As some of you know, I drive for a living. As such, I probably put more miles on a year than the average person. With over a million miles driven I can proudly say that I've only had one accident in the last 35 years and it wasn't my fault.

April 4th, 1991, I had just dropped off a load in Gold River and was on my way out empty. About a mile from town I noticed a cement truck coming around a curve too fast. He was in the process of tipping over and looking like he would hit me head on. Experience kicked in and I floored the go fast pedal and pulled over as far as I could. I managed to get enough speed to prevent a head on but it was *dang* close.

If he hadn't hit me, he would have gone over a 100 ft bank into the river below. I had a few dozen cuts on my head, arms, and upper body from the broken side window, he got away without a scratch.








My truck.







The other truck.

[Pontiacdad]

I once rode in the passenger seat of the Zilla, good thing the leather was already brown


I once hit 2 moose at the same time, zero damage but I was in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night and -40*C. Made for a long trip.

[its840]

90 mph on I75.. on my bike... not paying attention... looking at cars around me the building on the side of the road...

look up and traffic is at a stand still... on snap.. i grabbed as much brake as i could with out locking them up and aimed for the center of the road... i went in about 2 cars deep.... after i stopped i just sat there for a sec... shaking... then i had to go change my pants... well not really but i was scared out of my mind.. i though i was gonna run right into the back of a car at 90mph.....

[bonnevillain]

i have a couple. one came when i was doing about 55 on a 2 lane service road thing next to the freeway, and there was a sign to slow down to 40 for an approaching curve. it was nighttime and pretty snowy out, so i decided to take the advice. i hit the brakes, and they immediately locked up.. Black ice! i just started sliding... no ABS on that car, i was pumping for all i was worth but i think it was kind of a futile effort. i slid off onto the shoulder and was heading straight for the end of the gaurdrail that went between the freeway and the service road. I was able to steer enough to avoid that, but when i finally got to the curve, i knew i didn't want to get stuck in the ditch, so i straightened out as best i could, waited till i got into the ditch, and floored it as i tried to steer back onto the road. I saw a giant plume of snow shooting into the air past my passenger window from the tire, and i barely made it onto the road, only to see 3 cars sitting in the opposite lane, just watching me (i can only imagine their faces)

then i also saw 4 deer run into the road as i was doing about 60 on a dark country road, i slammed on the brakes and laid on the horn. of course, instead of being scared they stopped and turned to look at me. stupid deer...

[GonneVille]

When I was 17, my parents bought me my first car, a 1989 Ford Probe LX. Nothing extraordinary, but it was decently fast, and handled really well...

Just not well enough to compensate for stupidity.
I was doing 85MPH on a country road that was nicely paved when I crossed the county line on a hill. The back side of the hill was nasty patch and seal with loose gravel on top. The car skidded, turning towards the right, and I countersteered and managed to get it almost straight again when it snapped back to the right again for some reason, harder than before, and caught tracion for just an instant, steering it towards the ditch, and the high embankment on the other side.
At this point my actual memory of the event, which up until here is VERY vivid, become disjointed. I do know what happened, but first I'll tell you what I remember...
The car hit the embankment with a thud, I have an impression of sky flashing outside the windshield, then I remember putting my hand on the roof to push myself up to undo the belt, falling onto the roof, then kicking the door open.
I remember talking to someone on their front porch, and washing blood off my hand where glass on the roof had cut it.

What happened, as far as I can put it together, was when the car hit the embankment, it climbed it moving slightly sideways, then flipped sideways down the embankment, landing on the road on its roof and sliding about fifty feet while spinning about 90* to face slightly back the way I came.
The passenger side of the roof collapsed(oddly enough, the tempered door glass was unbroken, even though the windows were up...), but the driver's side held. I was left dangling by the seatbelt, and I put my hand down to push and take my weight off the belt, then collapsed onto my shoulders and scooched around to kick the door open. The latch unlocked fine, but the glass was dug into the rotten pavement.
I crawled out, then walked, half-dazed, about a tenth of a mile down the road and up a long driveway to a house and knocked on the door, asking for a phone to call my Mom...

I remember things clearly again form washing the blood off my hand. I still have a little scar on the heel of my thumb that constantly gets the skin worn off it. It'll probably never heal flat.
The Sheriff didn't cite me, Mom threw a fit after crushing the breath out of me, and the tow truck had a hard time getting the car flipped back over to tow it away.
The next day, I was stiff and sore, but otherwise no lingering effects. But I still occasionally have nightmares where I hear that thud, see a flash of sky, hear the scrape of gravel on metal, then the quiet whirring of a wheel spinning and cooling metal pinging.

[wjcollier07]

#1

GTO, Tree, Lets not do that again.

#2

Deer, Deer and more deer. The brake system was the best thing on my 89 LE Never did hit one in the 89...but then got the 93...and mom takes it out...and hits a deer...jees, why the nice car?

#3

Accident in my 85 Nissan 720 Pickup, rearending of a CRV @ 50. No, it wasn't fun, yes, it was quite smashed, yes, i had to change my shorts

#4

Coming up to stopped traffic just over a hill in the truck on I-75 S going 80 fully loaded, above GVWR. I...had no legs after that one


Had a few more small scares, mostly in snow and ice conditions, but personally, with me driving, never hit anything. Mom? Well....we won't talk about it.
----------------
Listening to: 311 - Love Song
via FoxyTunes

[RJolly87]

I would have to say wrecking the tempo. Seeing a car turning into your path has a tendancy to change your life. I am still a little gunshy, 4 months later, only this time i have twice as much of a target for other people to hit.

I will still never forget the looks on everybodys face when i started the tempo after that and backed it off of her wrecked car

[GoldenBullet]

#1 driving stupidly and unsafely threw my town on the side streets late at night when i was about 16, in my old '88 Bonnie. was going about 80 on this longer stretch and come up to a T intersection where i have to stop and the cross traffic does not and straight ahead of me is a house. i go to hit the brakes at a point that would normally be fine, but i realize by the feel (and smell) that my brakes were greatly overheated from other hard brakes and turns. and i panic and am able to hit the E brake some how, upon which, the rear wheels lock up and i turn around the corner and the rear wheels slide. so im able to luckily slow down enough to maneuver this and keep on driving. lemme just say i was scared *shoot*. im sure it probably look pretty cool but i have never driven like that again.

#2 this one is definitely my scariest driving moment ever. i was just driving normally on a 4 lane road in my city, and i came up to a normal 4 way stop. its winter out so i slow down a little earlier. and just as i hit the brakes, im all of a sudden spinning around in a circle. as my friend sad who was driving behind me, i spun around 2 1/2 times and ended up in the other lane of traffic facing the opposite way i was originally going. let me just say i was scared out of my mind and just sat there for a minute or two just shaking. i didnt even realize what had happened. i was lucky that there were no cars in the other lanes as i wouldve hit them for sure, im also lucky i didnt slide into a house!

[John Deere Boy]

Wrecked my bike at 40mph in a turn...the rear end slid out from under me even though there was no gravel. I was wearing shorts, tshirt, and sandals, and no helmet. I landed over 20' from the bike without a scratch. Good part is i fixed the bike for under $100.

Also when i was about 6, i was driving a tractor when the rear wheel just fell off. I thought i was going to be dead meat when my dad found out.

[J-ROD]

When I was about 20ish, I had a 1989 Ford Probe, that on my drive home from work, I would frequently drive to fast. One such day, I am doing just that. I come over the top of a hill on a farm road, there was a full size van that was coming at me, mind you we were both towards the center of the road, due to it being a narrow, barely fitting 2 vehicles on it wide road. Anyway so I hit the brakes and the ditch on my side of the road then try to get it back onto the road, it grabs traction and shoots me off the other side of the road, into an embankment and up and over onto the roof, at which point I slide about 50 yards on the roof of the car, then come to a stop. So I unbuckle myself, turn off the car and climb out to survey the damage. I then called my dad and asked him not to tell my mom, because she would flip out. He said he couldn't do that. Then I spend the next ten minutes trying to tell him how to get there, because he didn't know this road even existed. They finally make it out there. The tow truck and Highway Patrol show up. Luckily the Patrolman knew my family and at the time, my dad, who is a Teamster was locked out of his job. So he asked me how fast I was going and told me that he could figure it out, but it would be much easier if I just told him. So I did. He then said that due to the circumstances with Dad's job, that he would give me a ticket and to slow down. Anyway the car was totaled. I went to the ER and sat there for about 4 hrs, before deciding to go home and go to the Dr the next day. No major injuries just some cuts, bruises, and a seat belt burn. I thank God, that He was watching over me that day. I will try to post pics of the car later, if I can remember to.

[Lil'missburnout]

If you would have asked me this question a year ago I would have said getting hit in my husband's bonneville on my 21st when I was completely drunk at about 70+ miles an hour. (There was a DD)

But honestly, now that I have my son and am pregnant, I would definitely say just driving scares me. It's not me that I'm worried about, it's all the other idiots on the road. I'm not afraid of dying in a car accident but there is no way I would want my kids to be killed.

There is one thing that eases my worries though.... I drive a bonneville.

[bonnevillain]

When I was 17, my parents bought me my first car, a 1989 Ford Probe LX.

When I was about 20ish, I had a 1989 Ford Probe