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Poloboy · 03-22-2004, 11:28 PM

Last summer I was driving home on the highway ('88 Volvo but it has a '98 turbo engine because the old one burned out apparently) and I was making my exit off the right of the highway. It was a double exit lane, and I was in the left-hand one, closer to the main lanes that continue as the actual highway. I was going about 170 km/h (106mph) and was the only car in either of the exit lanes for some distance and I had plenty of time to brake before the upcoming light. I started braking slowly and was going about 160 km/h when a homeless guy on a bicycle on the side of the highway, taking the exit, decided he no longer wanted to take the exit and would rather continue with the highway. He was about 80 feet away. Without looking over his shoulder to see if any cars are coming, he swerves perpendicular to the exit lanes and begins crossing them, empty bottles and cans falling out of assorted baggage all the while.

Well, him being ~25m away, me going 160 km/h, gave me less than two thirds of a second to make a decision. Like I said I was in the left of the two exit lanes, and he was about half-way through the right hand lane with a plethora of recyclables in a halo around him. Since he was aimed where I was aimed, and certainly wasn't going to be able to stop and back up at any reasonable rate, I made the decision to swerve right, heading for the hopefully-soon-to-be-empty right-hand exit lane and the shoulder. Swerving left wasn't really feasible since there were cars in the main highway lanes and there wasn't much between me and them. E-braking wasn't an option, because my hand brake cable tension was shot, I knew it wasn't working.

I tried a gentle swerve to the right, and it worked ok, I was heading behind the drunk asshole nomad. I was also heading toward the shoulder at about 45 degrees though, and along the side of the shoulder is a high concrete wall since it's an uphill exit lane. Needless to say, I overcorrected when I steered left, ended up spinning 900 degrees and was sitting in the space of striped lines between the exit lanes and the main highway lanes, inches from the giant barrels of sand and facing, head-on, the traffic I had just been in. About half a meter farther and I would have been in the middle of it.

Here's the clincher - my windows and sunroof were open, because it was a hot summer day, and as the homeless fuck finished riding across the lanes and continued down the highway, he looked in and started laughing at me, grinning his 3-tooth grin. I wanted to get out of my car and push him into some more traffic, maybe one person can dodge him but surely a few dozen couldn't.

Granted I should have seen the wobbling hobo and guessed he would do something erratic, but I learned from it and haven't gone over 110 km/h since.

03-22-2004, 11:28 PM	#38 (permalink)
Poloboy Insane Location: Canada	Last summer I was driving home on the highway ('88 Volvo but it has a '98 turbo engine because the old one burned out apparently) and I was making my exit off the right of the highway. It was a double exit lane, and I was in the left-hand one, closer to the main lanes that continue as the actual highway. I was going about 170 km/h (106mph) and was the only car in either of the exit lanes for some distance and I had plenty of time to brake before the upcoming light. I started braking slowly and was going about 160 km/h when a homeless guy on a bicycle on the side of the highway, taking the exit, decided he no longer wanted to take the exit and would rather continue with the highway. He was about 80 feet away. Without looking over his shoulder to see if any cars are coming, he swerves perpendicular to the exit lanes and begins crossing them, empty bottles and cans falling out of assorted baggage all the while. Well, him being ~25m away, me going 160 km/h, gave me less than two thirds of a second to make a decision. Like I said I was in the left of the two exit lanes, and he was about half-way through the right hand lane with a plethora of recyclables in a halo around him. Since he was aimed where I was aimed, and certainly wasn't going to be able to stop and back up at any reasonable rate, I made the decision to swerve right, heading for the hopefully-soon-to-be-empty right-hand exit lane and the shoulder. Swerving left wasn't really feasible since there were cars in the main highway lanes and there wasn't much between me and them. E-braking wasn't an option, because my hand brake cable tension was shot, I knew it wasn't working. I tried a gentle swerve to the right, and it worked ok, I was heading behind the drunk asshole nomad. I was also heading toward the shoulder at about 45 degrees though, and along the side of the shoulder is a high concrete wall since it's an uphill exit lane. Needless to say, I overcorrected when I steered left, ended up spinning 900 degrees and was sitting in the space of striped lines between the exit lanes and the main highway lanes, inches from the giant barrels of sand and facing, head-on, the traffic I had just been in. About half a meter farther and I would have been in the middle of it. Here's the clincher - my windows and sunroof were open, because it was a hot summer day, and as the homeless fuck finished riding across the lanes and continued down the highway, he looked in and started laughing at me, grinning his 3-tooth grin. I wanted to get out of my car and push him into some more traffic, maybe one person can dodge him but surely a few dozen couldn't. Granted I should have seen the wobbling hobo and guessed he would do something erratic, but I learned from it and haven't gone over 110 km/h since.