Fotzlid

Jewels' thread about naming cars got me thinking about my old Mustang. I loved that car. I'd probably still be driving it if it hadn't had its nose punched in twice in a 6 month period. (First time, other driver crossed the center line and we hit head on. Second time the other driver ran a stop sign and I t-boned him)
Anyways, I didn't want to talk about accidents. I want to hear stories of close calls. The ones where you find yourself gripping the wheel with white knuckles, eyes bulging and you thinking "HOLY SHIT! How the hell did i get out of that??" or at least where you got a good shot of adrenalin that got you a little shaky afterwards.

The one i remember the most was in the Mustang.
I had just replaced the factory rubber with some Z rated tires when the originals wore out. The shop I went to is located at a busy intersection with 2lanes each way and no guardrails. A light rain had fallen while I was at the shop, so the roads were a bit damp. The driveway was a downhill slope and the road was a slight uphill slope.
I went to pull out as there was no traffic going in my direction but the light had changed and there was traffic headed my way.There was a line of cars waiting for a light going the other way. I pull out a little quickly (I wasn't trying to spin the tires or be overly agressive) when the rear tires spool up and the back end breaks loose. It felt like I was on ice even though it was the middle of summer. I was suddenly staring a a phone pole while almost completely sideways. I get off the throttle and counter steer. Unfortunatly, with the new tires and damp roadway, the momentum swung the back end out the other way slightly so i was staring at a line of stopped cars waiting for a light. Saw a couple people bracing for impact but by then I was going pretty slow and was able to gather it up easy enough and go on my merry way.
Scared the shit out of me though.

BadNick

my two that immediately come to my mind:

Back in about 1972 I was driving home from a big hippieesque picnic I was at all weekend, still in recovery mode from excessive everything, my buddy John was riding next to me; we were blasting home in my '67 XKE Roadster on a real nice winding back road thru the hills of Pennsylvania; as usual, I was driving too fast, came up over a sweeping left hand turn over a sharp crested hill a tad over 100mph, it was dusky so suddenly I'm blinded by high beams right in my eyes, I faulter and lift off the go-pedal which induces sudden oversteer in the Jag (48%F/52%R weight balance) so now we're spinning down the center of a two lane back road scrubbing off as much speed from 100mph as it can, watching telephone poles passing us left and right; I end up slowly rolling off the road backwards into a field right betwen two of the poles; we just looked at each other and said "holy shit" or something to that effect. Another memorable feature of this near-disaster is that John had a large pan in his lap with a lot of leftover spaghetti with meatballs/sauce and when we stopped spinning, the interior of the car had a 10" wide band of spaghetti and sauce around the whole interior at about his lap level. We blew a doobie to calm down and drove home.

The other one I recall was driving home from Phila Airport late one night on the Schuylkill Expressway aka the SureKill Expressway; I was hurrying too fast since the roads were mostly empty; just south of the UofP exit at South St., I decide to move over to the right lane; a couple seconds later as I come around a turn real fast there is a big old Checker taxi completely stopped in the left lane; had I not moved, I would have plowed into it baaaddddd. I said a little prayer in my agnostic sort of way and thanked whoever was watching out for my sorry ass.

jewels

I call this one my "auto" accident. No one involved but me. Quite luckily.

I was exiting off the Florida Turnpike and turned westbound on a main boulevard during the peak of rush hour. It had poured all afternoon and the roads were slick with oil and water. I accelerated, as the boulevard begins a steep incline at the Turnpike exit, and decided I'd better change over a lane since I knew better than to accelerate quickly with that combination of conditions. Apparently the lane change was enough to set me to skidding in my 1999 (? I think) Isuzu Rodeo, which sent me flying over the median, perpendicular to the eastbound boulevard traffic and the side of the ramp going down several hundred feet to the Turnpike.

As the car went over the median, all I could think was that I did not want to drive off the ramp and dump myself over cars several hundred feet down, so I turned the wheel to the left, which immediately flattened both tires on the left side of the car. This managed to slow things down and I was able to maneuver the SUV into the eastbound turning lane for the Turnpike.

I was totally shaken but knew that somehow I managed to save not only myself, but potentially a lot of others. I shook for days.

That's the only accident I had where I showed some skill.

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We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

TheClarkster

Mine happened... about a year and a half ago while driving in on my first day of a new job.

I decided to take my fun car as a way to sort of enjoy the drive and the new day that lay before me, so i took my 67 Cougar instead of the 97 Tacoma. Bad idea. I'm going fine down the freeway, not taking it too fast, probably make it about 85% of the freeway trip when out of nowhere I hear this loud kind of popping sound, and all of a sudden, my windshield is covered with some liquid, and i lose control of the car.

Turns out my radiator decided to blow for whatever reason on this trip to work, I guess it was just old enough to go. So there I am with a blind view and not very much control of the car, so I hit the wipers to clear the windshield, and lo and behold I'm facing the freeway traffic head-on. Luckily I'm still rolling along with momentum, so I swing the wheel to the left, and kind of coast to a stop with the car's ass up against the hill next to the freeway.

Had to sit there gripping the steering wheel for a couple minutes before someone came to ask if I was okay, and to tell me I should probably park the car instead of letting its nose sit in traffic.

Phew.

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Do not speak Latin in front of the books.

bobby

The worst accedent I was ever in...2 4 lane roads at an intersection with a light,I was sitting in the right lane in front waiting for the light to change,light changes and before I can start to move a car runs the red,tags the car across from me,who has begun crossing and they both come across the intersection and slam into me...still stationary!...pretty much totaled my 58 Borgward Isabella TS..........I was in High School at the time...1965

xoxoxoo

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"Life goes on,within you,and...with out you !" xoxoxoo

Rippley

Gentle curve on a city street, taken a little fast in my Golf III. Turns out there was a manhole cover under some standing water that somehow managed to make the rear end of my car lose grip. Spun 360 across the road, ended up on the sidewalk facing back the way I'd come. No idea how I made it up over the curb, or how there was no damage to anyone or anything (except my shorts)...

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roadrazer - 300kgs, 300hp = pure fun.

Martian

These things do happen from time to time. The most recent one I remember involved me driving home from work with a carload of friends when a bigass SUV merged into my lane without looking (I had just moved into her blind spot, preparatory to passing her). I'm thankful that there was no oncoming traffic and that I therefore had somewhere to go, and also that my reflexes are fast enough that I was able to react in time. My friends were suitably impressed with my automotive prowess.

The funny thing about it isn't the event itself (as far as collisions go, it would've been pretty minor) or my reaction (the window was narrow, but not so much so; anyone who had reasonably quick reflexes and wasn't prone to panic could've done the same thing), but that I'm paranoid about being in people's blind spots. I know a lot of drivers don't bother to check their blind spots when they're changing lanes and I don't want to get in an accident because of it, so I deliberately stay out of blindspots except for the brief moment when I have to pass. This was just one of those freak occasions where that moment and the moment the woman in the SUV decided to change lines lined up.

There's also the time I ditched my car. I consider it a close call because even though I went off the road, I didn't go into oncoming traffic when I lost control. It could've been a lot worse than it was. It also gave me the unique perspective of watching the road pass by as I was sliding sideways beside it; this is a perspective I hope never to have again.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

kipperoo3

I was driving home on the expressway on a friday afternoon, traffic was going about 60 (very good for phoenix) when all of a sudden the old F100 about 2 carlengths up in the next lane just locked up his brakes for no discernible reason, and his trailer full of lawn implements swung over in front of me. I clearly remember thinking that my last vision was going to be a riding lawnmower flying towards my windshield. Luckily, the trailer swung over into the shoulder, and the truck stopped in a cloud of smoke. There was no accident in front of him, and he pulled over to the side, so I just drove on. I hope I never experience something like that again.

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-Later, you realize that you didn't have to reposition the possum to make it look like an accident.

Willravel

I've got a doozey.

A bit back I had two jobs; my main job and a second internship with a web company. When one ended, I had little time to get the the other. I found myself rushing every day.

Anyone who knows me knows that I drive a Mitsu Eclipse that breaks down a lot. I like the car, so I put up with it (and I'm fucking stubborn). It breaks down in ways that I can't really see coming, too.

One day, I was shooting up HWY 87, easily going 95 when I heard a snap. Instead of pulling over, I decided to finish the ride. As I was pulling into my parking spot, SNAP. Suddenly my left front wheel is jammed up into the wheel well. Then another SNAP. The right joins him.

Turns out both my my CV joints went, along with my axle (basically a catastrophic failure). Had it happened not 5 minutes before, the car would have spun out and I likely would have taken someone else out. It probably wouldn't have flipped because I have it lowered, but I very well could have died. It was a close call.