Scariest moments behind the wheel...

[glhs571]

After this experience I changed my driving habits to be safer while driving and to stay within the speed limit.

This happened a few months ago while driving home late one night. I just exited the freeway onto Yerba Buena Rd. It is a long way down all the way to where I'm staying, it goes from a 35 mph zone and then goes to a 40 mph zone as the street goes uphill and curves to the left. It goes downhill after a little while but there is just one traffic light going up and down it. Just before I start heading uphill cruising around 40 mph, I see these bright headlights approaching rapidly behind me. As he gets just behind me I notice that it is a 2003ish BMW, not a M3 but a 330 I think. It had black rims and window tint, anyways by the time he is right near me I decide to play with him, why not? I just wanted to have some fun. I decided to downshift from 4th gear to 3rd gear and we are both moving pretty fast probably around 50-60ish, we start taking the curve uphill and I'm back to 4th gear again flooring it. I would say I was doing about 70 mph but the BMW passes me up a few car lengths. I was still full throttle halfway through the turn when I feel my car lose traction and the next thing I know I was spinning a 360 in the right lane and ended up in the left lane facing traffic. There was a car in the distance coming towards me and my car shut off. I was thinking holy sh!t do I get out of the car before he hits me? But in that split second I just started the car, turned it around and the car coming near me slowed down in time. I left these huge tire skid marks on the road and nearly flipped my vehicle. I was just a few feet from hitting the center divider. In that scary moment I realized how lucky I am to be alive and how easily I could have gotten myself or someone else seriously injured. I guess it takes disaster to learn a lesson, and from now on I think twice before exceeding the speed limit.

Anyone else have any crazy stories like this one?

[turbovanman²]

Wow, lucky guy.

Are your tires crap? suspension worn out?

[JamesL]

At least you think you have learned your lesson. I’m pretty tame these days but between my teens and 20’s it takes two hands to count the number of times I felt close to death in a car. They are long stories I’d rather share over a beer one day but here is one quickie. I’m in a 70 351C Mach 1 Mustang racing a friend in a worked 1973 Maverick after school. He wants to see what his car will do. He is in front but I’m going faster and move to go around him. He’s not giving any ground even though I’ve got a car headed right at me. I finally pull past his bumper but made way to quick a move to get over. That on-coming car wasn’t moving over and I was out of room. Car went right then slung left throwing me out of the driver’s seat into the passenger seat practically on my head; this at about 130 MPH. Basically at this point the car is on its own and I’m just along for the ride like a piece of popcorn in the popper. Somehow, though that car went everywhere, it stayed on the road and I ended up in the correct lane facing the right direction but sitting in the passenger seat. The Maverick backed WAY off and the on-coming car was no where to be found. My friend pulled up about the time I’m getting out of the car to apologize for not giving the room because he knew he was beat. He said he had never seen anything like that and was visibly shaken almost as bad as me. The rubber marks on the road looked like a bowl of spaghetti. You’d think I might have learned something from that experience.

[glhs727]

geez...nice story..add that to the tornado of fire story.....thank goodness you didn't tell me those stories before we got married...
later
Cindy

[GLHNSLHT2]

I've almost left the road for a 5000ft straight down drop twice in the Los Angeles Crest Forest. Both times the same guy was around. Both times the damn car started understeering. I'm not sure how I got enough traction the 1st time to miss going off the road, the 2nd we hit the 45 degree curb they had built into the road so the land luge guys that use it don't die and that gave us enough traction to complete the turn. We popped the center cap off the 16" chrome aftermarket rims that were on my buddies car we were driving and he wasn't even in the car, and broke about a 2 ft section of the 45 degree asphalt curb away into the dirt. Other than those two times I've never thought/known I was gonna die.

[Directconnection]

I have come close to totaling my car about 2 dozen times.... seriously. (I'll share some stories when I have more time to write... GF coming over in 5 more minutes) Unfortunately, the "lesson learned" only lasted me one day back then. I don't have the berries to drive the way I used to.

[A.J.]

I was leaving AZ for NH after graduating U.T.I. in '95. I was in a '91 Dodge Shadow N/A. My best friend flew to AZ to drive back with me. We were just outside of Fort Worth TX and hit a snow storm. I've never driven in snow. Lived in NH, got my license in April after turning 18, then left for AZ in July. I didn't know you shouldn't use cruise control in the snow, on a bridge, in a curve, doing 65 mph. I was in the right lane, started drifting towards the left, spun around, facing backwards, drifted back to the right lane, in the path of an 18 wheeler. He hit us and shot us back towards the left lane off the road. If it wasn't for the fact the roads were slick he would have gone up and over us. But if the roads weren't slick I wouldn't have spun out. I used the insurance money to buy my first TM.

A.J.

[raccoon]

twice I have gotten frustrated with slow drivers on the highways out here in no where land. and twice I have double downshifted my loud vtec yo honda rocketing passed the sunday driver only to hit a deer. twice.

so yea. 4 deer in total with 3 cars.
2 with a rifles...

[bakes]

About 10 years ago i was racing home up the sea to sky highway ( two lane very windy mountain road) i came into a hair pin on the outside lane a semi fully loaded with lumber traveling to fast on the inside curve got up on the pass side wheels about a foot off the ground and then released it's load as i was coming up on it i drove through a pipe line of lumber going right over my car without hitting anything . I can still picture the sun light coming through all the pieces of lumber . the road was closed for a day as they cleaned up the mess .

[glhs571]

Wow, lucky guy.

Are your tires crap? suspension worn out?

My tires at the time were 205/50's that were completely worn down and gave me no traction at all!! Completely my negligence...
These are some crazy stories...btw !

[Spraynlog]

Back in the mid 70's, I had a '70 Dart Swinger, 340 4speed. I was in the US Navy, and I used to drive between Seattle and Spokane a lot. On a cold winter day, probably about zero to 10 degrees F, it was bright and sunny and the road was bare and dry. I was going about 75 to 80 mph, when I went under a freeway overpass that was shaded. It concealed a long stretch of black ice. I felt the car shift and start to 'skate' towards the right, following the crown of the road! The huge concrete pilings supporting the freeway overhead were looming at me. I somehow managed not to panic, and kept my foot steady on the gas, and steered into the slide gently. The car straightened out enough to avoid disaster, and then I was back out into the sun! I don't think I've ever puckered tighter! I've done a lot of other crazy stuff, but that one stays in my mind, probably because it was so unexpected.

[T-Bohn]

I have to many to tell.....

one that still makes my stomach turn 15 yrs later...

I was headed somewhere to go see this new girl i was dating

I was driving a 87 Prelude Si and was hard on the gas 80+ though my gut tells me even more then that. Very wide very straight two lane road with a sight line of over a 1/4 mile and its clear. I'm catching up to this one car really quick so i figure with all the speed I have zoom right buy...well i am just a few lengths behind going twice his speed and he turns on his left blinker and starts to turn into a small side road. I cut the wheel just miss hitting in the front fender drivers door area. the car starts to fish tail back and forth I am headed off the road on the left side and it gathers its self up and i get back in my lane.

Between almost completly side swiping this guy going way WAY faster then he was and almost running off the left side straight into this stone bank it . I had rear wheel dift skids that went into the road he was turning into...


It makes me queezy even now



One crazy should go to jail story...

I am flat out in my glh on this road rated 25 I am going close to 80 around this sweeper turn... flat, good pavement, tons of grip. I was really at the limit speed and grip wise at this moment

Right in my lane gong maybe 20 mph doing slow patrol is a local cop!!

clutch in, full lock up and there is NO chance I am going to stop in time. I am going to rear end this cop in a HUGE way.

well I cut the wheel drop a gear and flat back on the gas for all it's worth and sail a round the cop at like 60 in a no pass residential ...

lights go on but i have a huge jump and am grabbing the next gear!
off i go making a run for it... the gap holds and i make a quick left on to this really twisty rolling road... only a fellow New Englander would understand and i know it well. I stretch the gap some more and i am gone!!

I out ran so many tickets back then it was sort of normal for me... tight roads, fast GLH and local knowledge.... home free!!!

[t3rse]

in Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash: "Omni GLHS, the perfect weapons for the boston traffic wars"

I have had more close calls than I can remember. I got t-boned by a 89 mustang at a redlight and my car caught fire. I fell asleep after a long drive and hit the guard rail on the interstate. I almost slid off a mountain. I ran into a ditch to avoid an ------- who cut me off and stood on the brakes. I've had my fair share of ice and hydroplaning too.

[3Bar_Mopar]

About 10 years ago i was racing home up the sea to sky highway ( two lane very windy mountain road) i came into a hair pin on the outside lane a semi fully loaded with lumber...

You win. Wow.

[looneytuner]

I've already posted mine, but my mother in law was following a farm truck when it lost it's load of straw bales at 70.

[Murphy]

one morning before work I was just killing time cruising around some twisty back roads. I'm goin probably around 40mph, a little fast but nothing my car normal couldn't handle. As I'm going through one of the turns, the back end starts to give out. I would had just pointed the wheel straight and floored it, but i was kinda going into another turn, so I instinctively hit the brakes......bad idea. the car went sideways and ROLLED OVER! I ended up on the wheels, in the opposite lane, pointing in the direction I came from. I am thinking no freaking way this just happened. I put the car into park and try to start it, but the starter grinds.....its still running! put it into drive, IT DRIVES! one of my tires had a small hole in it, but it held air long enough to get me to work.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/827970/6

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=34267

So then there was this 89 suburban we had that went up on 2 wheels a couple times. The first time, my father was driving. A couple months earlier when we were doing some body work on the rear drivers side quarter panel, my father told me to torque the lugnuts to 75....they should be 100. So we pull out onto the interstate one day and the back end starts fishtailing...this is the wheel coming off. Then the tire comes off and we run over it sending the truck sideway. Going down the interstate sideways on a wheel and a brake drum.....luckily there we no cars around us. So then the truck gets tired of sideways and decides to start doing 360's. Somehow, the truck just sorta stopped right in the emergency lane.

So then another time, I was at school with the burb for this spirit fair event. I had a truck, so i got to pick everyone up along with grills and stereo equipment. Now I don't get to drive RWD too much, so I was having run in the parking lot punching the gas and taking it sideways. So at the end of the day, I got like 8 people in the truck, 5 in seats, 3 in the back with grills and stero equipment, and I decide to punch the gas pulling out of the parking lot. For some reason, I over counter steered, so when the back end caught traction, the truck did a quick 180 and when up on 2 wheels. I immediately spun the wheel around and managed to land it. After that I just parked it and everyone sat there with a whole array of responses from "that was cool" to "what the hell is wrong with you". So I kinda learned my lesson about RWD.

[3Bar_Mopar]

This was back when I had my 1997 Neon ACR SOHC. I was driving to work from Greenwood, IN. to north Indianapolis. I was humming along at about 70mph on the interstate, enjoying some tunes and kinda just enjoying the commute. I round the bend and see nothing but brake lights...traffic is stopped dead! I nail the brakes and start sliding. I end up slightly askew in my lane and mere inches from the car in front of me.
I happened to look over, and the person in the car next to me kinda gives me a dirty look and drives on as traffic starts moving. My heart was in my throat to say the least.


One other time, same car...I was driving around north Indy during a particularly nasty bout of winter weather. It had iced over pretty good from a storm the night before, and temps were biting. I had to go to the bank and it had to be done right then for some reason, (can't remember) so I ventured out.
I remember coming to an intersection and attempting to carefully merge into the left turn lane. As soon as I did, the --- starts to slide and I try to counter. Pretty soon I'm in a spin and nail the guard rail as I plow into the snow off the road.
Some people stopped to help me get the Neon off the side of the road and out of the snow bank. While they were helping, every vehicle that approached the intersection would slide or lock up the brakes on that ice.
A few would just slide through the red light.


One more. This was far more recent.
I was driving the Sundance (back when it was basically stock) on the interstate, a 2 lane stretch during a pretty violent downpour at night. I had my wipers on full blast, defrost blazing away... I reach a semi in the right lane. I could barely see as it was, but add an 18 wheeler blowing road spray and rain makes it nearly impossible. The best way to deal with this is to pass them as quickly as possible and get out of their wake.
Well, right when I get to him, he suddenly switches lanes and moves over in front of me. He's going like 40 MPH and I was going 55-60 in a 70 I thought that maybe there was a slow moving vehicle in the right lane and he was going to pass. After 10 minutes of nothing but getting pounded by his turbulence and rain spray and no cars being passed, I nailed it and whipped around him in the right lane and passed. I was probably 100% blind at the point when I started passing. If there was a car or something in that lane, I would have just plowed into it.
I made it past the truck and there wasn't a soul anywhere. I still don't know why the truck decided to cut me off into the fast lane in front of me, but it sure pissed me off.

[Juggy]

long post.....

last year, me and some friends went to orlando for the week. $1400 for 7 days for a 5-6 bdrm house, cost us $100 a piece!!! it was a great time, even met up with a few local TM guys down there (mostly from jacksonville i think??)

anyways....me and my friend took my buddies car over the border. bad call. the car REEKED like cronic. altho the car was clean, the border pigs were determined to send us back to canada. they searched the car for almost 2 hours. then finally had to let us go (we didnt have ----...but i hope they didnt eat any of the brownies in the cooler lmfao )

so to get to the point, we are 2 hours behind the rest of the convoy. so this was last march, I was flying to catch up to the rest of the gang, doing 100mph in a fricken rain storm in tennessee. the car had bad suspension, struts were shot all around except for the driver rear that was seized. so the weather is getting worse, and i still havent let off the gas, JUST as my buddy al decides to tap me on the leg, as i pull out my ipod ear bud jammin to the razors edge (acdc live!!) drummin the snot out of the steering wheel, as we look @ each other when the car starts to hydroplane :O

my dumbass let off the throttle and all the weight transferred and the car started whipping into 360s. there were lots of bridges/mountains/trees etc but only god knows why I happened to loose control in one of the few openings between N and S bound lanes on I75 (i think? lol). so the car goes inside and i fly into oncoming traffic (crossed the whole grass median after the car got air from all 4 tires)....then spun back into the median, where this time are now going backwards. Alls i remember was I let go of the steering wheel @ soem point, then grabbed back onto it and was fighting the wheel. after all that happened and we were going about 70mph in reverse i mashed the throttle and we were able to finally slow down.

so we sat in the median where i was in shock and shaking to hell, when my buddy said hes driving now LOL. i was so shocked that i couldnt even move, and he was telling me to go b4 anyone seen or cops showed up. i told him off and drove up a couple more exits where i finally decided to pull off and let him take over.

i still to this day wonder how i ever escaped through this. and im also man enuff to say that the experience had made me cry myself to sleep for almost a week straight. combine that with some more crazy experiences that happened on the roads in florida (like being swalllowed in a tea cup like saucer that ate the car completely where a highway ended out of nowhere into a forest....or being 3 cars wide in 2 lanes screaming your head off @ the guy next to you, and i was so close that i was smacking the window on thier car with my fist)

i drove 16 hours on the way home from FL. the only time I let him drive was when we went back through tennessee lol. I really hope i never get a chance to try and top or best this situation hehe

[Murphy]

I really hope i never get a chance to try and top or best this situation hehe

I think we can all agree with that one!

[Reaper1]

long post.....

last year, me and some friends went to orlando for the week. $1400 for 7 days for a 5-6 bdrm house, cost us $100 a piece!!! it was a great time, even met up with a few local TM guys down there (mostly from jacksonville i think??)

anyways....me and my friend took my buddies car over the border. bad call. the car REEKED like cronic. altho the car was clean, the border pigs were determined to send us back to canada. they searched the car for almost 2 hours. then finally had to let us go (we didnt have ----...but i hope they didnt eat any of the brownies in the cooler lmfao )

so to get to the point, we are 2 hours behind the rest of the convoy. so this was last march, I was flying to catch up to the rest of the gang, doing 100mph in a fricken rain storm in tennessee. the car had bad suspension, struts were shot all around except for the driver rear that was seized. so the weather is getting worse, and i still havent let off the gas, JUST as my buddy al decides to tap me on the leg, as i pull out my ipod ear bud jammin to the razors edge (acdc live!!) drummin the snot out of the steering wheel, as we look @ each other when the car starts to hydroplane :O

my dumbass let off the throttle and all the weight transferred and the car started whipping into 360s. there were lots of bridges/mountains/trees etc but only god knows why I happened to loose control in one of the few openings between N and S bound lanes on I75 (i think? lol). so the car goes inside and i fly into oncoming traffic (crossed the whole grass median after the car got air from all 4 tires)....then spun back into the median, where this time are now going backwards. Alls i remember was I let go of the steering wheel @ soem point, then grabbed back onto it and was fighting the wheel. after all that happened and we were going about 70mph in reverse i mashed the throttle and we were able to finally slow down.

so we sat in the median where i was in shock and shaking to hell, when my buddy said hes driving now LOL. i was so shocked that i couldnt even move, and he was telling me to go b4 anyone seen or cops showed up. i told him off and drove up a couple more exits where i finally decided to pull off and let him take over.

i still to this day wonder how i ever escaped through this. and im also man enuff to say that the experience had made me cry myself to sleep for almost a week straight. combine that with some more crazy experiences that happened on the roads in florida (like being swalllowed in a tea cup like saucer that ate the car completely where a highway ended out of nowhere into a forest....or being 3 cars wide in 2 lanes screaming your head off @ the guy next to you, and i was so close that i was smacking the window on thier car with my fist)

i drove 16 hours on the way home from FL. the only time I let him drive was when we went back through tennessee lol. I really hope i never get a chance to try and top or best this situation hehe

Good lord Cory!! I didn't know your trip down was THAT exciting! And yeah, you met me, Chuck, Mike, and Kevin IIRC. Good times for sure!

My turn for a few scary stories:
#1
I had just gotten my license a few months prior I think and of course I had to find out how fast I could go! Well, the night I chose was REALLY stupid...it had rained all afternoon and had JUSY let off right before the sun went down. I worked until 11pm and I figured the road was "dry enough". So, off I go on my quest to top the car out...on a 2-lane, unlit, sort of curvy, DEEP ditches on both sides and trees road. I can remember to this day the sound of the tires screaming at 120mph OVER the stereo at full blast(cranking Guns-and-Roses) with the windows down as I 4-wheel drifted my 1990 Daytona around a left curve!! I didn't wreck. I didn't spin...I made it how fine. However, it scared teh SH*T out of me!!

#2
Coming back from visiting with my dad, and the last time I went to Carlisle IIRC. I was in the middle of the never ending construction on I95 in Georgia. I was following a semi at a safe distance and it was pretty slow traffic...maybe 40mph tops. I notice the semi in front of me is slowing down, but the one behind me is not!!! Deciding I don't want to be a sandwich I tried to duck between the barrier barrels(nipped one just barely) and ended up fishtailing in the grassy median! I saved it, merged back in wuth traffic and got off at the next exit to calm down and assess the damage. Nothing really bad...just a few scuffs on the car.

#3
I was a parts driver for Nissan for a while. I was driving a 2000 Nissan Frontier PU. Base model(not like it really matters), but a darn good truck! Anyways, the hours for this job SUCKED and I was VERY tired and on a 2-lane road between Jessup and Hazelhurst, Georgia. This road is SO boring...about 90 miles of dead straight nothing with pine trees on both sides for scenery...very good at hypnotzing and putting somebody to sleep...which is exactly what happened! I fell asleep doing 90mph on the road...something in my head told me to wake up just in time to see and react to a very slow moving truck in front of me by about 200-300 yards, max! I stood on the brakes for all they were worth(thank you ABS this time!) and slowed enough to NOT hit the guy by INCHES!!! That woke me up!!

#4
I was out one night with an old aquaintence of mine testing out his new Christmas present...a G-tech. We were both using it in our cars to see what it said. Well, the road we were using was an unfinished connector under an overpass. It had plenty of room for a pull, but the run-off was through a gradual right hand curve. I'd had no issues with my car, and he had not indicated any with his. It was a bit on the nippy side IIRC(probably in the 30's) He decided he wanted me to drive his car so he could hear what it sounded like under the overpass as I made a pull. No biggie. I hopped in and started the pull, everything was fine, but the G-tech was indicating it wasn't done measureing yet as I was coming up on the curve REALLY fast(about 90mph IIRC). I decided to let off at this point and just start slowing down. This is when I first learned about 87/88 Shelby Z's having rear brake bias issues! I didn't hit the brakes hard, but I suppose that between it being cold, a bit dusty, the curve, and the bias issue, it was enough to send the tail end 90* out!! I was litterally looking at the trees on the side of the road out of the windsheild as I slid THOROUGH the curve. I did have the wheel at full lock turned in to the slide, but I was going WAY too fast for that to do anything, but keep me on a fairly constant path. Once I got slowed down enough I was thinking about where I had to turn around at and that the only place I knew of was coming up, so I kept the wheel turned because I had the intention of making my turn-around! Nope...got slung the OTHER direction for a little ways before I came to a complete stop. Once I did stop the only thing going through my mind was that I didn't stall the car(I wasn't a very good 5-speed driver at that point). I hit nothing, not even the curb. I slid for over 400feet I think is what we measured out! That scared me so bad, I didn't drive that car for YEARS!!

#5
I was in my Laser going along a 3 lane road that I knew very well. I was doing around the speed limit and it had just started to rain. I wasn't worried too much as I had new tires on the car and any traffic was a very safe distance ahead of me. Well, that traffic happened to be stopped at a light. I started to slow down and must have hit some oil or something becuase I started sliding! I pumped the brakes, but that wasn't working fast enough. I had a few choices: plow in to the rear of the minivan in front of me, yank the wheel to the right and jump the 6" curb that I knew could do a LOT of damage to my car and possibly cause me to flip, or dive between mentioned minivan who happened to be making a right turn and was over to that side a bit and the Porsche Cayenne in the middle lane and HOPE that I could blow the intersection without plowing in to anybody! I chose the third option...set the car and ducked between those two making it by inches!! Luckily there was nobody turning left from the opposite way and I was able to go through with no problem. When I did it I was calm and relaxed, but afterward I was scared out of my mind!!

#6
This one was more of a lesson than anything else. I was the DD for the nigth and driving a friend's 4-door Focus. The car was loaded with drunks(I was completely sober and hadn't touched a drink all night). On the way back to dropping one of them off I got stopped at some train tracks and the car next to me started revving his engine. I figured what the hell, I'll give him a go once the train is gone...an so we took off. I didn't do bad, but all I remember is seeing him hit the brakes REALLY hard, really fast! I couldn't figure out why as there was nobody else on the road...except the oncoming car on the opposite side of the road, which happened to be a cop! DOH!! I quick glance and I was SLOWING past 70mph in a 35 zone! Well, needless to say I knew I was screwed. I tried to duck in to a neighborhood, but I didn't know where I was. I told my friends I was going to jail and to bail me out in the morning! Sure enough, I got pulled over. I put the window down, turned the car off and set the keys on the dash, both hands on the wheel. It's never good when the cop only says for you to get out of the car...He takes me back to his car and asks me why I was racing, to wich I replied I wasn't...the train pissed me off becuase my one friend in the back has a curfew and it was goign to make me late. He asked me for my licnese and to go back to my car. He came back on the opposite side of the car, handed me my license back and told me to be safe and to never let him catch me doing that again. The only thing could think for the rest of the night, and most of the following MONTH was: HOLY F*CK!!!

I now drive mostly sane, only REALLY speed every once in a great while, don't street race much if at all, and never really try to push my car to its limits on the street(doing so would be insane anyways as the limits are REALLY high and there isn't much room for error once you are there).

I have other stories too, but these by far are the best!