Ever Have A Close Call?

rocketman

Yesterday I had a close call on the road - an out-of-control pickup truck veered into my lane, spinning as it approached and crashed into a pole about 50 feet in front of my car. This is the second close encounter I've had, (both involving someone driving a pickup truck). In this case, a couple of seconds made a huge difference, since I may have been directly hit had I just been a bit further along in my drive.

I would imagine that once a few days pass, I'll give less and less thought to the incident and I doubt it will precipitate major changes in my life or outlook (which I generally think is pretty healthy). But for now, I am a bit shaken by it.

Have you ever had a close call, a near-accident, or an actual accident that left you wondering what might have been had the timing been just a little different? Did it make you think any differently about your life or life in general?

SophieG

Rocketman...I am glad you're ok..shaken, but alive.

I was hit by a car (jay)walking across a street. Luckily, I saw the driver before she noticed me and picked up my pace, which resulted in her just clipping me instead of hitting me full on. I still hit the pavement pretty hard, though.

At first I laughed it off...the craziest things seem to happen to me, and I only got a contusion out of it. BUT it DID affect my life because I think that was the incident that made me question how I wanted to live the rest of my life. It made me make some important changes...and that's how I ended up here!

Fernando

A surprising number when I stopped and counted.

At least 10 incidents where we escaped serious injury or death. And miraculously not a single broken bone. Just two or three stiches - twice.

And that's only the ones I am aware of.

JeffT

About twice a week, it seems like. The road I live on is very busy, particularly at rush hour. There is ALWAYS somebody tailgating, a couple of times a week somebody runs a light as it changes. A couple of weeks ago there was a girl on my back bumper who looked like she was tweaking. That one really bothered me because I had the granddaughter with me. Some of these are more worrisome than others. I work really hard at payin attention to what's going on around me.

LouBelle

A few times every day. We have 'taxis' here in the good ol' S of A and they do not adhere to any road ettique, road regulations, they drive how they please, where they please and stop where-ever they want. If you hoot or show any irritation they will intimidate you and drive on your ass recklessly or stop in front of you....you got to have balls of steel to drive on our roads.

rocketman

Thanks Sophie6,

Yep, I'm fine. I'm not sure about the driver of the pickup - there have been no news reports. A policeman was talking with him when I left the scene, so despite the violent collision with the utility pole, he might be OK.

I actually was in an accident about twenty five years ago, when my car was rear-ended by another driver, a younger kid who didn't bother cleaning off his icy windshield. He only cleared a small hole to look through. That incident shook me up too, but I had just a very minor injury. It still does come to mind on winter mornings when I'm cleaning my windshield.

poppers

Yeah, about a year and a half ago I was on the highway and I glanced in my rearview mirror to see a car coming up behind me very fast. Since it was fairly far away I assumed the driver saw me and would pull into the next lane and pass me. When I glanced in the mirror again I saw it was about to hit me. It couldn't have been more inches away so I immediately steered to my right and started to fishtail, and the other car then steered hard left and started to fishtail. We both barely recovered control and she continued to speed by at an extreme rate of speed. It was a young female and my feeling at the time was that she was text messaging and my action is what diverted her attention enough to take action to avoid hitting me. I have no doubt that an extremely serious accident was averted. It really angers me to see people talking on cell phones or texting while driving.

Seraphim23

An Australian friend of mine who was an atheist, had a close call on a British motorway. A big lorry was parallel to him driving at about 70 miles per hour as he was on an adjacent lane. He suddenly had a thought in his mind that he felt wasn’t his own thought, as was not how his mind would normally think in previous similar situations, to slow down and let this lorry get ahead. So he did so and a few seconds later another thought came into his mind in the same way saying “what have you done with your life?” A few second later his tire blew out and he careered across the road spinning as he went. He could not regain control of his car and closed his eyes for the inevitable crash. Somehow, his car spinning as it went got across and ended up in what we call the `hard shoulder` which is an unused lane for breakdowns and emergency vehicles at the edge of the motorway. A year previous to this his grandmother (now deceased) was visiting him in the UK and he was driving down the same stretch of motorway with her and she suddenly said that she did not like this motorway. As he was recovering after this close call he remembered what she had said. This happened last year but to this day my friend cannot understand how his car made it to the safe side, as this motorway was packed with cars.

My friend is now an agnostic due to this and is considering the direction of his life in order to make it more meaningful.

designs

Glad you are ok. We had a close call on a beach camping trip to Baja Mexico. After leaving San Quintin on the Pacific side of the Baja we headed over to the Sea of Cortez and the fishing village of Bahia de Los Angeles. You travel up and over a mountain range on a narrow road with switch-backs. Coming down the mountain around a sharp curve and in our lane was a semi-tractor trailer rig. To our right was a steep canyon and no turnout spots. The truck driver was cranking the wheel hard to get back in his lane and I steered as close to the cliff as I could. When we passed you could not have put a piece of paper between us.

Giordano

I almost drowned when I was 15 (didn't know how to clear a snokel) it came down to seconds.

As a 22 year old I was trout fishing and some idiot failed to see me and began target shooting beer cans he'd throw into the stream (that in itself was a shooting offense. I had to get low and crawl my way to safety. That close call was a wake call that I really needed to stop pioneering and get me and my wife out of the JD lifestyle.....which we did.

When I was 28 I stepped out of our rental townhouse one night to see what was causing a commotion outside and almost bumped into a young man who was carrying an open knife. Apparently he was hunting for one of my neighbors and for about a minute he thought I was the guy. My brother-in-law came up to my side and just looked at the kid. Who immediately took off in search of the right person which he found and stabbed to death.

The last close call I had was when my wife was driving our four wheel box van on the way home from an Art show. We were on the Ohio interstate keeping up with car and truck traffic (about 70 MPH) when the back tire blew. She kept the truck going straight, no panic and brought the speed down. I looked in the mirror to see how the traffic in back of us was doing and all I could see was black smoke from the truckers who had slamed on their brakes. We were on a bridge so we rode on the rim until we could pull over on to the shoulder. Later I had visions of our truck tipping over and sliding down the road with those big trucks riding right over us.

I kind of lost my taste for being on the road. We cut back and retired.

Ever Have A Close Call?

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