OT We might have been killed

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Driving back from Edinburgh Airport the other night in driving rain after dark, we went over the brow of a hill, to be confronted by two sets of headlights coming the other way...a vehicle on our side of the road, overtaking another vehicle.

 

I hit the brakes, and swerved slightly to try and avoid the lunatic, but we would have hit the idiot headon, had the other oncoming driver not had the speed of reactions he/she had...and swerved into the layby, to allow the madman to also swerve enough to avoid the collision!

 

 

Thank you Sir/Madam for this selfless act....you probably saved me and my families life!

[GASCAN39 7]

A close call.....glad it ended well. Lost a coworker a few weeks ago to the same situation. Have had several close calls here in kuwait with all the traffic coming from "up north" pakistani and other foreign national truck drivers here are DANGEROUS.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

A close call.....glad it ended well. Lost a coworker a few weeks ago to the same situation. Have had several close calls here in kuwait with all the traffic coming from "up north" pakistani and other foreign national truck drivers here are DANGEROUS.

 

Indeed Gascan... foreign truckers are a real menace here too

[Olham 164]

Damn, Widowmaker, that was a close shave! I'm very glad you and your loved ones made it.

Back in 1979, my girl and I were not as lucky as you now, but still: we are alive.

We drove back from Firesdal in southern Norway, to the ferry at Oslo.

It was snowing awfully early (in October!), and it was dark already.

The country road was quiet. No other cars. Until we came round a left bend, hidden by a rock

left of the road. There came the strong headlights of a gigantic Scania truck, and he was

driving half on our side! To our right: an icecold Norwgian lake, 10 - 15 yards below.

 

I shouted "pass him as close as you can, and if we loose a mirror!", but there wasn't enough

space - we slithered over the edge (there were no guardrails), the car spinned over twice,

and we were in the water. It came in from the front; the car sank forward, very fast.

Despite all other advice for such situations, I pushed I told her to open her door.

It was stuck.

Now I pushed both boots into my door and opened - it was hard after getting dented by the

rolling over the rocks, but I got it done. The water came in like a landslide.

When she came out on my side, the car was already under water. I pulled her with one arm,

while I held on to the car with the left hand in the frame of the broken rear window.

Later I saw my left hand was all cut and bleeding.

I had got only a very small amount of water into my throat, but it was so cold, that I had to

caugh, before I could swim the 10 yards to the bank.

 

Although the driver had made a terrible mistake, he was at least decent enough to stop

and to help us out. He made a call over his radio, and some minutes later, a Landrover

with three overland electric line workers stopped. They took us to the next town, where they

had their base. They had a huge tumble-dryer, and while our stuff was getting dry, we went

to the Café to get hot chocolate. Everyone gave us curious looks - on our overalls stood

something like "Demolition Team" in Norwegian.

 

So I think I can feel and evaluate quite well, how much that evading driver has done for you.

You should include him in your evening prayer.

Edited August 31, 2011 by Olham

[Shiloh 12]

I am glad you and your family are okay Widow. That was a very brave act Olham that probably saved both your lives. Nothing makes me more angry than aggressive drivers who threaten my families safety. People can clearly see the car seats in my vehicle as the visibility is very good and they still tailgate, try to pass on a one-lane road, cut me off, etc. and I just want to pull over and beat them to a bloody pulp for putting my children in danger - it's just the way I feel.

 

It's one of the reasons we moved as people drive much tamer where I live now - except now we have to dodge walls of water. When I lived in Connecticut and New York the way people drove matched their aggressive personalities and even now when I drive down that way, the difference is shocking in just 100 miles difference in region.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

OMG Olham..that sounds like a chapter out of a Horror film!...that must have been utterly terrifying!....that freezing water filling up the car!...god, it makes my flesh crawl just thinking about it

[Shiloh 12]

That scene has played itself out in Hollywood movies so many times but each time the horror of it hits home. Disoriented from an accident, sinking fast in icy water, very little time to get out - terrifying situation indeed.

[Olham 164]

OMG Olham..that sounds like a chapter out of a Horror film!...that must have been utterly terrifying!....that freezing water filling up the car!...god, it makes my flesh crawl just thinking about it

When I wrote it up for you, I realised, that it still raises my pulse and makes me wonder, what would have happened, if the car would have landed on the water headover?

Our seat belts were fastened. Could we have released them? Would we have got the door open? Still makes me shudder.

 

Good you made it back, Widowmaker - would have missed your occasional "Woof, woof!" (and so much more, mate).

Edited August 31, 2011 by Olham

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

 

Good you made it back, Widowmaker - would have missed your occasional "Woof, woof!" (and so much more, mate).

 

The pleasure is all mine my friend!

[Hasse Wind 46]

Good to hear nothing happened to you and your family, Widowmaker. And your story is indeed out of a horror movie, Olham! I've been to Norway several times with my own car, and I know well how dangerous some of the roads there can be.

 

I guess I've been very lucky in that I've never been involved in any accident. I haven't even had any close calls, and I do drive a lot, because where I live in, it's practically a necessity to own a car, public transport being very inadequate. And the weather is often really bad, with freezing cold, snowstorms and slippery roads.

[theultimat 5]

Wow - so UK_Widowmaker has the reflexes of a ninja, and Olham's secretly a super hero. This forum's amazing.

[Slartibartfast 153]

Being an owner of a Motorbike and learning to ride on the correct side of the road, The Left side in case you forgot, I have had my share of moments in the UK but since coming out here the only maniac is me on the wrong side of the morning... well I normally go to work before coffee...

 

Seriously though glad your okay WM old Chap...

 

Saying that when I road back to England in July I was around 30miles from home and 3 times the same car driver wanted to be in my lane but in the space me and my motorbike where in... Was thinking to myself how many Austrian plated motorbikes are within this area (Leeds) thinks I and I was most likely the only one and you have to attack me 3 times in the space of 30 minutes... crazy kid in a BMW...

[carrick58 23]

Wow, thrilling stories. I had only one one. I was coming out of an Army base in Texas back in the 70 s. I am Told it was a head on collision with a car over the line. I don't doubt it at all because I have a picture of what was left of my little Ford Pinto Station wagon. To this day, I still don't remember the accident at all.

[Olham 164]

Wow - so UK_Widowmaker has the reflexes of a ninja...

Yes, I guess he catches carp like a ninja - waiting for the absolute perfect moment - and then no hasty movements!

Mmuahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!!

...and Olham's secretly a super hero.

Secretly? Why "secretly"???

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Yes, I guess he catches carp like a ninja - waiting for the absolute perfect moment - and then no hasty movements!

Mmuahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!!

 

 

I lose many more than I catch

 

I cannot claim to be even a quarter of the ninja of the other driver, who possibly unbeknown to themselves, possibly saved my life

[Olham 164]

Yeah, sometimes you'd like to thank someone, whom you don't know, and therefor can't reach.

But I bet, they must have realised, that they may have saved you from an accident.

Send out some good vibrations for him or her - I believe in such things to work.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

I don't know whose reflexes were better, the other drivers or Widowmaker and Olham; I am just glad that you both survived your experiences and are here on the forum!

 

I have a small tale from the other side of the wheel, as it were. Just after I had got my license at age 16, I was driving the second car in a caravan with my Mom (Mum) in the passenger's seat. My father, who was driving the first car, passed a line of slow moving cars on a two lane high way in a rural area. Not wanting to get left behind, I also pulled out to pass. There were cars coming in the opposite direction, but they looked far away. Well, I had misjudged the distance and the ability of the car I was driving to accelerate. By the time I realized I was cutting it too close, I had no where to go. Fortunately, the other driver was paying attention and the ground was flat with a wide shoulder, so he was able to pull of the road before we met. I'm sure he cursed me good! My mother sure did!

[Olham 164]

That is a typical example of an event, that first looks simple and everyday-like;

and we judge the situation and act - and in the next few seconds, it can turn towards catastrophy.

I often think about that, when I think about the boy-young WW1 flyers.

How often may they have been in such situations?

And then it may often turn out for good after all - and then for some others not.

 

Arthur Gould Lee crash-landed a Camel amidst the fighting area of Cambrai.

His tank was pierced and he pulled the white trail of vapourised petrol.

He had seen that many times, short before it would ignite and the craft and it's pilot would go

down in flames. Hanging in his belts after crash-landing, he got soaked with the fuel.

Still he got away from the craft.

When someone offered him a cigarette - imagine that moment! - he gently refused it

and asked the guy to stay clear from him.

Manfred von Richthofen had a similar landing.

These two pilots had an extreme chain of luck after all.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Olham

[Typhoon 5]

That reminds me of the time I was driving on a two lane road and as we were cresting a hill this clown tried to pass me. You guessed it, there was a car coming the othe way. I pulled as far to right as far as I could and the car coming the other way was forced off the road. This is where it gets interesting. The car that was forced off the road made a u-turn. I thought OH OH he is pissed and here comes a case of road rage. Then he activated his lights and siren and stopped the guy a little further on. Justice from an unmarked patrol car. I often wondered what happened.

 

Tony

[Olham 164]

Hihi, I bet the crazy guy will never try it again after that.

I bet it got pretty expensive for him.

[Olham 164]

If you watch the motorbike rider (Idiot No. 2), you would think, even a wild boar could get a driving license.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_olItR1dTA&NR=1

[Flyby PC 23]

I KNOW these people are dangerous idiots, but instead of getting my own road rage fired up and becomming distracted, I force myself to believe these aren't hoodlums let loose with a motor vehicle, but elderly drivers panicking after making a misjudgement, or people on an emergency journey.

 

It doesn't make them any less dangerous, but you don't get sucked in to escalate the dangerous situation they are creating. It somehow makes it easy to pull over and let them pass, without wanting revenge and having the situation spiral into something even more dangerous.

 

My closest call was entering the motorway near Stirling. The slip road was two lanes wide, and swept in a curving left hand turn onto the motorway. Being young and in a hurry, I was legally and safely overtaking a slower car in the slow lane, doing about 65, and to my horror I met a car speeding towards me heading off the motorway heading the wrong way. No car should ever have been there. I had nowhere to go, because the car I was overtaking was still in the inner lane. At that moment, it's very strange, but everything seemed to pass in slow motion. I was breaking, hard, but quite calm in assessing the reducing distance to collision, and waiting to see the tail lights of the car in the inner lane. I preyed to see those tail lights, and also preyed they would not be braking to slow down. Momentarily, these lights appeared as the car inside of me pulled ahead of me, no brakes! Hurray! He wasn't slowing down! The gap appeared, and I slotted my car in behind the car I had just been overtaking moments before. I reckon another second or two and I'd have collided with the on-coming car which hadn't even slowed down. It really was that close. If that car on the inside had braked, the gap behind him would not have appeared, and I'd have been killed in a head-on collision at speed.

 

We both then slowed down, and the driver who's calm presence of mind had saved my life, looked in his rear view mirror and raised his palms to the sky to gesture WTF? I just shook my head. I pulled over into the hard shoulder to see my tyres and brakes were ok, and I heard distant horns blasting back up the entrance ramp. I was fine, and jumped back in to continue my journey. But when I got to the Dunblane roundabout, why leg was shaking when I tried to use the brake. I've done some wild stuff in my life, but that remains my closest near death incident.

 

I cannot account for why or how the other driver came to be where he was. He had clearly made a big mistake, and was panicking to get out of the situation. I don't know if he was, drunk, old, foreign, whatever, but at the time I was just glad to be alive. The highway code advises you to choose your speed so you can see your stopping distance and stop before hitting any obstacle. That goes out the window when that obstacle isn't static but barrelling towards you at 80 mph.

 

I'm alive because that driver I had been overtaking didn't brake. I attribute that to his presence of mind, but it was all so quick it might be he didn't react at all. It doesn't matter. If he'd slowed down, even a little, my gap would not have appeared and I would not have survived a head on smash with closing speed to impact in excess of 120mph.

 

I have to say however, I like to believe the incident made me a better driver. Anticipation isn't just a word.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I kinda carried on driving without stopping..I wasn't jumpy or anything afterwards..just got on with the task of getting home...but it kinda sunk in when i got home.

 

My wife's reaction was slow...she let out a little scream...which would not have happened if we hit the guy..he'd gone past by then...I spose it must have been in even slower time to her.

I'm glad I was driving at the time...not because my wife's reaction time seemed slower (she's probably a more skilled driver than me)...but because sitting in the passenger seat..utterly powerless to do anything, is not where I want to be

Edited September 2, 2011 by UK_Widowmaker

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Harrowing stories here folks, and much too common I fear. WM, I am glad you and your family were among the lucky. Gascan, sorry to read of the loss of your coworker. Olham, your heroic story is one for the telling indeed, and another happy ending too. Slarti, I swear 70% of the drivers on the road never see bikers, which makes it just that much more dangerous to be a rider. Herr Prop-Wasche, glad you didn't have an ender in that incident you described, and also yours Typhoon and Flyby.

 

So many close calls every day on the roadways. In my tens-of-thousands of hours of windshield time over the years I have accrued more such stories than I even care to remember, much less relate. I will say that the worst did not involve my vehicle in the accident but rather one that was attempting to cross a rural highway and another on the main road. I watched in horror as the young man across from me pulled out right in front of an oncoming car that was moving at 65 mph. The woman driving did not even have time to touch the brakes. She hit him directly in his passenger side door: the whole thing happening in slow-motion right in front of me. I shut down my truck, turned on the flashers, and jumped out to help. Another driver sitting behind me did the same and as he ran to the woman's car I ran to the man's. I heard someone yelling, "I'll call 911!" It was a warm summer's afternoon and the young man had his windows open, I saw he was spasming as he attempted to undo his seatbelt. Because it had been a side impact for him the airbag had not deployed. When I got next to the driver's door he stopped his spasms and slumped down into the seat. I could see blood running from his ears and I knew he had sustained massive brain injuries when his head had snapped back in forth in the impact. His eyes were trying to focus but to no avail and I told him to hang in there and that help was coming soon. I placed my hand on his shoulder and kept looking into his fearful, sad eyes, trying to reassure him. I honestly don't know how long it took the first responders to arrive, time ceased to exist at that point. But all at once there were three of them there working to ease the man out of the seat and onto a stretcher. I'd had some emergency training so I stayed with to assist as best I could and kept talking to the fellow, still telling him to "hang in there", when he let out a soft moan as they laid him down...and I watched as the life left his eyes. No more fear, or sadness, or pain. He was simply gone. I looked down at his left hand, he was wearing a wedding ring. I had also noticed a child seat in the backseat of his car. Daddy would not becoming home. I walked back to my truck, drove another mile down the road, pulled over, and cried. I weep even now as I type this. I will never forget that man's eyes.

 

Drive carefully my friends. Make it home to your loved ones safe and sound.

 

.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Dear Lord above Lou... that must have been heartbreaking for you.

I guess the emergency services see this every working day of their lives..but for guys like us, it's a tragedy when it happens, in front of our eyes.

 

I had an incident many years ago, that still makes me feel sick... It was a motorcyclist, coming out of Brands Hatch Racecourse...I never saw the collision itself...but the sight of his legs twitching still, as they covered him with a sheet on the road...and the river of blood running into the gutter, still turns my spine cold....I remember sitting there...looking at his Boots...the laces tied up...thinking "He did those laces up this morning...and now he won't ever undo them again"..... it's such a fine line we tread each day...we risk our lives every time we wake up....thank goodness that old "It won't happen to me" think kicks in...or we would all stay locked in our houses, too terrified to go out.

 

You must get hardened to it in combat...perhaps it's the training or something?..I would hate to think anyone would get used to it

Edited September 2, 2011 by UK_Widowmaker