what is your close call while driving in a car ?

this is the most recent .but there has been others . i was going down the freeway about 70 mph ,the other day i happened to be glancing at the on coming traffic on the other side of the concrete divider between the freeway saw a large truck loose its very large rear tire and wheel .it jumped up on top of the concrete divider ,and rode on top for at least 60 + feet heading at me .i thought i'm gonna die. then it flew back onto the oncoming traffic side. in my rear view mirror i saw a lot of red lights and smoke .wow close one . i do hope the other drivers are all ok.

I'm in Houston....which day would you like to hear about?

Shit mate that would of made your arse pucker for sure. I rode bikes everyday for years regardless of weather got a far few stories. Sliding a skinny 21in front wheel into a tram line in the rain in the middle of old Melbourne town rates up there though.

Yeah, my whole life I've never lived closer than an hour from where I worked, that list could be pretty lofty in wildlife alone let alone the idjuts. I live in rural Indiana our family total for deer strikes alone is 11. I've hit a deer with ever vehicle I've owned at least once. The last Jeep I owned had two strikes on it before I owned it and I added it's third.

geez where do I start....I've logged nearly 1.4 million miles in work travel alone.

So here are some of my favorites as teasers:

Kissing this REALLy large... oh wait I may not be able to say that, chick looking up and headed Straight toward a guard rail as the road turned to my right.

Following a car as we approached a patch of black ice on my motorcycle

being chased by the DPS (highway patrol) at speeds over 120 in my 67 400 hp coupe

Laying down my Goldwing in the mountains of N.C. BEFORE going to the Dragon which I might say was successful

taking a fellow home ...on a wet blacktop street in my exceptionally super clean 63 ford short bed truck...street was wet at the LAST minute he says TURN HERE!!! . I put on the brakes and she went sideways .... I'm sliding sideways and the road is now right in front of me...I shift down and punch it....son of a .... it caught traction and bolted down the street as IF I had was a NASCAR driver or an early version of Drifting professional and had it planned the whole time.

although the large ...wait there it goes again.... blonde was an awesome experience...the drag race and being chased was exhilarating ...the incident with the 63 was the BEST!!!

On an icey road, an oncoming car lost control and started spinning... heading into my lane. It just so happened that this particular section of the road didn't have trees lining the berm.

So, I veered off into the ditch, into about 6-8 inches of snow, gave it some gas, and came back up onto the road just after the guy barely missed me.

I was so lucky! Not only did I avoid an accident, but I didn't get stuck in a snow-covered ditch either.

About 1982 at Hallett Motor Raceway during a Shelby Meet I was having a lot of fun in the Boss 351. It was running exceptionally well and I was one of the fastest cars in my group. I was finally getting enough speed on the straight to try and pass this ultra nice and ultra fast '67 GT-500 runnning dual 4's! I barely made the pass and it was time to brake and downshift. When I hit the brakes they were already too hot from previous laps! Not near enough brakes to slow for the 90 degree left-hander (turn 1)!!! I decide to rev the motor to try and match the rpm for third gear but it was not good enough. The minute I let out the clutch the tires broke loose and sent me into a strong spin off into the grass! The car actually sped up on the damp grass! I fortunately missed the tree and just gathered up some grass and a little mud. I re-entered the track, tried to clean off the tires by weaving back and forth in the marbles on the edge of the track and doing a mini-burnout then carefully made my way to the pits! I made it back out to the track during the afternoon session but it was a little more reserved!!! Dick Smith (famed Cobra driver) was there conducting our drivers' school. He apparently didn't see or hear about my off-track excursion and said, "you are squirting (gassing) that cleveland hard". I just replied, "yes sir I am!" I shook his hand and walked off. We visited later when he gave me a ride in a new Mustang around the track. He was fun to ride with - he talked me though the proper line with each the corner. He wasn't the smoothest race driver I've had the opportunity of riding with. That would have to go to Rick Titus - famed team Saleen driver/1986 Endurance Road Racing Champions and son of Shelby driver, Jerry Titus. He was very impressive. I rode with him in a rare RS-200. The car was very balanced and he drove it very quick but it felt like a snow sled ride through smooth powder. The ride with Dick Smith was fun and fast but much more violent and harder on the car! I'm sure the different cars/platforms had a lot to do with it but I know I enjoyed both!

So back to the thread topic - I learned a lot of respect for the differnt components (especially the BRAKES) of vehicles after that spin in the Boss. I've had a few close calls in other vehicles but that was and stil is the most memorable!

Ray

Too many to count. I should have been dead a long time ago...

I was stationed at Holloman AFB in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and rather bored on a Superbowl Sunday (didn't care about football, didn't feel like hanging out with anybody)... so I took off in my '82 Mustang and just went driving. I was just putzing along and found myself in La Luz, thinking about taking the road to High Rolls, since I'd never gone that way before. It was a rather mountainous area, and once I got toward the top of the hill facing the valley, there was a sweeping left curve around the face of the hill - 500 ft drop on the right side, more mountain going up on the left side. Since I was bored, feeling kind of lonely and anti-social, maybe even a little depressed and not paying attention on a road I'd never driven before. I was also moving at a fairly good pace - 65-70mph or so... which was a little too fast for the curve and also the adhesion quality of the brand new Goodyear Eagle GTs I'd just had installed. I lost traction, the back end came around toward the passenger side, and the next thing I know, I hit the embankment (or maybe it was the side of the mountain) on the inside of the curve facing the opposite way I'd just come. I hit it hard enough that it shoved some rocks into and past the beads of the passenger side tires... somehow without losing any air pressure whatsoever - and that was it... no other visible damage. I also somehow managed to stay on the road, completely out of control, and not simply slid off the hill (no guard rail, BTW). Fortunately, there was no traffic either, otherwise I might've crashed into someone coming the other way as I spun out in front of and into the oncoming lane. After that wake-up call, I got out, walked to the edge of where the guard rail should've been, looked down, and immediately had a much better outlook on life. Also, I believe the road was banked in toward the mountain side of the curve, which is probably the main reason for staying on the road. Got back in the car, and started driving back down the hill, fully expecting bent rims, axles, steering, or "something"... but everything was fine.

So, going too fast on a mountain road, lost control, hit an embankment sideways, didn't damage the car, and didn't slide off the side of a mountain to my death. I'd call that a close call.

I've got two experiences on motorcycles that would make most people quit riding. And both were witnessed. The first happened in 1994. I was moving and riding my CB 750 to the new house. Going through Trucker's Curve in Nashville (a long left hand sweeper) I had an 18 wheeler to the left of me, lose the tread off of a trailer tire. The tread flew straight at my head and I only had time to lean and crouch a tiny bit before the tread flew harmlessly over my head.

The second incident was 3 years ago when I was riding my Buell White Lightning. At about 85-90 mph I had an oil filter back off and the entire contents of the crankcase dumped all over the underside of my bike and rear tire. I was leaned over a bit in a curve at the time and ever so slowly managed to get upright and straight and coast across to the shoulder and stop.

I've totalled cars with less drama than those two incidents!

I had one of those moments on a motorcycle... I sold it and have never been on another since.

I was riding along an interstate with very strong and steady winds coming from the right. Strong enough to have to lean into the wind to keep from getting blown into the median.

I went to pass a semi truck, and anticipating it blocking the wind, I drifted as far left as possible before passing.

Well... I completely underestimated how much of an effect that blocking the wind would have, and before I knew it, I was literally inches from the trailer's wheels, doing 70-some MPH.

I was frozen with fear. The only thing I could think to do was coast and let myself drift back. Then, when I cleared the trailer, the wind blew me into the median, where I found myself going 60-some MPH in rutted grass, trying to not die.

It took me a good half hour to stop shaking. I turned around, drove it home and put it up for sale the next day.

another one for you .i was in the passenger side of my girlfriends triumph tr-6 convertible. driving in the mountains. drove buy a little store with a lot of people hanging out ,she thought it was cute to gas it.going to fast she missed the sharp corner with a very deep ravine. we did a roll off the side of the mountain , rolled 2 times and was stopped buy 3 very large rocks , bent the convertible top all up .with a lot of body damage.we came out ok

I was headed home from work in the convertible in heavy traffic on a local 3 lane divided highway. It was not a limited access highway but 55 mph none the less. I'm driving along when traffic suddenly stacked up and I had to hit the brakes hard. The rear drums self energized and locked up... I was along for the ride. I ended up sideways across parts of all 3 lanes with cars scattering all around me. It was a miracle no one came even close to hitting me. After the car came to a stop the brakes released and I could drive off... smellin' bad and sittin' funny but I could drive off. I still have not converted to rear discs but that moved it WAY up on the to do list.

When I lived outside DC, there was this incident going to work in the morning. To get onto the freeway, I had to take a very wide overpass over the highway to get to the onramp (left lane onramp to boot!0 Anyway, it had just started to snow, and I knew about bridges freezing up. As I approached the overpass/bridge, I carefully got off the gas to let my momentum carry me over the frozen bridge. Lo and behold, the Honda Civic in front of me touched his brakes as soon as he got onto the frozen bridge, began fishtailing and did a 540* turn across four lanes of traffic in front of oncoming traffic, ending up facing backwards inches from hitting the right hand guardrail and didn't hit a damn thing. Of course I didn't touch the brakes or gas during this whole episode and got over the bridge just fine. It reminded me of NASCAR crashes.

I'm sure that driver needed some serious dry cleaning that day...

I've got two experiences on motorcycles that would make most people quit riding. And both were witnessed. The first happened in 1994. I was moving and riding my CB 750 to the new house. Going through Trucker's Curve in Nashville (a long left hand sweeper) I had an 18 wheeler to the left of me, lose the tread off of a trailer tire. The tread flew straight at my head and I only had time to lean and crouch a tiny bit before the tread flew harmlessly over my head.

The second incident was 3 years ago when I was riding my Buell White Lightning. At about 85-90 mph I had an oil filter back off and the entire contents of the crankcase dumped all over the underside of my bike and rear tire. I was leaned over a bit in a curve at the time and ever so slowly managed to get upright and straight and coast across to the shoulder and stop.

I've totalled cars with less drama than those two incidents!

Click to expand...

On another post the topic was something like "how did you get into Mustangs" or something like that. My story... well actually took place at Truckers Curve. My brother was test driving a 69 Mach I big block car!!!! We stopped in the middle of the turn and he caught and past the fastest car running. I remember my head being pushed against the seat back from the awesome torque. The car that forever made me a classic guy.

A date and I were driving home from dinner along a city street, two lanes both directions 35 mph, when

a car attempted to make a U-turn into oncoming traffic, me. My date said "they are not going to stop",

I looked out the driver window and saw a hood ornament, maybe Buick, but at eye level 15 feet away.

The car broadsided us and knocked the '71 240Z over an 8" curb. We did a 360 in the air and slid maybe

100 feet down the sidewalk once we landed. People came running up and helped us out of the car. We were

standing on the sidewalk when the police arrived. An officer asked if I witnessed the accident. When I told

him we were in it his jaw dropped. The Datsun was literally bent in half. We were a bit sore for a few days

but nothing else. Just before impact I turned to my date and said "we will be ok". Makes you wonder.

mike

I had a couple of experiences, also due to brakes.

This was after I upgraded my suspension: new coil and leaf springs, front (1 1/8") and rear (3/4") sway bars and I was confident in turns. The car was running and handling great!

I was on the interstate one day heading east and taking an exit to merge onto another interstate heading north -- so it was one of the 270 degree exits (nice tight turn). I was going the expected speed into this turn and came upon another car going 10 mph -- no other traffic slowing him down?!?!. The excitement begins when I brake and my 71 Mustang goes into a spin down the ramp. Incredible I didn't hit him and when I stopped spinning I was pointing the opposite direction; the car driver behind me had their mouth open -- must have been in awe of my driving. It was good to find a grass field and low curbs to my left so I just pulled off road to turn around to return to exit ramp in the right direction.

No damage! and more respect/desire for better brakes.

Back in 1982 my wife and I decided to take a vacation from Ohio and go the the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. We could have taken her 1978 Chevy Monza or my 1973 Mach 1. We elected to take the Mach 1. We got there with no issues. We decided to take a two lane road through the mountains to go see Clingmans Dome. It had a lot sharp curves around mountains where you could not see any of the road in front of you. We were going up one such mountain. The mountain was on my passenger side and a drop off on the drivers side. We get to the apex of the curve to find an idiot coming down the mountain at a high rate of speed and directly in front of me in my lane. He had cut the corner off because he was going too fast. We had nowhere to go - couldn't go left, no room. Couldn't go right, there were more cars behind the idiot in their own lane. My wife stomped her imaginary brake and let out a scream. I hit the real brakes hard and came to a stop expecting the worst. I opened my eyes to see the idiot swerve just missing me and back into his own lane at the very last second. I was a little tentative on the rest of the curves that day. I was glad to get the Mach 1 back on flat ground!

I know the thread said "car" but I cant resist..... We had a motorcycle trip, we all decided to keep the bikes separated in case anything UNUSUAL happened.

So we are on top of Independence Pass, the ride up was on the east side and the sun and salt or sand trucks were working it. somewhat skecthcy . So after some coffee and pics we proceeded down the west side of the 12,000 feet....COVERED in ice. I dont ever remember being that SKEER'D!!!!!!!