What was your scariest driving experience? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Billybob · #16 11-22-2002, 09:25 AM

During the busy summer tourist season I when my kids are home from school I drive a Ford Econoline van delivering a couple of hundred dozen doughnuts to 50+ stops on a 250 mile route circumnavigating Cape Cod Mass each night between 9:30 PM and 6:30m AM. One of the stops is located at the end of a 6 mile stretch of two lane road that consists of basically 7 or 8 straight legs connected by turns. Most of the time, weather permitting 50 - 60 MPH is the norm, probably a little fast but not overly so, the posted speed limit is 50 MPH. Mostly wooded and unlit except for a lone streetlight at an intersecting small road. At about 3:00 AM I'm tooling along a straightaway and as I approach it a lone streetlight in front of me blinks off. If you drive around much at night you'll notice that more than a few street lights do this throughout the night, there is a sensor incorporated into the HPS lights that sometimes goes bad and the bulbs will start up and then cut off after they get hot, cycling on and off all night until they are eventually replaced, no big deal this happens all the time. I drive on past without giving it much thought.

I continue on through the rest of that straightaway through the turn on through the next straightaway and into the next turn. As I'm rounding through that turn with the headlights angled off the road to the right as I'm looking slightly left following the roadway ahead. As the road and the lighting straighten up I can see some kind of circular object, like a basketball suspended in my lane of the roadway and some kind of very thin lightly colored object attached to it! Instinctively I let off the gas and prepare to brake. Closing the distance at 50 MPH I realize that the round object is the top end of a telephone pole and the thin light colored object is what little of the pole itself I can see in the darkness because the pole is down, sharply angled into the roadway. At that time a second had gone by. Knowing full well that I could never stop in the remaining distance and understanding that if I turned right I was off the road and into a forest of old growth oaks my only remaining option was the swerve out of my lane into the opposing lane, thankfully there was no oncoming traffic. Quickly turning the wheel to the left until the power lines attached to the downed pole prevented the van from leaving the original lane of travel! As the van was crabbing left against the power lines it hurtled forward down along the wires straight into the end of the downed pole.

It was literally the last half second of travel that was the scariest as I resigned myself to the unavoidable impact and to the horrible realization that my wife and two daughters lives would continue on without me. Unequivocally the most sobering moment of life.

I watched and can still close my eyes and replay the pole end's approach and impact in that quasi-slo-mo focus that such real life events often have. The pole end impacted the windshield so fast and hard that for a brief instant it actually poked a hole through the windshield and I could see the wood grained end clearly just slightly to the right of directly in front of my face before the windshield collapsed inwardly. The upper portion of the pole end caught the roof of the van and in an instant all forward motion was redirected upwards as the roof buckled the pole move backwards ever so slightly and the van front wheels where leveraged off the ground upwards. I flew up/forwards and just barely contacted the top of my head on the lower portion of the wooden end of the pole below the roof line. A moment later realizing I was not dead I touched the back of my hand the van body to ascertain whether the electrical wires where still hot and when my hand did not jerk back towards me from the electrical jolt I figured I had a chance to get out of the wreck and dove out the drivers side window opening. Unfortunately the ground was further away than I had calculated as the front wheels of the van where more than 3 feet off the ground with the van propped up by the pole! Damn that really hurt!

Standing a suitable safe distance from the wreck, in the middle of nowhere, in the blackness I hear a voice calling out ,”Hey man, are you all right?” from the 17 year old recent high school grad who had been out celebrating in drunken fool fashion, who had just a minute before my arrival had lost control of his Honda Accord doing 90+ and sheared of the pole before crashing into the woods beyond. The impact of his car shearing off the pole slowed him just enough as he crashed into the trees beyond and saved him.

I still drive by that pole most nights and I’m unable to do so without counting off the 2 ½ seconds of time between rounding that corner and where the new pole is standing and thinking about my wife and kids and how I make sure to tell them that I love them when I leave for work each night and how I’m going to kiss and hug them and tell them again how I love them when I get back home early in the morning.

And then there the time back in 1977 Labor Day weekend road trip to Miami when me, 3 fellow Marines and a cowgirl hitchhiker in a big ol’ Buick 225 running at 90 MPH had a blowout, did a couple of 360’s pirouetting through holiday traffic on I-95, but that’s a story for another time!

P. S. You can look closely at the A-column to see where the power lines abraded through the sheet meted from friction, throwing plenty of sparks past the drivers side window as the van slid along them! I figure the power must have shorted out when I saw the street light go out before I rounded the corner. My injuries needed 3 stapes in my scalp!

Freestyler · #17 11-22-2002, 09:56 AM

Holy cr@p!

Billybob you are one lucky guy!
Chances of getting away from that with only 3 stapes is more than slim. That could easily have been a very ugly mess.

Freestyler

akry · #18 11-22-2002, 02:56 PM

My scariest experience actually happen in an area that's very remote and away from city..... anyways...

I was on the way back home from driving my GF to school.....as I was traveling 80KM/H.... I spot a Van in the opposite direction, in and out of traffic it goes, and accelerating fast!!! Just when I was pondering, 3 - 4 police cruiser popped up from behind and chasing down the van.... and because it's a 2 lane road, there is no way the van could do.... since he(a guy was driving it)was so desperate about getting away, he drove up to my lane, passing cars on his own lane, AND running head on with me.... I was going 80 - 85 KM/H, and he's going even faster than that!! Both of us were within 8 - 9 car length, and the distance is shortening, FAST!!! I knew there is no time to waste since, if hit, the impact would be tremendous...... so, I braked HARD!!! But the van didn't.... I saw him coming at full speed..... and just with 3 ft or so, the Van suddent turn right, back to his lane.... but it was too DAMN close.... so close that he blew by me on the left, slight clipped my driver side mirror........

Even after 3 years, I still remember that moment...... not that I don't believe in Mercedes' safet measurements/design, but 160+KM/H impact force isn't pretty..... even W140 would sustain alot of damage from that..... and that last minute turn of the Van was even more scary, missed my front bumper withing 1/2 ft or so..... .

dtanesq · #19 11-22-2002, 04:09 PM

Three quick ones -

1. Went out between performances of a recital to grab some fast food. I was in my wife-at-the-time's car, a Honda Civic. At a busy intersection, I was second in line for a left hand turn. The turn signal went green and the car in front of me entered the intersection. I followed. All the rest of the traffic was stopped; it was late afternoon and there wasn't much traffic around anyway. For some reason, the car ahead of me stopped, dead-bang in the middle of the intersection. I slowed to a stop behind the car. Something made me look to my left. I can't remember the exact time-period this all took place. Time suddenly had no meaning. All I saw was a large panel truck coming over the hill to my left at high speed and the wide-eyed, scared s***less driver and his three cabin companions (lawn service equipment clearly evident in the back of the truck) looking me square in the eye. The truck passed behind the Honda by not more than a foot or so. Upon my return to the concert hall, I drove down the same little hill and realized that the driver of the panel truck had confused the green light for the right-turn lane with the intersection control light. The little red Civic sitting in the middle of the intersection must not have registered in the panel truck driver's mind until it was almost too late. He must have been in a state of disbelief. I was almost in a state of dis-existence.

2. Transitioning from one freeway to another around Fullerton (can't remember precisely which two) I was in the left lane of two which went over a rise and dropped down to the new freeway. When the traffic, which was moving at a high rate of speed, crested the rise, we were treated to the lovely view of a Toyota Corolla, parked dead in the middle of the road in lane three (counting from the center lane), in front of large carpet rolls (the driver of the delivery truck that had dumped them stood on the side of the freeway looking on in horror a hundred yards down the way). The cars in front of me entering the new freeway scattered, but the car on my right didn't change lanes and as I entered the freeway and approached the Toyota from behind, I was concerned that the driver of another car already on the freeway and in my escape lane (the number 2 lane) wasn't moving over to give me the lane. There would not have been time to brake to a stop behind the Toyota (as you'll see later in the story). I just remember staring really hard at the driver to my left for a millesecond and then passing the Corolla on its left with very little room there and my driver's side doorhandle nearly touching the car on my left. I immediately moved back into the obstructed lane slowed to the shoulder and watched in a sort of horrific fascination as a a number of vehicles which had been behind me, including a Ford Econoline van, brand-new, slid sideways or ploughed into the back of the Toyota, one another and the van. The van was white and it was weird to watch the sheetmetal buckle as it was hit by successive impacts. All in slow motion.

3. The really scariest experience in a car? The time I passed an accident while headed east on the Santa Monica freeway towards downtown LA (at La Brea) and had a weird feeling about it. When I got to my office, there were messages from Cedars-Sinai's emergency room. The person the emergency crews had been sawing out of the smashed-to-bits and unrecognizable car on the right shoulder was my wife (at-THAT-time). The scary-in-retrospect experience was the out-of-body high-speed blast from hell down surface streets from downtown to the hospital. It's a wonder I didn't kill anyone or myself getting there.

c43amg · #20 09-24-2008, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G-Benz

I was a young college student on my way to school one morning in my VW. It had sleeted the night before, so driving was already treacherous.

Anyway, I was driving on the lonely country road at about 30 mph (usually 55mph when dry), and I began to close in on some other slower moving vehicles in front of me. I didn't want to slow down (ahhh, youth), so I carefully veered over to the opposite lane to pass. I had made it around all of the vehicles and back over to my lane when I felt the tires begin to lose grip. The VW started to slide the rear end over to one side.

I overcorrected with the steering wheel and wound up slinging the rear end over the other way. With every attempt to straigthen the car out with the steering wheel, I would launch the rear of the car in the opposite direction.

Before long, I had this violent tail-wagging effect going on, and each "wag" increased with intensity, until I decided I couldn't control the oscillations any more. When I gave up, I found myself facing the traffic I just passed up, heading down the road going backwards at 35 mph!

I figured I would be dead soon as some large vehicle would take me out in the opposing lane, but instead, the car evenually slid over to the adjacent ditch, and the iced-over grass slowed the car down to a halt!

That must have looked pretty interesting to the folks in the cars I just passed up!

One thing that stuck in my mind was that I had the first track of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" playing in my 8-track deck...so whenever I hear that song, I think of that episode...

I had a very similar experience in a VW sedan in the late 60's when I was about 18 or 19 -- going flat out as fast as it would go (about 65MPH) on a Mississippi interstate in a moderately heavy rainstorm. Hit a patch of oil on the road and spun a couple of full 360's before going off the right side of the road backwards -- couldn't do much but hang on. While we were spinning across several lanes, the right door came open and I just grabbed my friend with one hand to keep him in the car. There was a pretty good embankment on the right side of the road that we went down through thick weeds and then a field of dense 5-foot weeds. The car came to a cushioned halt in the weeds not too far off the embankment.

Several folks stopped to see what happened to us -- miraculously we (and the car) were unhurt. The car was a bit muddy and we had a few weeds inside. The engine had died while we were spinning and it cranked right back up when I turned the key. One of the folks who had stopped had a pick-up with a long chain and he kindly pulled us back up the embankment. We then continued on our way -- rather slower, I might add.

The Swede · #21 09-24-2008, 05:59 PM

I drove my 1950 Packard on bias-ply tires rt from Madison, WI to Minneapolis Thanksgiving of 1998 (?) Great drive on the way there, but we hit a nasty storm back to Madison. Death on wheels!!!

MTI · #22 09-24-2008, 06:10 PM

Wow, a thread comes back from a nearly six year nap!

Mistel · #23 09-24-2008, 09:00 PM

two hyper active kids in an RV to florida!

MTUpower · #24 09-24-2008, 09:43 PM

Seas kicked up behind me to 12-14 feet with occasional breaking 16-18 footers tossed in. I was looking up at the waves behind us and I sit about 18 feet off the water at the helm. Wind was a steady 35 knots, gusting to 40. I was light on fuel (not good) and my boat (the 65 Donzi) is a bit underpowered (even worse). Had my son Luis (13) and John my crew put on life jackets (and get one for me of course), we were headed into Beaufort, NC from Charleston, SC (200+ miles). I called into SeaTow Beaufort to find out inlet conditions. The lady at the office said it was calm...lol but they guy on the water said it was "kicking up". At about 10 miles out a military helicopter came out and circled us at about 200 feet then headed toward the first set of markers where it hovered and watched us coming in. Luis asked me what the 'copter was doing and I laughed. He asked again and I said "they're taking bets". My son did not understand but John laughed loudly. As we got closer to the markers the 'copter moved along the inlet's channel but still faced us the whole time. I had to stay on the back of the wave in front of us, but not go "over the falls", and not let the wave behind us catch up to us, while steering to keep us from getting sideways....

Boy was the cold beer at Beaufort Town Docks delicious, and someone on that rescue copter lost some money- I'd have gladly paid his debt if I had the chance.

That's one of two very hairy down sea occasions I never want to see again, but know that if I continue to drive boats I know I will. This was Luis's first trip up the coast and it was this last May. We threw him in the 58 degree water in NY at the end of his first 1000+ mile ocean journey after he got a big mouth at the Long Island dock.

Gurkha · #25 09-24-2008, 10:15 PM

Just one word.............INDIA.......driving is like going to war, chances of making it back home is pretty bleak day in, day out.

Fulcrum525 · #26 09-25-2008, 10:09 AM

I read a few of the earlier threads and it reinforces one of my general rules about driving. For multiple reasons, NEVER be close to large trucks and always pass them if you can. If a cop ever decides to pull me over whilst i'm passing a truck i'm going to break him in half (Verbally) "Would you drive next to a tractor trailer when the tire blows?" Any time I drive down a highway I see at least one burst truck tire on the side of the road.

Mr.Kenny · #27 09-25-2008, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCE

My '54 chevy had been backed into at the JC one afternoon, leaving a crease in the front of the hood (Large, heavy, bulbose affair which extended down into the grill - not light, flat sheet metal like these days). I made sure the hood was secure and wouldn't move (It wouldn't budge, couldn't even open it), and drove home.

Next morning on the way to class before going to the body shop, there was a heavy rainstorm. I drove over the old Santa Clara River bridge on US 101 along the coast on the way to the JC in Ventura, driving about 50mph because of the heavy rain, and being rapidly passed by every damn fool who didn't want to believe the impresive accident statistics for that old 4 lane undivided bridge could apply to them. Half way across, with no warning, the hood catch let go and the hood slammed against the windscreen, bending back over the roof, and I was instantly flying blind.

I cranked the window down as fast as I could and stuck my head out in the rain to see where I was going, and what was going to ram me from the rear if I braked. I glanced in the side mirror just in time to see the woman who had been about to pass me at about 70mph panic and slam on her brakes (no disk brakes or ABS back then). She lost control and started a slow spin, while gaining on me. She was about to broadside me in the tail end so I sped up, then she continued her spin and passed me tail first. I slowed down as she kept her spin going broadside in front of me. She spun about two more complete circles before hitting the rail and tearing out some of the old concrete railing, but didn't go into the river. Lots of mutual hysteria, but no injuries

I missed my class!

Hey! I used to live in Oxnard and work in Ventura. That old bridge over the Santa Clara river was kinda rough scary back then.
I ran out of gas (stupid me) while driving a 1941 Buick just as I entered that bridge;.... as the old old Buick was slowing down I remembered it had 'Compound Carburetion'; One carburetor is dead until you floor it;...I floored it & the gas from that spare carburetor got me across the bridge and I coasted into a gas station in Montalvo.
I've seen some bad accidents on that bridge.

Dee8go · #28 09-25-2008, 10:21 AM

I was on I 40 between Fort Smith, AR and Tulsa one night wien a pickup truck loaded with extension ladders began losing his ladders. Right in front of me! I began slaloming back and forth trying to dodge them and managed not to get hit by any and only ran over one of them. I knew I was going to lose a tire (I was in a Pinto, no less!) for sure, and maybe sustain front end damage. Miraculaously, there was no damage to my car.

. . . or my drawers!