I came ' ' <- this close to dying today

[Argo]

I was taking left only exit to get back to work. It's one of those exits that has it's own lane and I was in that lane all along. There was a tractor-trailer in the right lane and apparently the bastard realized he had to take that exit as well. Except he realized it too late, by that time the lane separator became solid line, meaning you can't cross it anymore. We were about 60 feet from the exit so he had to act quick. So he put on his turn signal and started switching lanes without letting it blink for even one second.

I was passing him at the moment, but I was towards the end of the trailer - so no chance for me to complete the passing before it's too late (I guess 300+hp engine would come in handy). So my only choice was to hit the breaks and pray that the guy behind doesn't rear end me. To make things worse, since I was passing him my speed was probably good 20-30 mph faster than his - so I had to break really hard. Thank God, the guy behind me was keeping proper distance so we averted the accident, but my heart was pumping faster for the next 5 minutes. Too bad I forgot to call one of those "how am I driving" phone numbers, because if I didn't react so fast I would've definitely died in that accident.

 

[Vonkhan]

if u think thts close, u gotta ride with me & my hyper sheperd/collie pup

 

[FoBoT]

glad you made it

 

[NoReMoRsE]

Sorry to hear that, I *HATE* truck drivers who think they own the road with a passion.

 

[BatmanNate]

Did you experience any out of body experiences?

 

[HonkeyDonk]

something like that happened to me except it was kinda opposite. Opposite meaning that this university shuttle bus was entering the highway and I was about to pass him when he decides to cross over a solid white line to enter the highway and almost smashes my car. Without hesitation I called the complaint number on the back and reported his ass.

 

[Ime]

I had the exact same thing happen to me, once.

Except the car that was following me was a state trooper. My terror turned to laughter as the trooper flipped on his lights and siren and passed me to pull the trucker over. I parked behind the trooper (after the trucker stopped) to give a statement but he just told me to go on, he'd handle it. LOL!

 

[codeyf]

Head towards the light!!! Hey look! It's Grandma!!!

 

[bubbasmith99]

please refer to thread titled: "A book which I think might make any atheist or agnostic reconsider their beliefs "

thanks

 

[chin311]

glad you're ok, some truck drivers are sad excuses, they think they own the road cuz they have some big arse vehicle, they are always cutting people off....

 

[MrDingleDangle]

that sux...

i come that close to death just about everyday...just the life of driving in southern california

 

[rh71]

Tough situation... he was going to take that exit no matter what, it's a good thing you decided to jam on the brakes because usually people are all about the gas coming into an on-ramp...

I witnessed/almost experienced a potential deadly accident on Saturday morning. I was in the left/passing lane on a 3-lane highway. Some family car in the far right lane (and 2-car-lengths ahead of me) decides to S T O P on the highway (keep in mind we're all going 65+) ... the car behind it (some pickup) had to swerve into the middle lane to avoid it... and what's even worse was a MACK truck/trailer had ZERO time to react behind them (in the right lane) and just jumped immediately to the middle lane. I swear, if there had been a car in the middle lane, it would've been toast... or worse for me... they'd be toast while broadsiding me. I was in the dead center of it all, in the far left lane when the truck jumped over. I would've had NOWHERE to go, not even a median on the highway.

My God... you could be minding your own business driving safely and bam... broadsided by a tractor trailer who had no choice... just to avoid an IDIOT who decided to stop in front of it on an interstate highway. If that truck hit the stopped car, it would've been nasty for them... lucky idiot.

 

[Aceshigh]

Originally posted by: Ime
I had the exact same thing happen to me, once.

Except the car that was following me was a state trooper. My terror turned to laughter as the trooper flipped on his lights and siren and passed me to pull the trucker over. I parked behind the trooper (after the trucker stopped) to give a statement but he just told me to go on, he'd handle it. LOL!

Haha! Thats awesome! Serve's em right.

 

[MrYogi]

Good god. I am glad that you are safe. some of the truck drivers are real asshats.

 

[filmmaker]

i come that close to death just about everyday...just the life of driving in southern california

Exactly. But it's so much fun half of the time!

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: bubbasmith99
please refer to thread titled: "A book which I think might make any atheist or agnostic reconsider their beliefs "

thanks

Bahaha!!

 

[DrPizza]

Close calls with semi's are the scariest... when it's another car, you want to smack the sh*t out of the driver for being so stupid. When it's a semi, your heart is pounding too fast to even consider it. I had someone make a sharp right turn the other day, from along the left side of me... I don't know how I managed to avoid the accident, but had my wife not prevented me, it would have been the first time I've gone after someone.

The scariest (It took about 1/2 an hour before I could drive again) was during a snow emergency by Binghampton, NY. 8 inches of snow on the road.... a bunch of semis passed me, with more coming. When I hit the rut created by a semi pulling back into the right lane, I spun out.... in front of another semi. Had I not had a standard with front wheel drive, and a lot of experience doing donuts in parking lots, I'd have been dead. Never hit the brakes, instead, I had to floor it, fishtailing all over the place in front of the semi.

 

[txxxx]

And your on anandtech forums after this ?

 

[Ciber]

Sounds fun!

 

[MrDingleDangle]

Originally posted by: filmmaker

i come that close to death just about everyday...just the life of driving in southern california

Exactly. But it's so much fun half of the time!

yeah...i've almost gotten to the point im so used to it, i laugh...almost...when i first got out here, i used to get all mad...but people in LA dont seem to even notice if you get mad/honk horn/etc... they just go on like nothing is happening...

 

[slycat]

that FinalDestination dude was looking for you...whats his name?...
wait, i think its Death.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: bubbasmith99
please refer to thread titled: "A book which I think might make any atheist or agnostic reconsider their beliefs "

thanks

And you said you're not pushing people towards your bullsh1t?

 

[Gage8]

don't get me started on truck drivers....grrrr....

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: NoReMoRsE
Sorry to hear that, I *HATE* truck drivers who think they own the road with a passion.

I bet I hate those guys more than you do.

 

[Krassus]

That's not that close, really. There was a good chance of you surviving that... unless you've got no airbags that is I've had closer though, but as a pedestrian. Probably about three times.