Scariest Moment Driving?

[hitman67]

Not sure on the Sp, but thought it might be good to share some of these stories. I have a couple in *very* different cars.

1. Landie 110, Couple of weeks ago
Driving back from the G/Fs parents a week or so back, about 11pm and it was pitch black and raining hard, I could see about 3 inch from the end of the bonnet and that was it. I was driving down a straight piece of road at about 45 when I hit a large puddle of standing water just with the passenger side, it was deep and dragged the 110 up to the banking and then started to lean over to one side like it was going to roll. I just turned the wheel to the drivers side and let off the power and it straightened itself up though, still not sure what was in that hedge row but it somehow managed to bend my bumper the wrong way as you can see here:


2. Audi A3, Many Many Years Ago
Hadn't passed long, maybe a month at most, and was out hooning the A3 around the back lanes like a madman (doing speeds I would now cringe at, but hey, I was young) and just generally driving like a complete moron. Taking a tight bend at about 70 (I know, stupid!) and there was some mud on the inside which caused the car to go into a bad understeer. Now I tried to straighten it but just at that moment the damn computer fired all the ponies to the back and suddenly that swung round on me. I absolutley sh*t myself thinking I was about to end up in a hedge.

Somehow I managed to hit an open gate hole that can't have been more than a foot wider than the actual car and came to a stop in this field. Still not sure exactly how I did it but I got out, sat there for about half an hour till I calmed down and then drove home very slowly. Took me about 3 days to get my confidence back hehe.

Anyone else got any good ones?

[Shad]

Nice stories!! The Audi moment sounds like a proper heart stopped. Still, we're all young once

I wrote off my Alfa years ago but it wasn't that scary, it all just sort of happened, didn't really have time to fear what was happening. Was pretty pissed off for a few weeks after that though!!

The only other time that comes to mind was at Brands last year. Went into Paddock Hill about 10mph faster than I had done before, back end starts to go so I dial in a few degrees of opposite lock and keep my foot in it and kept it together and out of the gravel. Still, it was a seat-of-the-pants moment!


All good fun eh?

[kopite]

MY worse moment was on the m53 just as it joins the m56.

Basically the m53 goes straight on but there is a lane that joins from the left and then goes off to become the m56. I was about to come off when 2 cars came on the juntion so I puilled out into the outside lane. Both cars pulled into the middle lane then the one behind which was a french drive pulled out into the outside lane less than a metre in front of me and doing about 20 mph less than me I ended up slamming on and yanking the wheel round. I came to a stop in the middle lane facing the wrong way with cars coming flying towards me. Suffice to say I filled my pants big time

[staffsMike]

About a year ago I was driving home about 11pm from a mates house. Hadn't realised it had rained where i was driving (tired, headache etc..) came round a corner a bit too fast and lost the back end, managed to stop going into the initial ditch by lifting..then fought it a little bit but ended up losing the back end and going backwards and diagonally into a hedge. Tore two rows of hedges out and flipped the car a good few times.

That was pretty much the most horrific feeling you can have..everytime the car bounces you think you're gonna die. Then when i landed my first thought was.. girlfriend is gonna be pissed!! lol





this is what it did look like

[OV3RCLOCK3R]

wow^^ Lucky escape!

[staffsMike]

Yeah cuts and bruises were my only injuries thankfully.

Oh and the engine still ran japanese reliabilty eh

[hitman67]

Well Mike you don't do things by halves do you?

Lucky escape indeed.

[staffsMike]

Well if theres a job to do...do it right!! lol

[this_is_gav]

Biker here, so I'll give you some 2-wheeled scaries, even though I'm about as safe as you come - I plain refuse to speed - I just don't see the point. If I want a rush I'll go karting. Anyway.

1) Just had the deathtrap (Aprilia RS125) for 6 1/2 months, and it was winter. About as far from ideal for a racing replica as you'll get, but I use my bikes all year round to get to work. We'd had a warning of a really cold snap coming for the Monday and Tuesday, but it all seemed fine and moist when I set off. Came hurtling around one corner at about 50mph only to find a very freshly mown-over deer in the middle of the road, with the post van which had struck it a few yards further. 'That was a fun moment' I thought, and carried on, heart beating a touch faster. It started to rain slightly, and that lightened my heart a little, thinking if it was raining there couldn't be much chance of snow or ice around. Still, careful as I am, I carried on with the same caution. Around 4 miles later I was accelerating out of a T-junction, slightly downhill, on some recently laid tarmac, now doing about 55mph. As the road was a bit cambered I felt the rear of the bike squirm and knew I was on black ice. I straightened it up 3 times with the front brake before I coaxed it onto the grass, knowing there'd be more friction there. It was quite simple after that. I scrubbed the speed off before getting to the 90 degree right-hander at the bottom of the hill, perched it up against a gate (thinking the stand would probably just slide away on the road, and the it would fall over on the uneven entrance to the field), looked up, and saw 2 cars off the road having gone straight on, coming the other way, and a third upside down on the other side of the road in a ditch. That was more scary than my slidey-slidey moment. Upon getting off the bike I realised why it was so slippery - not only was there ice, but the rain that had fallen earlier a few miles back had fallen as hail here, so it was black ice with ball-bearings on top. It was hard to stand let alone ride. Still, if it had only been black ice I might not have noticed until I'd started braking for the corner, and I'd have been off in a flash, into aforementioned gate. No-one hurt though.

2) and not so fun. Back in the spring, Easter time, and a nice sunny day. Took a different way to work, came around a blind-corner with a junction just after it doing 60mph, knowing there was time to slow before the junction if necessary, noticed a car waiting to pull out, so scrubbed some speed off, but seeing the car stationary I stopped braking. Saw the driver look the opposite way up the road (which is flat and perfectly straight) and not bother looking my way (the only way in which there's any prolonged danger). To my horror he started pulling out right in front of me. I didn't have a hope of action. I remember the back-end coming off the road as I braked, and I couldn't make it to the other side of the road in time, so I smashed right into the the front of his car, as he was turning to go the way I had come. I must have still been doing 50mph at the time. I was essentially unhurt (badly bruised knee was all I had) but my bike was a write-off, the chassis having been twisted where the front forks join. His car... had a broken number plate. Bloody white Ford Mondeo Estates. Why couldn't they build them like they used to - out of rust?

Needless to say I'm on the my 2nd bike now, a Honda Shadow VT125, paid for by the insurance from Mr White Mondeo Man. I've had it for around 3 years now (can't be bothered to check, and my memory sucks) and it's got far too many miles on the clock and is slowly dying. Poor thing isn't designed for riding in the rain let alone all through winter, salt, snow and all.

//edit: Wow Mike, very lucky what with the frame and door collapsing like that!

[staffsMike]

got one more pic for you..to show how lucky i really was..



That was too close!!

[kidzer]

Oh my, very lucky - trees dont give at all!

[PEN]

In 20 or so years of driving, the scariest moment for me was driving a rental car through the centre of Athens in rush hour.

I have never been so terrified in my life.

PEN

[hitman67]

Oh my, very lucky - trees dont give at all!

Actually they do. I was once doing a bit of extreme off roading with some mates (before I had my 110, I was a passenger) and we got a 90 so well bogged down we had to climb out through the window. Got out, dug the winch out and hooked it round a nearby tree. Took slack out and started to gently pull. The 90 moved about 6 inch and then there's a crack. We all turn round in shock as the aforementioned tree lands in the mud about 4 feet to the right of the 90. This was a proper tall tree (Good 20ft) and seemed strong. It took us 4 hours to get that 90 out.

[GoNz0]

staffsMike = lucky, damn i cringed when i saw that gap :|

bad one for me was head on in a fiat panda, head on with a ford granada i might add. blind corner on a single track road. I have stitches all across under my eyebrows and the scar between has faded in time. granada cracked its rad, my panda was 3 foot shorter.. i headbutted the wheel with glasses on, hence the scar. the guy next to me left his head and 2 hands imprinted in the broken windscreen. the 2 in the back got out unhurt, they braced up so hard they snapped the seat back, stopped them coming over us. scrapped my 1st car

since then i have built up no claims and age and have a car that should allow me to live if i hit a tree so long as i dont hit side on...

[staffsMike]

lol i'd have probably missed the gap if id had the chance to the aim for it

It's a horrible experience to go through and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone..stay safe guys and girls!

The seat belt (and a death grip on the steering wheel lol) saved me going out the window

Clunk, click every trip ..im way too young to know that expression..

[hitman67]

lol i'd have probably missed the gap if id had the chance to the aim for it

That's the same feeling I have with the gate hole I put the A3 Through, I still don't know to this day how it managed to go through that gap, especially as it had been side on to it not 1.5 meters before and would never fit though that way. I know it's not as serious as yours but it seriously shook me up for a while afterwards. I drive past it regular and think to myself how things could have been different had I not been so lucky.