First death defying near collision was in 1984. I was driving some friends to a party on a summer weekend in a nearby town very late at night. We were caught behind a pokey late 70’s Ford sedan in a double yellow while just about cresting a hill when I decided to give everyone a true visceral thrill and switched to the oncoming lane and jammed on the accelerator of my “sporty” NOT! 1984 Type 10 Chevrolet Cavalier. Immediately we saw huge headlights getting much, much bigger terrifyingly quickly in the oncoming lane. There was no way out. The pokey Ford must have sped up because we were neck-and-neck with the Ford next to us in the right lane and about to be killed by the car in the oncoming lane. What I remember is nailing the accelerator to the floor boards and turning hard right. Next thing you know, we were ahead of the car in the right lane tooling along at high speed, unscathed. No one spoke the rest of the way to the party or on the drive home. Actually, none of them ever spoke to me again. No surprises there.
Had one death-defying collision in 1987. Head on collision at about 40 mph between my '87 Pontiac Sunbird (no air bags) and an older monster full-size conversion van. Both vehicles completely and utterly totaled. My car was slammed backwards and spun out by the conversion van whereupon the conversion van hit my spinning car again. I crawled out unscathed. The last thing I remember before the initial impact was screaming out log “Oh my God!” The next day I called the body shop where my totaled car had been towed. When inquired about my car the body guy asked me whether the Sunbird’s driver was still alive. I replied, “Yes, sir, not scratch.” The guy drops the phone and I can hear him screaming “NOT A SCRATCH!” to everyone within earshot at the body shot. The guy then picks up the phone and says to me, “I’m sorry, but the front rails(?) are swayed XY inches. No one walks away from that.”
Well a couple weeks ago an 18-wheeler forced me from the middle lane into the left lane (into oncoming traffic) because the driver just really wanted to be where I was. Luckily the guy coming up in the left lane was paying more attention than the driver of the truck because he was able to stop in time to avoid killing me.
In 2010 a very well timed glance in the rearview mirror kept me from getting a motorcycle up my ass. Unfortunately for the biker’s wife, he saw me the same time I saw him and where I zigged (safely), he zagged, right into the path of another vehicle. She died. He didn’t.
In 2008 a pickup truck driver decided at the last minute that it’d be fun to pull in front of my very small car (which was going 55 MPH at the time - and he was going from a dead stop). A quick reaction on my part caused me to hit him more on an angle than head on, which is good because my car was still totaled and my sister and I still ended up with a whole lot of mental and physical pain (she got severe whiplash, I got chemical burns from the airbag, whiplash, a massive bruise across my chest from the seatbelt and severe panic attacks) but at least we didn’t end up under him.
In 1993 my mother’s Ford Tempo hit a patch of black ice and swerved right into the path of an 18-wheeler. I smashed my head on the window but didn’t break anything (other than the window). My sister (in the front seat) narrowly missed being decapitated because she had hurt her tailbone earlier in the day and had her seat reclined so the part of the truck that came through the window hit nothing instead of her head.
It always amazes me how one tiny decision or event (like sitting on the arm of a chair instead of the seat and bruising a tailbone) can have such huge impacts on later events.
My only serious wreck was in 1984, when my car spun on black ice, went into the roadside ditch bass ackwards, and flipped. I was not seriously hurt, but that was pure dumb luck.
Closest to injury was in October '77, as me and my passenger both ended up pretty sore, but at least with nothing broken. My then-girlfrend and I were in a rental car and stopped at a stoplight near my house when we were hit hard from behind by a drunk kid in a huge Chrysler. The car I was driving was a write-off; the Chrysler had a piece of the grille knocked out, and not much else. The kid promptly drove off.
I managed to retrieve the segment of grille that he left behind, and about a week later happened to see a big old Chrysler downtown, with a chunk of grille missing. Walked up, matched the hole in the grille with the piece I’d been carrying with me, got the license number, then called the cops on his ass. That was sweet.
Biggest was when I turned over a 10 x 30-foot wheeled laboratory trailer on I-70 near Eagle, CO, around 1984. The rig began swaying (at no more than 45 mph) and I was unable to get it under control before it jackknifed, with the trailer rolling onto its side. The whole thing shattered like a pinata, leaving an unholy mess all over the road. Fortunately there were no other vehicles nearby.
Last year, in fact. Driving on the highway on the Washington side of the Columbia River. At one point there is another highway that joins it, and that other highway traffic is required to stop at the juncture. A steep downgrade starts right there and ends up at one of the many bridges across the river.
As I started down the hill, traveling at about 50, I noted a car stopped at the sign. Now, I always expect people to do the absolute dumbest thing possible, but could not imagine that he didn’t see me hurtling toward him with my lights on. Son of a bitch if he didn’t start rolling out when I was almost on him. I laid on the brakes and horn and began moving to the right edge of the road, and could see someone in the car shouting at the driver.
Just as it came to decision time to either hit this fucker or take my chances with the ditch, he nailed the accelerator and pulled away from me. It took five minutes to get the adrenaline rush under control.
I was driving in the left lane of a 4-lane street. Traffic was pretty heavy. Suddenly a car was sideways in my lane. There was no avoiding it. It was either that or swerve into oncoming traffic. The car that I hit drove away (after exchanging insurance information and stuff). Mine was totalled. That was the end of the 'vette.
As it turns out, someone pulled out of a parking lot without looking, and the car that I hit swerved to avoid it. The guy that caused the accident drove away, probably without even knowing there was an accident. The car that was only partially at fault got away with a dent. My car, that was 100% not at fault, was totalled.
What followed was a month of hitching rides and battling insurance companies.
I was traveling north on interstate 69 in Indiana. Clear day, light traffic. Suddenly, a car comes from the other direction across the median, and right at me. I missed him by about three feet. I didn’t even have time to react, and the OMG took a couple miles to reach my brain, at which point I had to pull over and get ahold of myself.
About 5 years ago I was cruising along the freeway, just about to get into the exit lane when something came flying at my windshield. I swerved a bit and it hit first my hood, then bounced up to the windshield, which it hit way up where the windshield connects with the roof. It was one of those big old leaf springs that fell off a UPS truck up ahead. About, oh, 12 inches long and 1/3" thick. I had a couple of dents and scratches on the car but I was untouched.
Since that one wasn’t very interesting I’ll throw in my old favorite from ca. 1983 about driving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles for my cousin’s wedding. My sister and I took her front-wheel drive Sububaru, and she even bought new tires for the trip (cue foreboding music). As I was driving us down the very steep downhill stretch of highway 5 in the Grapevine area at about 85mph at 2:00am, the tread on first one, then the other “new” front tires started separating. I realized what was happening and slowly slowed the car, maneuvering it across 5 lanes of 85mph traffic (mostly semis, at that time of the morning) to the side safely. I stayed cool but bobbled just a little when the sparks started flying off BOTH wheels but by then it was almost over. If pretty much anything had happened differently we would have been done for. A whole bunch of good luck right there.
Hmm. About 19 years. Was learning to drive. Was the middle of winter. Lost control on an icy patch, nearly went over a cliff. Stopped just before the front tires went over, and slowly backed up.
A few years ago I was driving a bus full of 14-year olds out to a weekend camp. Normally we travel in convoy, 2 buses and the 4WD as 3rd vehicle.
This night our 4WD was about a minute ahead of us because I had taken one way through the city and the other driver had gone along a different road.
We came around a corner to find the 4WD had taken the corner too fast and lost contol, rolling 3 or 4 times. Five people in the car, four walked away with cuts and bruises, the driver wasn’t wearing her seatbelt and got thrown 10 or 20 metres. She died a week later from massive brain injuries.
If she had stayed in convoy rather than taking that detour she would have been behind the buses and not going too fast for the curve.
I was involved in a couple of really bad accidents within a month of each other in 2006.
Earlier this year I barely avoided an accident that would have been caused by my stupidly and recklessly breaking my rule against talking on the cell phone while driving. My own damn fault, no one else’s; only luck and/or Athena kept me from becoming a murderer. Makes me shake to think about it. The phone is completely off when I’m in the car now, no exceptions.
Oh, and as I think on it: shortly after my son died I nearly drove my truck into a ravine on a back road. I wasn’t consciously trying to kill myself, but on review I may well have been unconsciously aiming for that.
A few months ago, a car lost control in the center lane and swiped me pretty bad on my right rear – she was going so fast that after she hit me she continued to hit the median rail. At any rate, I managed to avoid both losing control, and hitting the median rail, and swerving back into traffic (since I knew there were cars behind and ahead of me, which is why I couldn’t have just slammed on my brakes or accelerated when I saw her swerving, since she initially was just inching slightly to the right, then overcorrected and lost control.)
Bitch ran the red lights right into him & my daughter. When Onstar calls and tells you your children have been involved in a collision, it’s not a good night.
Just missed? Two weeks ago. Closest I’ve ever been to a major crash in decades. I would’ve been car three in a four car pile up. A bunch of good driving and we all escaped car one’s stupidity.
School excursion in my last year of High school back in the 80’s.
About a dozen of us in one of those 20 seat mini bus things, driven by our teacher, heading back to the school about 9pm after a long day.
As we’re coming down the road toward the school, literally 100 metres away, a car came straight through a ‘give way’ sign and slammed into the passenger side of the bus, right on the door. Knocked the bus straight over onto it’s drivers side.
I must have blacked out for a split second. Was sitting on the drivers side directly opposite where the car hit. I remember seeing the cars headlights coming at us, thinking, “he’s not going to stop” , then a THUMP. Next thing I look out the window beside me and see the white line on the road up against the glass.
No one injured. Because the door was now in the roof, some of the kids kicked out the windscreen and climbed out there, me and a mate went and kicked out the back window.
Cops showed up and dragged the other diver out of his car covered in blood. Turns out he was drunk, unlicensed and the car wasn’t registered or insured. He also wasn’t happy.
A few of us gave statements, rang our parents to let them know we were OK, then headed home. I had a 20km drive home and had to call into a friends house to tell his mum that he had been admitted to the hospital with shock but was otherwise uninjured, which was why I didn’t bring him home.
I really felt sorry for the poor teacher. He’d had to put up with us all day and right when he was about to dump us this happens, and he’d be filling in forms for the next week.
Night before Thanksgiving, this year. I’m in the left lane. I see a car stalled, lights off, in the center lane ahead of me. I see a car in my rear view mirror coming on fast. Car decides to pass me and goes to the center lane. **SLAMS **into the stalled car. I get sideswiped, and my car slides out of control. I swerve across three lanes of road to the right lane…then correct and swerve back across three lanes to my original lane before I get control of the car. Thankfully there were no cars in front of me, or it would have been much…much worse.
The only time I feared I might die was as a passenger, in Ford Pinto. That was enough…
No, not really – it had a front tire blowout and we spun 360 plus degrees, but the driver managed to regain control and bring us to a stop with no damage or injuries. There were 3 of us passengers, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard so much praise and thanks heaped on a person as we heaped on the driver.
As a driver, I take the attitude that I’m always less than 30 seconds from a fiery death, and so I’m VERY careful. Never had an accident that could conceivably have caused anyone serious injury.
I’ve never been involved in anything worse than a fender bender. Nothing involving injuries to either party. In 1998, a driver ran a red light and ran into my nearly new Ford Contour from the right. The fender and hood were crumpled up pretty badly. My car was still driveable. I had a shop put a new radiator in it and was able to get around. I took it to a body shop for the collision damage which my insurance covered apart from the deductible. When I got the car back, it looked great and ran like new. I’m still driving it.
I had a collision with a motorcycle* the year I started driving. No serious accidents or near misses in the 40 years since.
One sorta near miss on a 2-lane highway. I saw the approaching car passing (in my lane) in plenty of time to move onto the grass, so it wasn’t even that exciting. Just spooked the missus when she woke up just as the guy flashed past us.
*It was a motorcycle cop, no less. Expensive lesson. (He’s OK, but I rate this as serious because he needed medical care)