Please share your life threatening experiences

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

When I was 21, I decided for no particular reason to spend a week solo camping on Catalina Island, about 30 miles off the coast of southern CA. I had never gone camping solo before (or for that matter camped anywhere that wasn’t accessible by car and had electric lighting and a bathroom with indoor plumbing), it was just an idea that lodged itself in my brain as an experience I wanted to have. I took a bus from Avalon (the main town on the island) up into the mountainous back country, from which it was about a 2-mile walk to my campsite. I was carrying a backpack and duffel bag that were both stuffed almost to overflowing and in retrospect was probably a lot heavier than I should have gone with, and I was eager to put it down so I could rest, so when I was almost to the campsite I decided to to take a shortcut off the trail and cut through a wooded area.

Then I encountered a wild buffalo grazing with its babies, staring me down like it was ready to charge me.

I slowly backed away, put a large thick tree in between myself and the animal, then made my way back to the trail as quickly as I could and waited for another group of hikers heading my way before I proceeded along the trail to the campsite. I feel pretty confident that if things had gone differently, the animal could have broken half of the bones in my body and there wouldn’t have been anyone around to call for help, nor would there have been any help close enough to make a difference.

22

I almost drowned when I was about three years old. We were at a family picnic at a lake. My two older sisters were supposed to be keeping an eye on my. They had swum out to a large raft and were flirting with some boys. I tried to walk out to the raft but was soon in water over my head. One of the boys from the raft spotted me and fished me out.

I am sixty eight, and I still remember this vividly. I clearly remember looking up and seeing the sun shine on the water as I struggled to get back up to the surface.

23

Fine. But I want you to know I’m not proud of this:

I once called a taxi, then held a gun to the driver’s head and demanded he take me to the airport. Don’t worry, I paid him…I’m not crazy.

24

I have the same story! But mine was just after dawn, in the thickest fog I’ve ever seen (or, to be precise, been almost-blind in).

And it was a herd of buffalo. I heard them all around me, lumbering past, nudging me out of their way.

But no babies, so I wasn’t in danger like Smapti was.

25

Plane crash

failed attempt at water rescue

26

Forgot to mention 1 – about 12 years ago, a close friend took me out on his ultralight parachute plane. We were able to take off, but in mid-flight after a few seconds something went wrong and we crashed into a hillside. We were probably only going about 20-30 MPH, so we weren’t injured at all (very luckily!). It turned out my foot or something was wrapped around one of the control lines, and my friend wasn’t able to control the aircraft in the air.

We were very lucky – had things gone slightly different we could have both died very easily.

27

That can’t have been much fun on a submarine.

28

Walking down an alley on my way home from getting groceries. A white car pulls up beside me and rolls down the passenger window a couple of inches. Man inside wearing sun glasses and a baseball cap asks me if I want a ride. It literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Everything inside me screamed danger. I said “NO!” and picked up the pace. He drove away.

A couple of weeks later a lady was raped and murdered 3 blocks away by a guy in a white car, wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. There was a composite drawing of the suspect on the news and I am convinced it was the same guy.

29

There were guys onboard up to 6’5" and a lot heavier than me.

30

Years ago I toured an old Soviet submarine at Dover, and it was pretty cramped inside. Maybe US ones are built larger.

They probably don’t have a cabin for the Political Commissar, either…

31

I have the same memory of being under water and seeing the sun shining above and then my mom’s face as she grabbed me.

32

Years ago while living in Micronesia, my husband and I went out on a tiny boat to a remote atoll with another couple. We also had a boat driver. Some of the conversation before the four of us entered the water was in Pohnpeian, plus I guess I wasn’t paying attention, so I was not really aware of the specific plans.

The other three were scuba divers, I was only snorkeling. For a while I snorkeled above them, basking in their bubbles, but then they went further off and I continued to hang out in the channel between two islands by myself. We were far out of sight of the boat by then.

Eventually I got bored and decided to return to the boat. The tide turned and was against me. If you aren’t an ocean person, you may not realize the implications of being in a channel against the tide. Essentially, all the energy that is spread out over a large area gets concentrated into a small area, and the tide becomes extremely strong.

I had a terrible time making my way back to the boat as I wasn’t strong enough to swim against the tide. Luckily I was wearing gloves, so I was able to grab onto coral formations (a terrible thing to do but I had no choice) and pull myself back.

When I got to the boat, the driver was sound asleep. He awakened from my climbing in, looked startled, and immediately revved up the boat and went to pick up the other three people.

What I hadn’t realized was that the plan was to do current diving (or “current snorkeling,” in my case). In other words, the plan all along was for us to drift out with the current, then in one hour the boat was supposed to come get us because we wouldn’t be able to swim back. The driver was not supposed to fall asleep, he was supposed to watch the time.

It turns out the three scuba divers had surfaced and were waiting as planned, going “shit … where’s the boat … it was supposed to pick us up 20 minutes ago.”

I guess all four of us could have been lost and eventually drowned at sea had I not randomly decided to go back to the boat, had gloves on so I could grab the coral without slicing my hands up, and been strong enough (just barely) fight the current and make it back to the boat in time for all of us to be collected.

The funny thing is, I had NO IDEA of the danger we were in. Like I said, I wasn’t paying attention at all. Yes, I did feel a little freaked out when it was so hard to swim against the tide to get back to the boat, but even then I wasn’t super scared because I could see land nearby. I was dumb, but lucky.

33

Not just warnings, but there’s actual PSAs on TV/print media from time to time explaining what to do if you get caught in one. IIRC, stay calm, float on your back and just let the riptide carry you out as far as it wants to (which is pretty far, 50-100 yards), swim parallel to shore and then swim back in once you’re in a spot without a riptide.
IOW, don’t waste your energy fighting it, you have to go around it.

34

What in the hell was going on with that bus? Did he accidentally hit the Mad Max Special Nitro button?

35

I’m tall and have long legs. I decided to try kayaking in a sea kayak with a much smaller opening than the wide recreation one I was used to. This narrow sea kayak was also very tippy compared to that wide one. I flipped in about 3’ of water. I couldn’t get out and couldn’t flip the kayak. I somehow contorted my body enough to get my head out and gasp air and then went back down and finally was able to right the thing. I will never get in one of those again. This happened many years ago and I still get panic’y thinking about it.

36

A lot of near drownings and water stories here. Mine is in that category as well. I participated in a very short triathlon (600yd swim, 9 mi bike ride, 3 mi run). Once.

I had years of riding and had be running for a couple years in local 5K 10K races, so figured all I needed to do was re-learn how to swim competitively (swim team in High School). I went to the local pool and swam laps such that I knew I could swim the distance in the tri without issue, albeit slowly. I thought I would make-up time on the ride and run, since the swim was the first leg. As I got into the water at the small lake, I realized something was really wrong with my training. First, the water was way colder. And, it was cloudy/green so there was no line to follow, and no turns to make. Lastly, the event was at 7,000 feet elevation, and I trained at about 300 feet.

I made it about 100 yards, and had to be rescued by one of the lifeguards on a SUP. He asked if I was done, and I stupidly said “no” and let go of the board and tried to swim again, and again ran out of breath and was gasping for air and flailing, but managed to doggie-paddle to the near shore to regain my composure. I am sure my family was laughing their asses off at this point.

After trying to settle my heart rate down I got back in the water and tried to swim, and again ran out of breath and made it to the next shoreline to recover. By now most of the field was on their bikes, but there was still some people in the water behind me! So I got back in and did back stroke across the middle of the lake, slowly, so I could breathe, and eventually made it to the water exit, gassed and dizzy. I just walked over to my bike and got on, rode past a few people, and then did the run as well, and passed a few more people, and finished 2nd to last in my age group!

I realized afterward I nearly ended-up on the bottom of that lake, in the murk, where no one above would find me. In hindsight, it would have been better to train for the swim in open water.

37

I have a friend who does nothing but long-distance open water swimming. It’s a whole different thing (and a weeee bit insane as well).

38

I see people doing it in our local lakes. They can swim 2 miles (!) just for a good workout. I am in awe.

When we were in Hawaii a few years ago our neighbors at the condo, a very nice, young, fit couple, would go for a morning swim out in the bay - they’d be gone an hour or so - never touching land until they got back. Amazing!

39

I have twice done a 360 on the freeway, hit the guardrail/jersey barrier midway through the spin, and then continued driving. Once I was the driver, and the second I was a passenger. I’m not sure they were “life threatening” but it could have been really, really bad. Rain was involved both times.

A third time I was in sort of slow motion due to heavy traffic, and ended up facing the wrong way in the breakdown lane, but kept going once I could safely turn back the right direction.

40

Short version: He changed into my lane (FTR, he didn’t clip me when he did that, which is what most people assume), but he was, literally, inches behind me when he moved over. So, I’ve got this bus right on my ass and I start to accelerate a bit to make some space he’s stays with me. Okay, whatever, he’s pissed I’m going to slow or something so he’s tailgating, right? Then he hits the back of my car, which seemed a bit aggressive IMO, but he just kept pushing my car until you see me sort of ‘roll’ off his front bumper and up the sidewalk.
Honestly, I thought he was going to just drive away but he pulled over about a block down the road. By the time he walked back, I was on the phone with the police and a lot of bystanders that saw or heard it happen had descended on the scene. He asked ME what happened and I explained it to him. His reply…‘I did that?’. He had exactly zero idea he did it. Every person he talked to, all the bystanders, the police, his supervisor, everyone, he continued to state that he didn’t even know he did it. I honestly don’t know if he was just denying it or if he really didn’t know and the reason I say that is because if he didn’t know he did it, why did he stop? If I hit someone and didn’t realize it, I wouldn’t stop, why would I?

What really bugs me is that his supervisor’s main concern was getting him back on the road ASAP because there’s a driver shortage. It seemed really bizarre, at least to me, that they wouldn’t pull him from driving duty until they could drug test him or at least talk to him (maybe check his phone, see if he was texting/calling). But, nope, right back on the road.
Also, at least as far as I can tell, he never got a ticket.
His claim that he didn’t know he did it is even in the police report.
I assumed he would have received a ticket for inattentive/distracted driving, following too closely, and who knows what else. But nothing, at least based on publicly accessible information online.
The more I think about it, the more I think people I’ve told the story to (including in a thread I started after it happened) that one of the supervisor’s jobs is possibly to sweet talk the cop out of writing him any tickets that could put his CDL in jeopardy.

Oh, and my shoulder was bugging me the next day so I went to my GP and he gave me a script for some muscle relaxers. I submitted those charges to his insurance company and they want me to release ALL medical records from every doctor I’ve seen in the past three years. It’s all of 50 bucks that I’m out.

Even thought he extent of my injuries were limited to my shoulder bugging me for a few weeks, there’s no way I’m signing all those medical record releases without a lawyer. The problem is, I had a shoulder injury that required surgery a couple of years back and they’ll almost certainly point to that and tell me to take a hike. On the other hand, one of those ‘we don’t get paid unless you get paid’ ambulance chasing lawyers could probably get a small settlement from them (if they even felt the case was worth it).
But those are just pipe dreams right now. For the moment, I’m just ignoring the medical records request for them and we’ll see what they do next.