Driving Horror Stories

[BDBoop]

Car, bike, cycle - we don't care. What's your most memorable experience involving a vehicle (yours or what you saw while you were out there).

I'll bring mine to the table shortly.

[MENTION=24208]Spoonman[/MENTION]

 

[SFC Ollie]

I was doing 60MPH on a back road in Germany coming up on a road that entered from my right. They had a stop sign and there was a bus sitting there. A German coming towards me started to make a left onto that road saw me and put in his clutch trying to get into reverse. I left 14 ft of skid marks, it's all i had time for. His engine ended up in my front passengers seat. No one was injured other than a little bump i had on my forearm.

He tried to say I had my right turn signal on, but there was a German Police car coming up behind the bus who saw the whole thing.....

Yes both cars totaled.

 

[BDBoop]

Okay, the first incident that comes to mind - I was driving home on 55 from work in Golden Valley. I saw this little silver car in the ditch. The door was extended way past where it would open. There was a sheet over a body nearby. A semi was in the area but I only remember the car, and the sheet.

After I got home I learned that the car was sideswiped by a semi, and the little silver car was driven by the woman who ended up under the sheet. Her husband was the first cop on the scene.

I would not have wanted to be there when he got there.

 

[BDBoop]

I was doing 60MPH on a back road in Germany coming up on a road that entered from my right. They had a stop sign and there was a bus sitting there. A German coming towards me started to make a left onto that road saw me and put in his clutch trying to get into reverse. I left 14 ft of skid marks, it's all i had time for. His engine ended up in my front passengers seat. No one was injured other than a little bump i had on my forearm.

He tried to say I had my right turn signal on, but there was a German Police car coming up behind the bus who saw the whole thing.....

Yes both cars totaled.

Holy.

And speaking of [MENTION=18905]Sherry[/MENTION] I remember I had just left church, was at the first intersection from the church. The radio was on, Journey singing "Sherry." I looked left, then right, then left again. Started to pull out. A gray van literally flew past the nose of my vehicle. I slammed on my brakes and felt my heart pounding while I heard the radio blaring "And I should've been gone ..."

 

[Sallow]

Car, bike, cycle - we don't care. What's your most memorable experience involving a vehicle (yours or what you saw while you were out there).

I'll bring mine to the table shortly.

[MENTION=24208]Spoonman[/MENTION]

5 Hours to get home from work today.

Normally takes 45 minutes.

It was ridiculous.

 

[BDBoop]

Okay, this one is one generation removed. My folks went out to dinner with another couple. I was babysitting the other couple's kids. Get a phone call from the wife of the other couple. There's been a bad accident. My dad's caddy was sideswiped by a semi. The men were in the front seat. The women were in the back. The rear windshield was shattered, so they had a lot of cuts and bruises.

There were semi wheel marks all the way up the driver's side of my dad's beloved caddy. The accident was about a mile from the hospital he worked at. They said he got out of his car, and started running for the hospital. He stopped, turned around and said "Is everybody okay?" They answered in the affirmative, and he dropped in his tracks.

I should ask him. I never knew what injuries he sustained, just that while he thought he was dying, he said we could get a puppy!!! So that was our first family dog, Tex. He was a cocker spaniel with papers.

I'd never do that these days, I would get a shelter pet, but that's really neither here nor there, and I may have had too much caffeine.

Anyway, all's well that ends well.

 

[Spoonman]

I was driving home from the movies on night about 12:30 at night. I was doing about 55. I was going around a curve to the left and a car was coming at me in the other direction. turns out he was drunk and ended up crossing into my lane. he was doing about the same speed as me. so we hit head on. I ended up getting thrown through the windshield. in the process, my legs broke the steering wheel on the way out and I ended up with a piece of it embedded in me. I remember hitting the glass and not much else. I sort of remember hitting the ground and rolling, but barely. other then some serious bruises an few cracked ribs and a broken thumb I was ok. logic says that incident would have convinced me to start wearing a seatbelt. except for one thing. the force of the impact pretty much crushed the engine compartment back to the windshield. the steering column was pushed back and went through the drivers seat. had I been wearing a seatbelt and not thrown, it would have gone through my chest.

 

[BDBoop]

Car, bike, cycle - we don't care. What's your most memorable experience involving a vehicle (yours or what you saw while you were out there).

I'll bring mine to the table shortly.

[MENTION=24208]Spoonman[/MENTION]

5 Hours to get home from work today.

Normally takes 45 minutes.

It was ridiculous.

Seriously that long, or seemed that long. Because even with inclement weather, that's ridiculous.

I am SO glad I am a telecommuter.

 

[BDBoop]

I was driving home from the movies on night about 12:30 at night. I was doing about 55. I was going around a curve to the left and a car was coming at me in the other direction. turns out he was drunk and ended up crossing into my lane. he was doing about the same speed as me. so we hit head on. I ended up getting thrown through the windshield. in the process, my legs broke the steering wheel on the way out and I ended up with a piece of it embedded in me. I remember hitting the glass and not much else. I sort of remember hitting the ground and rolling, but barely. other then some serious bruises an few cracked ribs and a broken thumb I was ok. logic says that incident would have convinced me to start wearing a seatbelt. except for one thing. the force of the impact pretty much crushed the engine compartment back to the windshield. the steering column was pushed back and went through the drivers seat. had I been wearing a seatbelt and not thrown, it would have gone through my chest.

Okay, I'll stop yelping "OMG! OMG!" just any minute now.

How old were you when that happened?

 

[Mr. H.]

This past weekend was the trip from hell. Daughter had an audition in Chicago on Sunday. We drove 8 hours to her school, got to the hotel, maybe 5 hours of sleep that night. Hit the road at dark-30 the next morning and drove through a freakin' blizzard for an hour. THAT SAME NIGHT- drove another 7 hours back to her school. Next day - 8 hours back home. I never prayed so hard.

Got an even better story...

 

[BDBoop]

Probably about 25 years ago. I was driving a little red Ford CRX, two-door. On my way to work, there was a series of curves, and I was going too fast. I spun out, did a complete 360° and landed in the lane next to mine. I got back in my own lane, just in time for a little red CRX to come flying from the opposite direction ... right where my car was a scant few seconds ago. They wouldn't have been able to tell car bits and drivers apart.

/shudder

 

[Indeependent]

Car, bike, cycle - we don't care. What's your most memorable experience involving a vehicle (yours or what you saw while you were out there).

I'll bring mine to the table shortly.

[MENTION=24208]Spoonman[/MENTION]

5 Hours to get home from work today.

Normally takes 45 minutes.

It was ridiculous.

Long Island was a nightmare...Main roads, Southern State, ice city.

 

[Ringel05]

Decades ago my girlfriend at the time had a Pinto, we had just taken care of the exploding gastank recall, cleaned it out and were on our way to sell it for $400. We were on the DC beltway in the left lane in rush out traffic and it was raining. A van entered off of I66, cut off a girl in a Skylark who hit her brakes going into a spin accross all four lanes of traffic. I saw it coming so I headed for the median, the stationwagon in front of me t-boned her and bounced in front of me in the median. I hit the back of the stationwagon at around 45MPH. That couple of seconds seemed to take forever then it was over. The Pinto only had lapbelts, my girlfriend broke the dashboard and her nose I turned the steering wheel into a pretzel and bent the steering column with my chest jamming the key in the ignition. The only thing that stopped the engine running was the battery was shattered.
I jumped out of the car checking on everyone and when I looked back in the Pinto noted the spare tire (bolted down in the trunk) was in the back seat.
When the rescue squad showed up the medic took one look at the steering column and one look at me and told me to sit down. In spite of my protests they put me on a backboard and wheeled me to the ambulance, my girlfriend they just walked over to the ambulance while the firemen hosed down the back of the Pinto.....
Eventually the adrenalin wore off and when I tried to sit up on the ER gurney I thought my chest was going to come apart I had separated the cartilage from my sternum. Called my boss and told her I wouldn't be working that night, she came down to the ER from her office in the hospital to make sure I was okay..... The accident happened about a mile from the hospital I worked at.
I hurt like hell for a few day afterwards even with the "happy pills".
Oh and the insurance company gave he $800 for it........

 

[House]

Nothing brings more joy to my heart than glancing over to my neighbor and seeing them happily texting while they're cruising along at 65 mph.

Glee abounds.

 

[BDBoop]

Car, bike, cycle - we don't care. What's your most memorable experience involving a vehicle (yours or what you saw while you were out there).

I'll bring mine to the table shortly.

[MENTION=24208]Spoonman[/MENTION]

5 Hours to get home from work today.

Normally takes 45 minutes.

It was ridiculous.

Long Island was a nightmare...Main roads, Southern State, ice city.

Ice freaks me about a billion times worse than snow. Nothing worse than being an Airborne Ranger when I never did enlist.

 

[BDBoop]

Decades ago my girlfriend at the time had a Pinto, we had just taken care of the exploding gastank recall, cleaned it out and were on our way to sell it for $400. We were on the DC beltway in the left lane in rush out traffic and it was raining. A van entered off of I66, cut off a girl in a Skylark who hit her brakes going into a spin accross all four lanes of traffic. I saw it coming so I headed for the median, the stationwagon in front of me t-boned her and bounced in front of me in the median. I hit the back of the stationwagon at around 45MPH. That couple of seconds seemed to take forever then it was over. The Pinto only had lapbelts, my girlfriend broke the dashboard and her nose I turned the steering wheel into a pretzel and bent the steering column with my chest jamming the key in the ignition. The only thing that stopped the engine running was the battery was shattered.
I jumped out of the car checking on everyone and when I looked back in the Pinto noted the spare tire (bolted down in the trunk) was in the back seat.
When the rescue squad showed up the medic took one look at the steering column and one look at me and told me to sit down. In spite of my protests they put me on a backboard and wheeled me to the ambulance, my girlfriend they just walked over to the ambulance while the firemen hosed down the back of the Pinto.....
Eventually the adrenalin wore off and when I tried to sit up on the ER gurney I thought my chest was going to come apart I had separated the cartilage from my sternum. Called my boss and told her I wouldn't be working that night, she came down to the ER from her office in the hospital to make sure I was okay..... The accident happened about a mile from the hospital I worked at.
I hurt like hell for a few day afterwards even with the "happy pills".
Oh and the insurance company gave he $800 for it........

Mother Fletcher!!!

Reminds me of - okay, first off. I was an idiot back in the day. My parents had a GEO Tracker. I thought shit, it's small enough. I'll turn it around in the two-car garage.

No ciento.

So, I was on the hook for damages, of course. Bout a week later, my mom calls me. I won't have to pay for repairs, because the Tracker was totaled. Black ice.

My mom lost control of the vehicle. Slid across three lanes of traffic and the shoulder, bounced off the median, slid back across (narrowly missing my little sister in her own vehicle) all three lanes of traffic, and spun out on the far shoulder before doing a half gainer with a twist into the snow next to it. She was fine. The vehicle, not so much. But at least she didn't hit anybody!

 

[BDBoop]

This past weekend was the trip from hell. Daughter had an audition in Chicago on Sunday. We drove 8 hours to her school, got to the hotel, maybe 5 hours of sleep that night. Hit the road at dark-30 the next morning and drove through a freakin' blizzard for an hour. THAT SAME NIGHT- drove another 7 hours back to her school. Next day - 8 hours back home. I never prayed so hard.

Got an even better story...

[MENTION=20545]Mr. H.[/MENTION] it is a good thing I didn't hold my breath.

 

[BDBoop]

Was anybody here ever an OTR driver? Bet you'd have some stories to tell.

 

[House]

Was anybody here ever an OTR driver? Bet you'd have some stories to tell.

Yep, still am.

To date, my scariest story happened on the way to CDL school. I was passing a semi, and he just started easing over into my lane when I had nowhere to go, and me blowing my horn didn't seem to get his attention.

I had to slam on the brakes to avoid becoming road kill, and he never seemed to notice he almost flattened my pick-up.

 

[BDBoop]

Was anybody here ever an OTR driver? Bet you'd have some stories to tell.

Yep, still am.

To date, my scariest story happened on the way to CDL school. I was passing a semi, and he just started easing over into my lane when I had nowhere to go, and me blowing my horn didn't seem to get his attention.

I had to slam on the brakes to avoid becoming road kill, and he never seemed to notice he almost flattened my pick-up.

Aside from almost dying, how do you like your job? Or is it horrible because of all the regs?