Haven't experienced such a close call in quite awhile. Nearly rolled the sled and myself up into a ball last night.
I was headed South, up a rather long, steep hill to the grocery, about 8 mi. away. Driving conditions were excellent (fortunately). My speed was around 60mph. I was in the left lane of two. With another two heading in the opposite direction, with a wide grassy median between. There was a crossing between the two sides. There are no street lights, no businesses on the side, almost rural. A dark road with little traffic.
So up ahead, I see two vehicles attempting to cross over the South bound road I'm traveling down. They were both stopped. I thought they might both go across, so I was prepared. However, they didn't move.
There was a vehicle to the right of me, traveling about the same speed. As we both approached this crossover, one of the cars went straight across. However, the other one waited and waited, then decided to s l o w l y pull out in front of me, to do a U-turn and didn't accelerate at all. I immediately hit the horn and began flashing the brights. I was on their tail in nothing flat.
It was too late to hit the brakes. The lane to my right was blocked by the other vehicle. So I swerved left, onto the shoulder, then the grass, then quickly back right, back to the shoulder and back onto the road. The shoulder's not that wide and it was off-camber, the grass even more so.
It was over in two seconds. After all, at 60mph, I'm traveling about 80 ft/sec. In two seconds, I've traveled more than 50 yrds, which is half a football field.
I remember when I was considering purchasing either a S70 or V70, I did a few S-turns and swerves at speed to see what would happen....but not at 60mph. I was very satisfied with both cars handling and realized I'd never have to worry about rolling over. This was back in 1998 when SUV roll-overs were making the news and tires were coming apart while driving. Before tire pressure indicators were mandated.
My avoidance maneuver last night would do Volvo proud!
I do not understand why in the world, some idiot, would wait, and wait and wait, watching a vehicle getting closer and closer, when the posted speed limit is 60mph and only THEN decide to pull out in front of someone, do a u-turn in their lane and never bother to accelerate.
I've repeatedly seen this in the daytime over the years as well. Had a guy pull out right in front of me, into the left lane, from a dead stop, on the same road, but another section, in BROAD DAYLIGHT. With the horn and brights on him, at least he immediately pulled left onto the shoulder to get out of the way, as I flew past him.
Avoiding a severe accident isn't worth a few seconds of their time????
I used to rarely see this. Now it's becoming all-too-common around here. This cluelessness, self-absorbtion, head in their @$$ obliviousness, Dangerous-Darwin-Drivers.
There was no life passing before my eyes...there wasn't time for that. And I was quite calm afterwards, despite having to execute an avoidance maneuver at such speed. The sled handled very well, solid, predictable and stable.
Good to be here, telling my story!
I was headed South, up a rather long, steep hill to the grocery, about 8 mi. away. Driving conditions were excellent (fortunately). My speed was around 60mph. I was in the left lane of two. With another two heading in the opposite direction, with a wide grassy median between. There was a crossing between the two sides. There are no street lights, no businesses on the side, almost rural. A dark road with little traffic.
So up ahead, I see two vehicles attempting to cross over the South bound road I'm traveling down. They were both stopped. I thought they might both go across, so I was prepared. However, they didn't move.
There was a vehicle to the right of me, traveling about the same speed. As we both approached this crossover, one of the cars went straight across. However, the other one waited and waited, then decided to s l o w l y pull out in front of me, to do a U-turn and didn't accelerate at all. I immediately hit the horn and began flashing the brights. I was on their tail in nothing flat.
It was too late to hit the brakes. The lane to my right was blocked by the other vehicle. So I swerved left, onto the shoulder, then the grass, then quickly back right, back to the shoulder and back onto the road. The shoulder's not that wide and it was off-camber, the grass even more so.
It was over in two seconds. After all, at 60mph, I'm traveling about 80 ft/sec. In two seconds, I've traveled more than 50 yrds, which is half a football field.
I remember when I was considering purchasing either a S70 or V70, I did a few S-turns and swerves at speed to see what would happen....but not at 60mph. I was very satisfied with both cars handling and realized I'd never have to worry about rolling over. This was back in 1998 when SUV roll-overs were making the news and tires were coming apart while driving. Before tire pressure indicators were mandated.
My avoidance maneuver last night would do Volvo proud!
I do not understand why in the world, some idiot, would wait, and wait and wait, watching a vehicle getting closer and closer, when the posted speed limit is 60mph and only THEN decide to pull out in front of someone, do a u-turn in their lane and never bother to accelerate.
I've repeatedly seen this in the daytime over the years as well. Had a guy pull out right in front of me, into the left lane, from a dead stop, on the same road, but another section, in BROAD DAYLIGHT. With the horn and brights on him, at least he immediately pulled left onto the shoulder to get out of the way, as I flew past him.
Avoiding a severe accident isn't worth a few seconds of their time????
I used to rarely see this. Now it's becoming all-too-common around here. This cluelessness, self-absorbtion, head in their @$$ obliviousness, Dangerous-Darwin-Drivers.
There was no life passing before my eyes...there wasn't time for that. And I was quite calm afterwards, despite having to execute an avoidance maneuver at such speed. The sled handled very well, solid, predictable and stable.
Good to be here, telling my story!
