Your Most Dangerous Driving Experience

[celicaxx]

If I wasn't the one driving, probably my time in Vietnam, being on buses. Buses would pass trucks up hill in blind corners and stuff, and generally be driving completely insane.



Some examples. Only bus that had decent drivers was a bus my girlfriend's family member owned who made sure to drive nice for us and by Vietnamese standards drove pretty decent.

Otherwise, for self piloted transportation there I had a bicycle, and rode a 110cc scooter around some side streets without much traffic for a half hour there.

In USA, I wrecked on black ice in my mom's Taurus. I had a couple of near misses in my Celica Supra when I was 18-19 or so, but ultimately nothing happened. I swerved into a yard without crashing, and I hit a deer and managed to use my throttle to push it out the way and sort of pit maneuver it so my car ended up with no damage except a slightly bent popup headlight.

Now after spending time in Vietnam I feel I'm a better driver, in that I learned to "go with the flow" more while driving, but also be more assertive when I need to be, and to not risk my life even when I feel I have right of way, and just always try to anticipate people doing stupid stuff. I'm also kind of weird in that since my job is sorta flexible how I schedule it, I try to not be driving during rush hour times, I'm at the point I often just spend another hour at work until it's 6 so I don't drive home in 5PM traffic.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

OMG! After I was banned from my dad's Delta 88, I pulled a salvage yard '73 Cherokee Sport. Not like this, but similar. It was a maroon red, 2-door woody wagon with an inline-6 and 3 forward gears on the floor. Special featues included Craigar Racing wheels (Rusted), real wood interior decorations, knobs, controls... Real Faux wood panel Plastique(tm) applique exterior accents and patina with tru-view non-existent floorboards. ^.^

View attachment 48852


Hey. Aaaaaaayyyyyeeee! I'm fooking walkin 'ere. Do you mind?

This is what I was driving.

 

[jurko]

Yep, Victory Base. We lived in Dodge City South. Our building was one of the ones directly west/southwest of the palace on the road cutting the lake in two.

My son was there for a year around the same time as you. He was a Scout doing daily patrols in Baghdad. He told me lot of interesting stories while there.

 

[Benzadmiral]

In my first year driving for Purolator, I was mounting the ramp near Lafayette, LA, to the I-10 eastbound, doing about 60 in late afternoon daylight, when (I think) a tire blew out. I remember wrestling that vehicle for a seemingly endless time until I fetched up, right side up and horribly shaken, in the shallow ditch that passed for a median there. If there had been anybody coming at speed along the Interstate as I bounded across both lanes . . .

One of my co-workers, starting his route, saw me stuck there and doubled back to bring me to the terminal. Later the dispatcher said the mechanics could find no evidence that a tire blew out. He admitted I might have run over something on the ramp that made the tire start behaving in a squirrelly fashion.

 

[FordMan59]

When I was younger I had a 400cc Yamaha and decided one day I'd see just how fast it would go. If I recall correctly when I decided to let out of it I was doing 105 MPH. Got any idea what it feels like to be on 350 lb. motorcycle going 105? I think I'd have gone airborne if I'd have hit a pebble in the road. Oh, the things we do when we're young and dumb.

 

[FordMan59]

One young guapita wearing a very skimpy dress, apparently well known to the driver got on and sat right down in his lap.

The two carried on like it was Friday night at the passion pit almost all the way to Acapulco. The bus careened all over that steep road and several times I thought we might go over the edge, a drop sometimes about 500 feet straight down.

I don't recommend that trip.

Probably a pretty good trip for the bus driver.

 

[tyman]

My son was there for a year around the same time as you. He was a Scout doing daily patrols in Baghdad. He told me lot of interesting stories while there.

Oh gotcha. 1st Cav had a big mass of troops there at the same time, wonder if that's who he was with. Or 4th ID, they took over for 3rd ID sometime early 2006. Everything was nice and smooth with 3ID and 4th ID came in like a freaking wrecking ball and almost overnight destroyed everything 3ID had done.

 

[jurko]

Oh gotcha. 1st Cav had a big mass of troops there at the same time, wonder if that's who he was with. Or 4th ID, they took over for 3rd ID sometime early 2006. Everything was nice and smooth with 3ID and 4th ID came in like a freaking wrecking ball and almost overnight destroyed everything 3ID had done.

He was out of Fort Riley.

 

[Skippy722]

I was in a bad spot and decided cruising 130mph down the highway was a great idea to fix my depression. In hindsight, that was asinine of me.

 

[Hal-9000]

Amen. I have a younger brother 1st responder that was working NYFD and heavy-rescue duty at the time the towers fell.

Never Forget. Always remember.

That makes him my brother, and in turn you’re my brother too. Military guys understand, anyone who’s been knee deep in the _____ have a bond that can’t be broken, even if you’ve never met one of your brothers, that bond is always there.

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

Only time I thought “ this is it “ is when some idiot decided to pass another car near the top of a hill and we almost collided near the top ( he was in my lane at the top ). I almost lost control of my car swerving aggressively to avoid a head on collision. I had to swerve so severely my car almost ended up in a very deep ditch ( like real deep ) along the shoulder of the road. I was furious and turned around and caught up with him about 5 minutes later when he got slowed down in construction site and got out of my car and confronted him and wouldn’t let him go until the cops came. That was close. Cops said there was nothing they could do .....no witnesses. I still get uneasy when approaching hills today. A cop was killed around the same area not long after because a driver did the same thing passing on a hill or drifted into his lane when coming over the top.

 

[blufeb95]

I'm not usually awake at 5am, but when my dad's car blew up in January I had to take him to work, so it got too late and I was still awake so I took a caffeine pill to stay awake, when I was driving 20mph it felt like I was driving fast, when I got to his house I just let him drive me back home and take my car to work..

 

[pezzy84]

Years ago ('02-'03ish) drove from SF Bay area to Taos, NM - ice storm rolled through Arizona and apparently Arizona does not use salt. I-40 was pretty much an ice skating rink for IIRC prob the eastern half of the state, was stuck at 25-30 MPH for the entire stretch and my 1999 Dodge Neon got a little squirrely quite a few times - fortunately I was one of very few people on the roads. As soon as we crossed the line into New Mexico roads were 100% clear of ice as I guess they believe in salt.

I will say putzing along at 25-30 MPH in 5th gear I achieved absolutely stellar fuel economy in the high 50's.

 

[ecotourist]

I had another close call driving my BMW in Edmonton. I was in the right lane of the 4 lane divided roadway coming up to one of the traffic lights on Terwilligar Road. That crossing seems to have been designed for a future cloverleaf so the ditches on all sides are at least 30 feet deep.

I was driving at the speed limit 80 KPH (50 MPH) as I came up to the crossing. The light was green so there was no need to slow down. Just as I got there, a vehicle barged into the intersection from my right and stopped directly in front of me.

My reaction was to flick the steering wheel left then immediately right again. Never touched the brakes. I only looked where I wanted to go so I never clearly saw the vehicle or the driver in front of me. I knew there was no vehicle anywhere near me so I did not hesitate to use that left lane.

I believe a lesser vehicle could not have carried out the maneuver and I would have t-boned whatever was in front of me, gone off that 30 foot bank at speed, or even rolled the car.

My only thought as I drove on was, “I’m alive, I’m alive.” It was actually quite exhilarating.

 

[doublebase]

I’ve been lucky.

Worst experiences have come from ice...just helicoptering helplessly around and around going down a hill. That’s an awful feeling.

Once had a turkey run across the highway and try to jump over my car (I was going 75), it wasn’t. Didn’t make it over my passenger side mirror before exploding.

Then I hit a turkey on a back road. Saw it coming, went to hit the brake and I was like...yeah, it’s no use. Boom. And next to me on the passenger seat I had a turkey sandwich in my cooler. Swear to god.

Knock on wood though, I’ve been real lucky.

 

[wings&wheels]

I had a TR6, my friend had a 240Z back in college. Made a bet on who'd win the drive back from the beach and we are both competitive. Throw in a truck slightly over the centerline on a curve and my stupidly reckless overconfident and inexperienced overreaction and I came within 6" of catching the TR on a telephone pole....hard. I still get a slight chill when I drive by that curve.

Another time was also in the TR driving home in the left lane from my Summer mill job in a tired daze, blazing hot, top down.. I drive under an overpass and a ~6" piece of asphalt hits and dents the hood about midway between the front end and windscreen right in front of me. The chunk then flew over the car. I remember not seeing it hit, but do remembered it tumbling over me. If those idiots had thrown it a millisecond later.... Few things get me enraged, but this act of stupidity does.

There were some others.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Me and my best friend in high school. He was a total nut and was fearless. He was one of daredevil types that was literally afraid of nothing.

This was around 1984. We were in my 74 Cutlass Supreme Rocket 350. We went out to this old basically abandoned highway to see if my car would peg the speedometer at 120MPH (the highest speed on it). It took what seemed like forever but there we were, topped out at 120!! Suddenly I see this movement out of the corner of my eye and he's climbing out the passenger side window,crawling across the hood, and "surfing" on the hood at the very front of the car at 120MPH!! I'm like, what the hell is he doing???? He then climbs back across the hood, and back throughth passenger side window and into the passenger seat.

I had to come to a stop, and sit there for a few minutes to absorb what I just saw him do!!

We were actually talking about that on the phone the other night haha!!

 

[ecotourist]

I drive under an overpass and a ~6" piece of asphalt hits and dents the hood about midway between the front end and windscreen right in front of me. The chunk then flew over the car. I remember not seeing it hit, but do remembered it tumbling over me. If those idiots had thrown it a millisecond later.... Few things get me enraged, but this act of stupidity does.

Someone was killed in Edmonton by a rock thrown off an overpass, think it was the driver of a school bus.

 

[blufeb95]

My mom was driving but one day we were going up a 2 lane highway here in Indiana, and someone in the other direction stopped to turn and the person behind them aparently lost their braking and had to swerve around them at 50mph and narrowly missed hitting up head on, they then went off the other side of the road hit a big rock and the car flipped, they were completely unscathed but that was some crazy s**t.

 

[Pew]

My absolute worst was driving 3000 miles from Chicago to Acadia NP on a 3-day weekend, with 1 hour of sleep a night. I was tired to the point where I thought a patch of trees by the highway was a train.

I've also done my fair share of dumb street racing stuff. Just dumb careless stuff I don't care to repeat anymore.