Your Most Dangerous Driving Experience

[ecotourist]

When I got to Cheyenne, the highway turned from deep snow to solid ice, in blizzard conditions. No abs on that car, so when you touched the brakes, the steering went numb.

I was driving a brand new 2000 Solara on an icy highway near Butte Montana. I almost missed the turn-off, stepped on the brakes and slid to a stop. I thought my ABS wasn't working.

If all your wheels are locked and sliding (like on ice) ABS isn't triggered. There's no differential wheel rotation when there's no rotation at all.

 

[JoelB]

Driving 30 miles in a literal ice storm in the truest sense of the description. Got to the end of our street, hit the brakes at about 15mph and just slid. Took 2 hours to get there. Saw double digits of vehicles smashed into walls or in the ditch. 2 jack knifed semis shutting down the highway. Some side roads were so bad I couldn't get over 15 mph. Inclines were out of the question.

Wife had a flight to New York and there was no way I was letting her drive there or get an uber in those conditions. The most stressful driving of my life by far.

 

[wolfox03SS]

No abs on that car, so when you touched the brakes, the steering went numb.

Oh, dear G*d...you brought me back to my first hydroplane experience...same vehicle I spoke of above....not a month outside trading my learner's permit for a real license.

That empty, cold, belly-sunk feeling that you get when you brake and turn and...

...and...

*Nothing* happens like it should.

That moan of tires rapidly skipping above the pavement in those first 10 minutes of rain, in your pre-ABS mandated, traction controlled nanny car 2 1/4 ton cruiser.

Or the first time in same car, you just hold the wheel and try to pump brakes in black ice conditions as you slowly...slippy-dippity at sub 5MPH speeds absolutely massacre a subcompact at the light at a 4 way intersection and push them through with just the tiniest bump.

 

[Hal-9000]

I’ve given it some thought, and I’ve had almost too many vehicle related near-death experiences to count, both on and off-track. However, I think by far the most dangerous of all was being driven to ground zero on 9/11

Coming up on 20 years...

Never Forget

 

[wolfox03SS]

Never Forget

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.

 

[Oillover]

The summer after my second year of university I had a summer job at a gas plant at Whitecourt, Alberta. We worked a 5 days on, 1 day off, 5 days on, 1 day off, 5 days on, 4 days off schedule. At the end of that shift schedule, being young and having little sense, I immediately drove to my parent’s home in eastern Saskatchewan to spend my days off with my friends.

The drive home was 950 Km (600 miles). In order to maximize my time at home I would work all day and immediately head for home, driving all night. My job was out of town so there was a half hour bus ride to and from work as well. So after a 9 1/2 hour work day, I undertook a 9 1/2 drive without any rest. I would get home about 4:00 or 5:00 am.

On one of these long drives I was within a couple of miles of home and the next thing I knew I was driving in the tall grass in the ditch. I had fallen asleep at the wheel. Without stopping (or even slowing down) I steered back onto the road and finished the drive. That was a hugely dangerous off-road excursion. The ditches were deep and there were large rocks here and there and level crossing approaches at half mile intervals. If I had crossed the road into oncoming traffic, rolled the car or hit anything in the ditch with that old car there would have been a grim outcome.

Did I learn anything? Nope. Kept making the same crazy trip all summer. Only in later years have I considered how crazy it was. I was just lucky.

Ya see, that's the prairies for ya. You can do stuff like that and nothing will happen.

I recall dozing off and taking 30 second snoozes while driving between Regina and Moose Jaw while I worked for Sasktel.
I'd awake after the 30 seconds and my eta BMW would still be chugging along, straight as an arrow.
I was also a silly, young university student at the time.

 

[Danno]

Driving along on a 2 lane highway following an 18 wheeler and in front of him a 5 ton box truck.
Came to a down slope, I signaled and started to pass the 18 wheeler.
As I got to his drive wheels he decided to pass the box truck, with me beside him. I was doing about 70 mph.
I moved left onto the gravel shoulder, and didn't hit the brakes. That would caused me to lose control and have been death as rock cuts lined the highway.
It was a front wheel drive '88 Celebrity wagon, I hit the gas, passed both trucks on the shoulder, and lived.

I asked my wife if she had pushed down on the gas, she said no.
I felt something causing me to push on the gas and go.

Sincerely think there was divine intervention that day.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

At around 17-18 yrs old I took a turn too fast in a Limited Wagoneer. Went up on two wheels for half a second.

 

[SeaJay]

Was in the middle seat in a single cab pickup, decades ago. Driving down second avenue in New York City, we take a quick left hand turn left onto 86th street. Pow, we smack straight into an elderly gentleman, knocked his ass into the street. I shut my eyes as I figured he was a goner.

In typical New York City fashion, the spry gentleman jumped up and started swinging his cane at us, cursing and threatening bodily harm to the three of us. The driver, also in New York City fashion, cursed back at the fellow for getting in our way. After the mandatory cursing and threats completed, we all left to go on our way. Another day in the big city.

 

[Gimpy1]

Every day when I lived in Mexico City. Complete disregard for all traffc rules/laws. Driving back and forth to the US, made me feel like I was pushing my luck. I saw more accidents (some with multiple fatalities) in 5 years than I did in my 30 plus years of driving in the US.

 

[Passport1]

Well I wasn't driving but riding in a rickety old bus. Got on in Mexico City (elevation 7400') destination Acapulco (elevation sea level). Very dangerous, narrow mountain road. The Mexican driver was young and cocky but at first seemed cautious and experienced enough to drive safely until just out of the city we came to a scheduled stop. 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 cavorted like it was Saturday 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.

 

[ollie]

Driving through a blizzard westbound 80 through Donner's pass. I was in a 18 wheeler flatbed carrying big generators with smoothbore tanks and fuel sloshing. I wimped out and waited for the snowplow and followed it out.

 

[AZjeff]

Without a doubt riding with other teenagers in high school. I was in 3 wrecks all driver error that should have turned out very badly but didn't.

Was hit almost head-on by a drunk in 1982, I steered right and ducked, he took the side off my Citation. Minor injuries.

Couple other close calls involving other driver's stupidity. Not sure how I got this far.

 

[Barkleymut]

Driving Route Irish almost daily in Baghdad 2005-2006. It was still the most dangerous highway in the world at that point. Fun times.

Yeah, most of us have never been actual targets while driving. Thank You sir.

 

[tyman]

Were you at Camp Liberty?

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.

 

[tyman]

Yeah, most of us have never been actual targets while driving. Thank You sir.

It's almost not fair to one-up people with that story though. And thanks for the words of support.

In the civilian world, I was driving to DFW to see a friend one time. Just north of DFW, where the concrete wall shoots up in the media, I was driving in the left hand lane doin 85'ish. All the sudden, this wheel/tire comes barreling down the interstate at a 45* angle towards me. It hits the concrete median, flies over my car, and lands in the middle lane, continuing on the down the road. There's like 40 cars behind me that are slamming on their brakes and swerving...then it rolls off onto the shoulder and comes to a stop. I swear time stood still and the slow-mo of the Matrix took over as I watch it fly over my car. lol

Or coming back from San Antonio after the Final Four a few years ago. We're doing 90 in the left lane in wife's Camry and all the sudden, vehicles in front of us slam on their brakes, so we slam on ours. There was a newer Dodge 3500 crew cab dually behind me that slammed on his brakes and drove into the median. He came to a stop with his front wheel next to my face. If he hadn't of swerved over, that would have been in the back of my head.

 

[Dave9]

The time I almost fishtailed off a near-cliff due to taking a curve too fast, Was about 17 y/o at the time. Not long after that, was sitting stopped at a red light and a vehicle that didn't even slow down, rear-ended me.

Besides that, mostly just continually dangerous situations like suicidal deer along the roadside, or the cut in the hill on the interstate going into Cincinnati, in winter with semis that can't stop with traffic and crush vehicles in front of them.

Then there was driving too fast perpetually in my youth which caused loss of driver's license for 6 mos, but that's only dangerous if you wreck, right? Temporary loss of license settled my driving down a lot, haven't gotten a ticket in over 25 years since then.

 

[wolfox03SS]

At around 17-18 yrs old I took a turn too fast in a Limited Wagoneer. Went up on two wheels for half a second.

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. ^.^

In typical New York City fashion, the spry gentleman jumped up and started swinging his cane at us, cursing and threatening bodily harm to the three of us.

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

 

[dadto2]

I was on Rt 43 (2 lane hwy) between Smiths Falls and Perth Ontario, and a car approaching me was stopped waiting to make a left turn across my lane. The car behind him was cruising along about 65 mph, and attempted to pass the stopped car on the right without slowing at all. He hit the soft gravel shoulder, started spinning into my lane, thank God he spun back into his own lane again before he went into the ditch. I thought my whole family was done for.
Another time I was heading up I81 just north of Syracuse, when a gang of bikers on their crotch rockets enveloped my truck and started doing 75 mph wheelies and playing cat and mouse around me. There had to be 20 of them, and all I could imagine was one pebble, pothole, nervous wrong move by me, anything, turning that into a giant catastrophe. It was pretty terrifying.

 

[jurko]

In early 80's while living in Bay Area Cali. I met a woman at Mushroom Festival in Morgan Hill and we hang out all day. She was some kind of lead engineer or programmer at Intel in San Jose. She was few years older then I. She asked what I do for fun so I told her that on Friday's nights my heavy metal band I was drummer in play at Fremont Niles Station and Oakland Hill what they called jam nights. All the equipment was in including big set of drums. Guys just had to bring their own guitars. She started to show up at the gigs and we had a good time. At that time she was driving yellow Porsche 911.

After I left for Nevada in 87 we still kept in touch. Around 92-93 can't remember exactly I got phone call from her that she was planning to go to Vegas and asked me if I would like to join her for the weekend. At that time I worked 4 days 10 hr. shifts and Fri, Sat and Sun I had off so I said ok.
She showed up Thursday late afternoon in silver Corvette. I asked her what happened to the Porsche and she said it got wrecked in several cars pile up during heavy fog. We went inside my house, I packed few things and we were on our way to Vegas by Hwy 95. Trip was nice and pleasant all the way to Tonopah never more than 90 MPH. In Tonopah we got gas and burger at McDonalds and hang out for a while. Got back in a car and took off.

Few min. after we left Tonopah she got crazy and stepped on it. The force was so great I couldn't peel myself from the seat and felt like my skin on my face getting pulled back and I started to panic. Speed was getting faster and faster. I started to yell at her and cursing her and all she said, we are only little over 150 and she kept going. Finally at 176 MPH she let off. I told her I almost crap my pants and when we get to Vegas I'll whack her and drive back home myself. She laughed. I told her I know it's Corvette but that kind of speed? She said it's Callaway Corvette and that we could go over 180MPH with it. Talk about being scared and how dangerous it actually was. I never forget that.
The fastest ever I went since than was last year in my Golf when I wanted to try it at least once was 132MPH. on a long stretch of HWY slightly down slope.