Potentially dangerous car mishap that turned out ok

[CG]

You ever have something crazy happen while driving and figured this was the big one? But in the end, not a scratch (maybe some stains in the pants lol).

I had a 69 Charger and I loved that car, but like a lot of young guys I drove way too fast. One day I was driving east down a several lane on all sides road. My goal was to go left on to a freeway onramp north bound. Before I knew it I was oh crap I need to slow down so I can go north. Hit the brakes and started to slide and spin. I ended up doing a little over a 360 degree spin and stopped pointed in the right direction for the on ramp. All cars around me had stopped to watch the show. I just hit the gas and headed down the ramp, no harm no foul.

One time I was on my way to work in my 69 AMX. Two lane country road. Kind of an s curve with a house on the left. I dropped something and bent to grab it, came up and a woman was coming straight at me, I was in her lane. I slammed the brakes, she juked to her right and went flying through the front yard of the house I mentioned and came to a stop without either of us hitting a thing of any consequence. I pulled off and ran over to her car, she was sitting in her car shaking. I apologized over and over. She said its ok no one was hurt, but she asked if I could drive her car off the peoples lawn for her. Are you sure??? Yes please ... I got her car all situated and we went our merry ways to work.

Last one I can think of before I hit the hay. I had a Trailblazer (Mopar back in the day, not a Chevy). It had a top like a Chevy Blazer except it was bigger and all steel ... very heavy. But I liked taking it off so I have the total convertible experience. This is back when the entire top came off, not just the back half. One time I had set the top back on but not bolted it down. Had no plans to drive it just set heavy as heck top back on because of room issues at the house. I got home from work and my at the time BIL had a story for me. Turns out he needed to borrow a vehicle and my wife at the time (lol) let him borrow the Trailblazer. He was more of an idiot driver than I was. He was flying down a side street, had no idea the top was just sitting there not bolted on, and it flew off. He said it scared the holy heck out of him. A noise, a lot of wind, then sunlight, and the top flying through the air like the house on the Wizard of Oz in the tornado. I have no idea how, but it landed perfectly flat in some ones lawn. Nothing broke, nothing bent. He put it back on and drove very slowly back to our house sort of hanging on to it.

[FleetsidePaul]

Funny you mention a 69 Charger. I had a 68 R/T. I took a curve way too fast (I was 16)
I lost it. The car went sideways and started fishtailing all over the road, totally out of control for something like 100 feet. I managed to finally straighten it out. Scared the pee pee out of me. But I didn't hit anything and I was all over the place.

Then I went home and changed my shorts.

[In The Ten Ring]

I know a woman that bent down to pick something up and crashed her car.....she is now paralyzed from the neck down.

I did it too though....I was on my way to college in my 1988 Honda Accord and my 1/2 gallon of milk fell over...I bent over to pick it up and I was looking at a sign post dead in front of me. I swerved and that started an oscillation at 65 mph on the interstate.

I ended up in the gravel medium and realized I could get control by going backwards. (As soon as things started to go bad I shifted into neutral.....getting into neutral easily is one of many benefits of a manual transmission). I pulled hard and got the car going backwards at 65 mph in the gravel and I easily slowed to a stop.

I got control of myself, checked traffic, and pulled back onto the highway, continuing on to college and class. One tire was a little low afterwards, I pumped that up again.

You really cannot let yourself be distracted.

[BR3W CITY]

I had ended up driving through a mountain pass in northern Colorado in the middle of December once...in a rented Nissan Sentra on all season econo tires. I had made it through HOURS of treacherous driving without an issue in that sh!tbox, and just as I was leaving the mountain range a MASSIVE buck crept from the woods into the road. This thing was HUGE and stepped within 2ft of my car. Go figure, make it through tons of "bad" situations and almost got ended by a fluke of nature.

[notsolo]

Day after Xmas, 25yrs ago. Freezing rain on 85 south, coming up on a couple of long concrete bridges, aware of how slippery it was taking it ez, guy passes us going about 80 , next bridge it curves around to the left. He fish tailed for at least a 1/4 mile hits the gravel on the rt side, tires grab, he shoots across 3 lanes the median, ends up in the north bound lanes...unpuckers and drives north.

[3757chevy]

Years ago I had a heaping truck full of junk heading north to the local landfill, some guy blew through a stop and hit the left rear wheel and fender on my 67 step side. The road had a little morning dew (Thank God) put me in a slide first facing west, then east, back to the west before finally get slowed down enough to pull over to the side of the road , I was grabbing gears and touching the brakes ,giving it the gas and praying. The guy followed me up the road a half block or so. When I got out he said Da#* Mike that was some good driving. I was just lucky!

[68C15]

Super Bowl Sunday, 2009. Return trip from DesMoines IA. That's one trumps all other scares of my life

[davischevy]

I will only tell one story.

I was headed out to the shop with about 4" of fresh snow on the road. I topped the hill and was slowing to make the left turn up to the shop, and all of a sudden a Ford ranger truck was coming sideways straight at me.

I hung a hard right toward the street on the right. That put me in a slide directly toward a telephone pole. I was destined to hit that pole with the drivers door, when I hit the low curb and it miraculously sent me down the street.

No damage done.

[special-K]

I'll only tell one also. Last year hauling my trailer loaded down along a 2-lane state hiway on an old road bed, with poles, mailboxes, trees close to the edge and no shoulder, I'm almost to this road that has a stop sign to my left when the SUV sitting there pulls dead out in front of me. No way she even looked. I mean I was right there rolling 50 mph and nothing on Earth could have stopped that short. There were utility poles to the right at the edge of the road, so to the right was not an option. Beyond this road, ahead of me, the road crests up out of the river valley with a hump. Usually the problem with pulling out of this stop sign is from the cars popping up over that hump from out of the valley. The way I was coming from is a clear straight shot way up the road. Well, I had no choice but to go left over the line into the oncoming lane where cars come popping up over the hill. I thank my lucky stars no one crested that hill before I got back over. The lady hung the almost immediate right into a development oblivious to the fact that she almost killed someone. La dee da dee da

['63GENIII]

I'll play...

1990. I was 20 or so. Left work for home in my '57 Napco 3/4 ton pickup with utility bed. Clear Summer afternoon.

Accelerated onto the freeway and gradually made my way to the fast lane. Rush hour was moving well. 70 mph or so.

About a half mile into it as I was adjusting the radio (still looking at the road FWIW), out of nowhere the truck takes a hard right somehow missing every car in the 4 lanes next to me. No steering and all of the sudden no brakes either. Still doing near 70 mph and coming up on the shoulder quickly, the damned truck takes a hard left and heads for the fast lane again.

I had just realized that I had no brakes and was trying to downshift when it went for the fast lane again throwing my body into a position where I couldn't get the clutch.

One more time going right, this time from the second to the fast lane and I was going for the shoulder again. Still no brakes and nowhere near enough time to see what was next to me that was going to be hit. Miraculously it made it to the shoulder without hitting another vehicle.

Still must have been doing at least 55 on the shoulder and some sort of tree centering up on my uncontrolled truck (with no brakes or steering) that was now on gravel. Only thing I could do was bang the old Clark 5 speed into 2nd and close my eyes.

The back tires near locked up and although I didn't see it (eyes still closed) I hit that darned tree expecting to go through the windshield.

The truck stopped. I opened my eyes, still in the cab and lap belt still on. The tree was nowhere to be seen from where I was. I got out, wobbly legged, adrenaline pumping and pretty sure I had peed all over myself (which I later learned was the Big Gulp iced tea that had flown out of the cupholder) and walked to the front of the truck which now looked as if it had a huge green beard. That 8" tree was sheared off at the base. I was fine and so was the truck...at least most of it. Both of us covered in iced tea, me with a slight bruised chest.

A motorist who saw the whole thing pulled over (when people would do that around here) and said that the truck was on 2 wheels 3 times in the course of less than 30 seconds. He gave me a ride off of the freeway and got me calmed down a bit.

It turned out that the drivers (steering) side king pin on the closed knuckle Birfield axle had sheared off which took out the steering, tore the brake line off rendering the single circuit drum brakes useless. Everytime that loose front left wheel caught the road, the truck would violently change direction. To this day, I have no idea how I didn't kill or at the very least hurt someone else or myself and didn't flip that truck. It certainly wasnt skill that saved my butt that day.

Funny how that Napco tried to kill me a few times over the years but I still miss her... Kinda like a couple of my exes

[Boog]

Whoa buddy. What a ride.

Back in high school I was out with a buddy in his Pinto. Pitiful little thing didn't have much power but it was cheap. Anyway the roads were wet from earlier rain. I was driving at the time and we were having a good time. Memory fails me but there might have been some beverages there also.. We headed out on a deserted bit of road behind the high school and I was winding her up and banging the gears haha, when there was a dip and rise in the road. Since I was hard in the gas at that point the tire began spinning then the car spun around 3 or 4 times. It finally came to rest with the rear bumper just 2 feet from a utility pole. Not a scratch on it. Some time later we all learned how Pintos were subject to gas tank ruptures when rear ended. That could have been real bad. Lesson learned.

[A1971Blazer]

years ago.....I had an almost brand new Z28...my apartment was at the top of the hill in town......it came a big snow and I was trying to get up the hill to get home....about halfway up, it started to spin...I was stuck and trying to figure out the best way to proceed, when it started sliding backwards....cars were parked on both sides of the street....all of a sudden the front end just came all the way around....and I was headed back down the hill....perfectly straight and never touched another car.....I found a safe place to park and walked up the hill....!

[special-K]

^^^ That's a great maneuver, bringing the front around. I've had that happen more than a couple times. Just carry on like a stunt man. I've helped others stuck on hills. Just backing down is hairy because with brakes on, your steer wheels always want to drag straight when uphill. So let off the break and let it come around. I've been on hills where I still couldn't get traction and had to rock & roll it to the bottom. Basically just let it roll scrubbing the brakes (if you can) and hope nothing gets in the way!

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by Boog

Whoa buddy. What a ride.

Back in high school I was out with a buddy in his Pinto. Pitiful little thing didn't have much power but it was cheap. Anyway the roads were wet from earlier rain. I was driving at the time and we were having a good time. Memory fails me but there might have been some beverages there also.. We headed out on a deserted bit of road behind the high school and I was winding her up and banging the gears haha, when there was a dip and rise in the road. Since I was hard in the gas at that point the tire began spinning then the car spun around 3 or 4 times. It finally came to rest with the rear bumper just 2 feet from a utility pole. Not a scratch on it. Some time later we all learned how Pintos were subject to gas tank ruptures when rear ended. That could have been real bad. Lesson learned.

Heck I used to get nervous just driving behind those Pintos! I think Id be buying a Lotto or Powerball ticket after something like that!

I think we could probably compile an Encyclopedia like series if we all put our stories together.

A1971Blazer's story gives me anxiety just thinking about it.

Davischevy's story reminds me of the snow plow that was clipped by a passing car in Utah - caught on a dash cam. I won't link it BC its disturbing. Again, gives me chills.

That moment when the out of control feeling crosses paths with the resignation that you're luck has probably run out..... thats the stuff that nightmares are made of.

[special-K]

Then there are mishaps that do become accidents that turn out way better than could have. Especially no one hurt. I have close call as well as accident tales

[68C15]

New Years weekend 1999 I was driving my 88 Grand Am (new snow tires) from NE Illinois to SE SD. A blizzard came through, I made it to Milwaukee going 35mph with everyone in the right lane. I've got another 500 plus miles to go, this is gonna suck big time. I saw the other lanes had about 3-4" snow and not even a hint of traffic. I slowly drifted over and gave it a try. Hmmm, not bad. Maybe I'll give it a try and see how this goes.

Before long I was doing 60 or so and feeling cautiously confident. Elbows on armrests, fingers on the wheel. Back of car doing a slight wiggle the whole way but I had it covered. All along the way cars were in the ditch off to the right buried in snow, occasionally a tow truck pulling them out.

I don't remember exactly where but it was a long sweeping curve to the left in the middle of Wisconsin. I saw the flashing yellow lights of a tow truck pulling a car from the ditch. When I got about 1/2 mile from the tow truck I saw he was in my lane so I started tapping the brakes. To my right was a semi. In front of him was a car, we'll call that car 1. Behind semi was car 2.

Car 1 must have been rubber necking and drifted into deep snow in my lane. He yanked it right and started sliding towards right ditch. Semi hit brakes and began jack knifing beside me. Car 2 panicked, hit brakes and dove into right ditch. There's my opening. I got onto right shoulder, made it past the out of control semi and kept going. I saw in my mirrors the semi slid past tow truck and didn't hit anything. Car 1 slid across road not more than 20' ahead of me and hit the ditch. I give him credit for trying his best to keep it on the road. I did see car 2 went straight into the ditch.

It all happened in slow motion. I can only imagine what it looked like from above. Sort of like a ballet I suppose.

Would I dare make a trip like that now? Absolutely NOT!

[CG]

This one wasn't a close call, just dumb luck probably. One time we were wanting to go to this disco. I know I know, but disco equals girls, and this was the 70s haha.

This place was a very long drive for us bumpkins, and we were having a heck of a snow storm, but ... girls. We were in my 69 AMX, two seats three dudes, glad I was the driver and didn't have to work out who got crammed in the back area. And lastly I had a recent "mishap" and broke the passenger door glass out. So I had taped up a piece of semi clear (haha) plastic and we all had to get in and out of the drivers side door.

It was a very long and harrowing trip ... but girls! Drove slow and steady while idiot after idiot blew past us only to be seen later stuck in one way or another. I think my hands were stuck to the steering wheel I was gripping it so hard.

We did make it down, and did make it back safely. The drive down and back took us hours, but it was worth it because ... girls!

I actually met a great red head at the disco. I wont go into that crazy part of the story. She did end up being the first girl I had ever shared an apartment with. Gotta love a red head!

[bigrigpardo]

It seems all the mishaps I have had over the years have only happened in my 71 c20.

First was flat towing a 76 dodge van home I got from a friend. It had big words on all 4 corners so it didn't want to steer well but was too wide for my tow dolly so I figured I'd out my brother in the van in case the wheels didn't want to take the the. He could be there to see them through. Well here we are mid day doing 55 down a big 3 Lane halfway home when we come towards a mall and a Toyota corolla pulls out of the mall into the center lane doing like 5 miles an hour and just stops when the light ahead turns yellow. And here I am middle lane doing 55 and would have sailed right through that yellow so panicked I walked on the horn which alerted my brother in the van and we both slammed on the brakes. The tow bar filled off the van he went one way I went the other he ends up on the sidewalk I endd up on the median. I got out and started running down the street towards this guy the light turned green and he left a healthy burnout trying g to avoid me dragging him out of the car. We re hitched and headed home with nothing but a bent bumper on the van.

Second was in the truck again with my cj5 on the tow dolly and a lady pulls out of a driveway right into my Lane stops looking the other way so she can pull the rest of the way into the incoming lane I am on the brakes again all locked up with my Jeep flushing me Down the road horn blaring smoke flying and she continues out without ever seeing me. Never ever even looked at the huge truck that could have torn her sedan in half.

And the last one was last year in the truck it was raining and my head wasn't all there I was in traffic on the 80 and traffic stopped sudden I slammed the brakes in the left lane and the rears locked and the truck just took a hard left, I guess the front calipers aren't working even. I hit the rail head on and bounced off it across 3 lanes of traffic ending up backwards in the other median without hitting anyone I was shaking like hell turned the truck k around d and sat there a while. Not a single person even asked if I was ok. I looked at my truck with a rather banged up front clip and finished my trip. Some times skill means nothing and it all comes down to luck