So That Was Scary

[Calamity Kris]

The set up:  Two lane semi-rural straight road.  On the north bound side is a narrow break-down area next to a deep canal with gators.  On the south bound side is a large grassy area that will eventually be used to widen the road.  Beyond that is a scrub forest.

 

I'm driving south bound on this road coming home from work yesterday.  Lots of traffic heading north, most of them look like they were coming from a popular fishing hole, trucks towing boats, cars and SUVs with fishing rods etc.   In this line of vehicles is an old '80s white Chevy truck.  He appeared to be impatient because he kept pulling into my lane looking to see how many vehicles he could pass.  When there wasn't enough room, he would pull back in.  Well, he finally decided to go for it and started coming straight for me.  I slowed way down, weighing my options and watching him carefully.  Do I pull into the grass on the right, only to have him pull into the grass and hit me?  Do I look for an opening on my left, hoping to avoid on-coming vehicles and the space is wide enough for me to steer clear of everything?  Do I hold my course and hope he pulls either right and back into traffic or left onto the grass?   I was about to pull to my right onto the grass when he veered to his left onto the grass.  He was about 50 feet away when he made up his mind.  As he rolled past me, I glanced over and he had his head on the center part of his steering wheel facing the floorboards.  He eventually rolled to a stop.  That was rather scary.  After I got into the house, I had to sit for a while to stop shaking.

 

What would you do in this instance?

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

I believe in situations like this, reflexes take over and I’m not sure what my thinking brain would do. 

 

You survived. That’s all that matters. 

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

1 hour ago, Calamity Kris said:

What would you do in this instance?

 

First thing I'd do, once I was inside the door, is break open a bottle of Irish whiskey and thank the Gods for my good luck and their protection....

 

LL

[Michigan Slim]

2 minutes ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

 

First thing I'd do, once I was inside the door, is break open a bottle of Irish whiskey and thank the Gods for my good luck and their protection....

 

LL

Yep. Libations of your choice and a quiet sit on the porch. 

You did good. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

Since I wasn't there, I can't say.  And I can't say because I could face the same situation 5 days running and react differently each time.  
But the advice of a bit of liquid steadiness afterwards does have merit.

[Chantry]

Many years ago, when I was still young enough to want to go out late and have fun,  I was driving home from a friend's house on the highway around 2 am.  I came over a slight rise and saw headlights coming directly at me because some driver got confused and was driving the wrong way.  I was driving a Lincoln MKVII and I still believe if it wasn't for the very good handling and suspension the car had I would not have otherwise been able to swerve out of the way.  I rather doubt I would have survived a head on collision when the closing speed was in the neighborhood of 100 mph -120 mph.

[Sedalia Dave]

Long ago I read than a lot of head on collisions happen on the shoulder.

 

Glad you are OK

[Pat Riot]

Change my pants…

[Singin' Sue 71615]

Thank the good Lord for his protection...and pray the idiot learned a lesson and doesn't cause an accident!!!

[Calamity Kris]

Thanks for the good thoughts and prayers.  Since I don't imbibe. my drink of choice was a nice cold bottle of water and a purring cat curled up next to me.  It did wonders for me until I was ready to resume my day.

[J-BAR #18287]

You are unhurt so your decisions were correct.  I may have parked my car and gone back and beat on the SOB for awhile, but that’s just me.

[Joeronimo Caffiend]

When in doubt, let your lizard brain decide.....unless your inner lizard is Barney.

[largo casey #19191]

Take A drive over Red Mountain Betreen Durango Colo & Silverton.You don't need no Idiot drivers.

                                                                                                                                                                                  Largo

[Trailrider #896]

Back about '68, I was driving an AF pickup on my way to a site, when I heard on the radio a comm truck driver call Transportation Control saying he had rolled his vehicle!  As a field supervisor and about a mile away, I headed to the site with my NCO teammate.  The comm truck was off the road to the left, having rolled down a fairly steep embankment.  The three troops were out of the vehicle and walking around, apparently unhurt, probably thanks to their seat belts!  A Montana Highway Patrolman rolled up and started talking to the commo troops.  Apparently they had been proceeding eastbound, downhill and came up behind an 18-wheeler.  It had been snowing and the semi- was trailing blowing snow.  Going too fast to stop without rearending the trailer, they tried to pull out to pass.  As they broke out of the snow wake, they found themselves facing an oncoming vehicle.  The driver of the comm truck heard "his buddy say, 'ditch'!" and steered off the road down the embankment, resulting in the truck winding up on its left side and the bottom, maybe 30 feet from the road!  I asked if they were alright, to which they said they were.  We notified TCC on our radio, and left them to deal with the patrolman.  I never found out, but I bet their squadron CO ate them a new one.  At the very least, he probably lost his GI driver's license!  Damned lucky nobody was hurt!