Thanking my lucky stars.... near miss. So shaken!

[Flyingfish111]

This morning myself and my partner were driving on an A Road (60mph limit) when I looked up and right infront of us, head on, was another vehicle speeding on our side of the road.

They were trying to overtake a car pulling a caravan but in a 1 litre car and struggled to overtake them and therefore remained on our side of the road trying to pick up pace.

Even typing this makes me shudder... my partner was driving and braked but for 3 seconds it was like I had accepted that we were going to be killed and put my head down preparing for the collision.

Thankfully the car, with a second to spare pulled in with a tight swerve and myself and dp were left shaking. I'm still not quite over it and physically feel sick and weak. Sounds strange but driving home, it actually felt surreal to still be alive... I still have so much to live for and I am thanking my lucky stars so much that the outcome was a positive one.

I am not quite sure why I am posting, I suppose for a bit of an emotional outlet and some further encouragement for drivers to please not take a risk when overtaking and to ensure any manoeuvres are done as safely as possible.

Has anyone else experienced anything similar?

I actually don't want to get back in the car tomorrow, but we live in a rural area, i don't have much of a choice !

I was a passenger in a car with my friend driving in really awful heavy rain/sleet weather, and the car in front on the motorway slipped on the road and hit the barrier in the centre, then spun across all three lanes, and came to a standstill in the far left hand lane. How no one drove into him I do not know, but it was really scary seeing that happen right in front of us.

They were prosecuted but sentencing is so ineffectual for driving related crimes it seems, they got a 6 month ban and a £200 fine whilst I was in and out of surgeries for more than 4 years. It doesn’t feel quite like justice.

@blueshoes

Thesale, fast thinking and good reflexes. Was the lorry driver ok?

Yes amazingly no one was badly injured

Years ago my Dad was driving me back from college. The road was 2 lanes coming towards us, and our side was single lane. 2 cars next to each other in the oncoming lanes, and a third pulled into our lane to overtake both. I have no idea how, but somehow the 4 cars passed each other at the last second with just enough room. There must have been millimeters between each of us.
I remember Dad saying afterwards that he could feel his tyre against the kerb, and his next move was going to be to try to mount the kerb and hope the car didn't flip over on the very steep uphill bank next to us.
I was out of my seat and pressed up against the window - I didn't even realise until it was over and I suddenly became aware I wasn't sitting down.

An hour later we were almost home and just about calmed down, when a woman pulled out in front of us from the left, then slammed her brakes on so she stopped fully across our side of the road and partially on the other - there was just enough space and time for us to slalom around the front of her.

We both had a very large drink when we got home!!

This exact same thing happened to me except the car crashed into me head on. My car was totalled but luckily I was ok. Apparently the other driver said he'd had a Angina attack which caused him to be on the other side of the road.......I wasn't convinced!

[quote Whoactuallyneedsaname]@Flyingfish111 thank you. He was such a kind, clever, funny and wonderful young man. Usually very responsible. It was definitely an attack of the impulsive invincible teen moment and something most teenagers would get away with, with an “oh, fuck” moment that grows them up. Unfortunately he didn’t get that second chance and we will all remember that day that changed us all forever. He was a fantastic man and I still miss him 20 years later.[/quote]
I have a friend who lost a cousin this way at the same age, I think they were in Europe going over a bridge, possibly drink driving. His mother is a shell and her father has a last neurological condition that started after the death of his nephew. So unbelievably tough.

We were driving down the road when suddenly a car coming in the opposite direction just cut in front of us to down down a side street at great speed. It sounds weird but my armpits went all tingly.
Coming back about an hour later, lots of roads were closed off and the police were directing traffic . We found out there had been a man knocked off his bicycle and killed. Phoned the police and they came to ours to take statements and we eventually went to court as witnesses to dangerous driving . Unbelievably the driver didn't get a prison sentence.

I had a very narrow escape on a section of the M25 with no hard shoulder. There was a collision in front of me involving a lorry and 2 cars. I saw it start to happen and hit my brakes and hazards. There was nowhere to go and somehow I managed to steer through a small gap. I have no idea how. I was expecting to be crushed. It was about 6 years ago and remembering it still brings me out in a cold sweat.

I had a near miss a while ago but I still think about it. I was overtaking a lorry on a dual carriageway when he suddenly started pulling over into my lane! I had cars behind me so was trying to slow down carefully, hoping he'd see me and pull back over. I was almost into the central reservation and barrier before he realised. I thought I was going to get crushed. God knows why he did it, I do wonder if he fell asleep rather than trying to change lanes, otherwise he must have seen me, I was halfway alongside him when he started moving.

Dh had a head on collision after some bloody idiot left a broken down car on the approach to a hump back bridge. He couldn’t see it from his side and the oncoming traffic was overtaking it on the blind brow of the bridge. The car was written off but Dh was lucky, he had whiplash and an airbag burn. We went to court as witnesses with the woman who had hit him, they were going to prosecute the person that left the car there but he got let off.

We had a near miss as pedestrians with a police car. It came zooming through our village on the wrong side of the road, passing lots of parked cars. The lorry coming the other way had nowhere else to go except up the path. I literally pulled my children on to the grass about two seconds before the lorry went past with its wheels on the path. The wheels were as big as I am. I could have touched it, it was so close. I had nightmares after that. Fortunately the children didn’t seem affected. I never did get the number of the idiot bloody police driver.

Same thing happened to me years ago, unfortunately it was on a blind bend on a rural road they were the wrong side of the road and we hit each other head on around 40-50mph.

Miraculously the driver in our car and I, and also the 2 guys in the other car were all ok. We all got out the cars, checked with each other if we were ok, then the two guys in the other car just legged it 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️ both cars front ends were completely crushed and we had to walk across a field to a farm for help (pre mobile phones).

I still have backache from it if I stand or sit for too long and avoid rural roads.

I can totally relate! A couple of weeks back a car went through a red light at high speed through some crossroads. If I'd been a millisecond later he'd have smashed straight into my side with me and my baby girl in the car. I was so shaken and was tearful all that day! Such a strange and awful feeling to think we literally almost died, and it felt especially traumatic the fact my daughter was in the back 😢

A relative of mine actually got hit like this . They were both hurt and their dog died . The guy had been weaving in and out for a while . He was having a medical episode .

The physiological effects took a long time to heal . No action taken against him either even though he had not taken his medication.

The flashbacks of seeing the car heading towards them with. Nowhere to go were awful.

Cut to the end. Sorry, re cars.

I'm late 50s. Once I had a bit of a choice in cars, aged mid-late 20s, I'd always have opted for a 1.6 litre in a hatchback.

Why? So you can floor it and get the fuck out of 'situations'.

I was reminded about this a couple of years ago. Til then, our Big Family Car would be a 2l Ford Mondeo. Now, it's a Mazda 6 (1.4?).

If you floored that Mondeo, you left 'trouble' in your wake (the badly overtaking trucks on the M3 in heavy rain). 90 in seconds. The Mazda 6 does not have that grunt.

I see this sort of thing fairly frequently where I live (lots of single carriageway roads), you know you've misjudged a situation when a tractor has to slam on its brakes! And have definitely been in that situation, it really shakes you up! Sometimes its worse when you are the passenger because you are just watching helplessly

I think drivers just misjudge the situation, maybe they usually drive a 2l BMW. I have also seen (and had) cars speed up when you start to overtake, and sometimes I just think the car being overtaken also just needs to back off to prevent an accident. Like if someone is struggling to overtake you just slow down to prevent an accident, obviously still the car overtakings fault but pride has a part to play

@Miljea definitely. I said to my dad when I change my car I want a bigger engine, not to speed but to get myself out of trouble if needed. I'm in a 1.2 as I can't afford the insurance on anything bigger (despite being mid thirties with 7 years no claims!)

I understand exactly what you mean, OP.

When I was 18, I borrowed a mate’s car. It was an absolute shed of an old Morris Marina (a crap 1970s car) with, it turned out, bald tyres.

Driving along a busy, single carriageway A road in the rain, I lost control & skidded on a left-handed bend, spun across the road and collided with the wall on the other side of the road. I wasn’t going particularly fast, the crash wasn’t very dramatic and I wasn’t hurt. If a lorry or bus had been coming in the other direction at that precise moment, however, I would have had no chance of avoiding it. I would have been a statistic, and it’s purely down to blind luck that I wasn’t.

I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles since then, including road trips across Europe, Africa & North America and I’m now a very confident experienced driver. But I always check my car’s tyres, and I never, ever skimp on them.

@sar302

Oh my goodness you poor thing! It really shakes you doesn't it.

Yep, I was driving down the M4 late at night, middle lane and the car in the outside lane a few cars ahead blew a tire. It swerved across three lanes, then back again, then ended up facing me in the middle lane. There were cars on either side of me, all doing National speed limit and I had nowhere to go but straight into the car. At the last second, the car on the inside lane drove on to the hard shoulder, I pulled over to my left and the two of us passed through to the left of the car. How no one hit anyone else I don't know. Just thankful it was late and fewer cars...

Absolutely terrifying. I hope you get your confidence back soon!

Oh, I wonder if that was me? Similar situation on M4, near Slough about 10pm a good few years ago saw it all happening and just swerved onto the hard shoulder as I could see the car to my right (I was on inside) had nowhere to go.

I also was involved in a similar situation on a main road, 2 lanes out of town, one to go left one to go right at the traffic lights half a mile on. I was half a car length behind a car on my left (we were doing exactly 30mph as we were following a police motorcycle setting up a speedtra), when some drunken pedestrians were jostling along on the pavement and one fell into the car on my left, we both swerved right, and I thought I was going to hit either the car on my left or one oncoming in the other direction. Luckily didn't, no idea how. Sadly the faller hit his head on the car then the kerb and died, at the inquest the car driver to my left had no idea he'd swerved left to avoid, and the deceased had so much alcohol, over 4 x the legal limit to drive he likely knew nothing about it, and very sadly his family didn't want to know.

sentencing is so ineffectual for driving related crimes it seems
I agree, death carnage and maiming yet they don't take it seriously, as if they can't bear to admit how dangerous it is for fear that fewer people will drive and car manufacturers profits might reduce.... or something🤷‍♀️

Years ago I had a near miss by almost being killed by a taxi. It was my fault entirely as I was not concentrating and stupidly stepped out into a very busy road and the cab was about to run me down. I still feel ashamed to this day. It all happened so quickly but had it not been for the skill and split second timing and reflex of that driver I may not be here now. Thankfully he swerved to avoid me and no harm came to him/his car but shuddered to think it could have been much worse and for him/another vehicle etc. not me. Since that day I NEVER take chances while crossing roads because that man stopped me from being mown down by his car and I hate to think if it had been a different driver it may have been a different outcome.

I've had a number of 'Oh Shit' moments. One surreal one was watching a lorry lose control as it tried to brake when it saw the queue I was stationary in. The lorry skidded, turned 90 degrees and slid to just behind the two cars behind me.
The traffic started moving. I drove on. My dd was in the back of the car and I'd watched it in the rearview mirror like a film.

Brakes to avoid a head on overtaking stationary traffic on the wrong side of the road. Was rear ended by the car behind.

Sounds awful, pleased you’re okay x

I had one. I was turning left (USA so turning across the road) into a shopping mall. Was a bit lost and concentrating on trying to find the correct turning, not even sure if I indicated. As I started to turn some impatient fucker overtook me on the inside at about 100mph. A split second later and there would have been nothing left of any of us.

Not that but a few years ago we were driving to our first family holiday in Devon with brand new baby and older kids in the car.
Driving down the motorway when suddenly DP swerves and barely slows, a car in front of us blew a tyre and DP had to do some quick manoeuvres to prevent us from colliding with the car (which did a slow spin in the lane as the driver frantically tried steer to the edge of the central reservation and we couldn’t stop or slow down as there were cars and trucks speeding along all lanes and there was no hard shoulder.

I had the shakes for ages after. No idea how DP managed to keep driving so calmly.