Someone just very nearly killed me.

[EnchantedAutumn]

I haven't had such an experience before, and feel quite shaken.

We were out walking early this afternoon along the canal side. At a road bridge we stood at the crossing and waited for the traffic to stop to allow us to pass.

Half way over the crossing a vehicle sped up from the other side and missed me by about an inch. We were extremely visible and there were no large vehicles blocking the driver's view. Very few cars about actually.

This was so quick and it was almost speeding, so extremely shocking. Other drivers stopped and asked me was I ok, whilst DH spun around like a drama queen very very angry, whilst I tried to catch the registration - sadly could not get it all.
Dh was so upset, although I felt a little numb. I saw it as a very lucky thing to still be alive, but also angry that someone could change or end my life so brutally and easily in a fraction of a second.
I choose to presume that the driver was distracted, rather than happy to slaughter me, but it still feels so shocking.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? It was so, so close it has really knocked me. I doubt I would have survived had it hit me.
A sudden shock like this is probably common, and yet the idea of my life changing suddenly due to disease or accident feels easier to bear than someone just casually mowing me over.

If something similar has happened to you, how did you process it? I feel much better a few hours later, but still really weird.

It is worth mentioning, remain careful. Both whilst driving and walking.

In my home town there is an issue on one main road where there is a row of shops with parking bays very close to a traffic light controlled junction with the inner ring road. For about 50 meters between the last bay and the traffic lights there are double yellow lines. The lights are phased so the left turn lane has a good 30 seconds on green whereas the right turn lane is on green for less than 10 seconds. There have been occasions where someone has parked on the double yellow lines and blocked access to the left turn lane, forcing all traffic into the right turn lane with the very short green phase. At busy times this effectively causes a half mile long traffic queue as people approach the junction at a faster rate than the now heavily reduced capacity of the junction. When another main road was closed for three months and this main road then had to deal with two flows of traffic, the traffic jam frequently stretched all the way to the edge of town (about a mile and a half). I have decided that if I see anyone parking there again, I will get off my bicycle, take a photo of the vehicle with number plate visible, and take the photo along with a complaint to the local police station.

About 35 years ago when I was 15 I was at a zebra crossing with my friend, I did look and didn't see anything coming I stepped onto the road, my friend pulled me back and a car went whizzing past it must have been doing about 70 mph.
I still think about how she saved my life

Two years ago I felt short of breath. I did a Covid test that came back negative. However, I felt so bad that thought it must be a false negative and went to A&E. Turned out I had pneumonia and ended up in intensive care. For 4 days they told me I was dying and all the doctors could say was that they would do their best for me. On day 5 they got on top of the infection and I made a full recovery. For months after I felt like I was in complete shock that this could just happen. We still don’t know what caused it. The doctor said I was just unlucky.

Have you reported it to the police? With the number of deliberate incidents driving through crowds etc it's worth reporting. Police may find cctv. Worth reporting incase it wasn't an accident and the person does it again. Knowing may help with cctv and finding registration details.

People or rather scum as l like to call them, do it all the time, probably drunk, or drug, driving. They do these kind of things, because they can. If the police do prosecute, the CPS can say there is insufficient evidence to prosecute, but if it does make it to court, they get nothing more than a slap on the wrist. There are no deterrents, they can do what they like....otherwise known as Lawless Britain. An absolute shambolic justice system.

I really hope you are now feeling a little better, these incidents are extremely unnerving. Take care

Yes, I have had this happen to me, and it's awful - OP you have my sympathy, it's a terrifying experience.

About 17 or 18 years ago, my DS was 2/3 and in a stroller. Near our house there was a parade of shops in what was (and is) considered a bit of a rough area. I was at a pedestrian crossing, and waited not only for the "green man" signal, but also for cars on each carriageway to come fully to a stop. When I stepped into the road with my son in stroller, the first car that had stopped at the lights suddenly revved up and sped through the lights narrowly missing me. A female in his car screeched at the top of her voice "Dan, noooooo!!!" (Summer time, windows open). Then it sped away. Lots of pedestrians came over as the sound of the tyres screeching, and the woman screaming sounded VERY dramatic. It was horrific... I was so shaken. OP, I do hope you're fully recovered from the shock of this now. It's a horrible experience.

There are far too many people driving around with no licence and no insurance. They have no idea how to drive or what the highway code is in the UK.
I have had to do an emergency stop on a roundabout 3 times due to meeting someone head on coming the wrong way round.
I was driving home on the M1 at night a few years ago, it was quiet and I was doing around 70 in the inside lane when suddenly two racing mercedes came barrelling up behind me, one overtook in the middle lane, the other on the hard shoulder. They were easily doing 100. Thank goodness there were no other cars in sight. I drive as little a possible these days.

That sounds terrifying. Many years ago I was walking on the pavement and for an unknown reason a taxi mounted the pavement and drove into the back of me. My legs kind of buckled under the car and I was pulled down to the ground. A woman came running out the ship and the taxi driver got out and was very apologetic. I swore at him and said what the fuck do you think you were doing. He asked me if I was okay and it was over quite soon, he was gone. I was so baffled by the experience. The woman asked if I wanted to report him as she had his number plate. I said no. Don't know why, I was in my early 20s and I absolutely would do now.

Anyway the point being, your reaction is perfectly normal, however you react is perfectly normal. Playing things over is perfectly normal and it's the brains way of processing the event and putting it into memory - your brain wants you to stay safe and it probably needs to look at the event and the feelings you had a few times. It's also the fact there's no satisfactory ending - why were they speeding, will they do it again, did they even notice?

If you did want to report it you could probably find some CCTV footage.

Take care of yourself first though.

I was also in a car crash aged 18 but that was pretty bad and they weren't just driving off. A white van ran a red light and ploughed into my mums car. 1 second earlier and they would have hit her side, as it happened they hit the back door and spun the car. I instinctively went into brace position and then for some reason straight after it ended I hugged my mums head.

Reading and writing also involves left to right eye movements. I've been having EMDR and can vouch for it's effectiveness.

So happy you are unhurt - very shocking -
lucky you were not hit - I’d be enjoying every moment onwards xxx

totally agree it's worth reporting as that same driver will hit someone else
very reckless and he didn't even stop knowing he nearly killed someone

It’s frightening OP, and it makes me very angry as well.

My experience was a year or so ago. DS then 14 was with younger brother then 12 at the pedestrian crossing across the main road at the end of our street. I was lagging a few metres behind with youngest DS. I had a very clear view as the lights turned red, beeps started which coincide with the green man and DS14 stepped out as a bus went sailing past and DS jumped back. Not sure now whether it was me shouting, his brother warning him or him realising in time but it’s frightening to think how close it was.

We must drum into them, and ourselves, never to get distracted by phones when crossing and never to totally rely on the green man. Some drivers are utter twats and it makes my blood boil that someone who is entrusted with passengers and drives for their fucking living could nearly kill a child like that.

I gave a full report/complaint to the bus company and got a good reply about what was going to happen, although I was never told what had actually happened in the end. I like to think there is a good chance there were consequences for the driver as with it being a bus it was identifiable and the onboard cameras should have covered enough to support my account.

I think the trauma of it increases if, as in many examples here and with other things that have happened to me on the road, the utter scrotes just sail off having just nearly killed someone and there is very little you can do about it.

Yes had this once when a large lorry was speeding and lost balance and nearly collided/toppled on the car. Our lives flashed before us but although I haven’t forgotten after 10 years it hasn’t had a lasting impact.

So sorry this happened to you OP. I hope you are feeling a lot better soon.

I've had a few near misses and I sympathise greatly with the awful shock afterwards. One that I still think about happened thirty years ago. I was crossing a busy road in Nottingham with my then boyfriend. We had waited ages to cross as there were no gaps in the traffic for a long while. Eventually it was safe to cross. I think the speed limit must have been 40 mph. All of a sudden this maniac shot down the road doing what must have been at least 90mph. He came so close to hitting us that we had to run to avoid him as he was inches from hitting us. We ran so fast that we couldn't stop and both smacked into the wall on the other side of the road. I remember really hurting my wrists as I put my hands out to stop myself at the wall and my wrists bent backwards. Strangely my then boyfriend's friend happened to be walking towards us and had seen the whole thing and gave us both a big hug. We were so shaken up. I doubt it the driver gave it a second thought.

I am sometimes amazed at how some drivers become monsters behind the wheels of their cars. I think you can tell a lot about a person's true character by the way they drive. I remember a few years ago I was in the car with my Mum driving and up ahead on a busy road we started to notice that cars ahead were swerving to avoid something in the road. As we approached, we saw that it was a man who had been knocked off his push bike and was laying in the road with his mangled up bike next to him. I could not believe the amount of cars who had seen him and ignored him and driven off. My Mum pulled in and I got out and helped the poor man get up. He had hurt his leg and was very shaken. He told me that the car that did it to him drove off and he had been lying there for about ten minutes while drivers ignored him. It was so upsetting. He said he didn't need an ambulance and didn't want me to call the police. We offered to take him home but he said he could push his bike home as it wasn't far away. He was so grateful to us for stopping. The callousness of the people who didn't stop still astounds me.

We were on holiday in Devon and a car overtook us on a blind corner. Car coming the other way slammed on its brakes and avoided a collision, but the car behind it lost control and flew across the road and the car that had overtaken us smashed into it. The passenger was killed. There was huge police involvement, prosecutions etc. Anyway, I wanted to say that I went into shock and was very shaken up for a couple of weeks and ended up having something similar to EMDR to deal with it as it wasn't going away. It was tapping therapy and it truly worked.

Here's the thing. Human beings make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are compounded by them acting inappropriately in the first place. But sometimes not.

A car can be driving within the limit and the driver can still make mistakes or have a lapse of judgement.

As a pedestrian you need to keep your wits about you and not necessarily assume all the vehicles on the road are going to do what you expect them to or behave according to the rules.

When I walk out on a zebra crossing I always make eye contact with the driver first to make sure they have seen me. Not because I have to or the rules tell me I have to, but because I really don't fancy getting hit by two tonnes of metal and am willing to take additional steps/caution to prevent it from happening.

IMO it's not worth risking outsourcing your safety completely to someone else, and your chances of being hurt are far reduced if two pairs of eyes/brains are engaged rather than just one.

Yes, to my elderly dad, He was crossing the road as he wanted to speak to a neighbour & this car sped past him must have going 40 on a 30 road. I feel bad as I distracted him, whilst he was part way across the road- to this day (ten yrs later I still get flashbacks & sick to the pit of my stomach), thankfully he wasn’t hit.

There is a significant difference between what Oscar Wilde might call unfortunate and being a complete prat.

There are some very significant issues about the vehicles we allow on our roads - why for example when we have a 70mph speed limit can we buy cars that can do 140mph.

Then there issues about the sort of behaviour we tolerate, I cant imagine that anyone would want the pilot of their plane to Magaluf to be three sheets to the wind when she/he got in the cockpit so why in a car?

Might I suggest that in many cases we dont need to hand out jail sentences but trips to secure hospitals because some peoples driving behaviour is such that they clearly cant be 'normal' and we should demand to be protected from it.

It was 1987 & I took my 2 month Baby daughter with me in her pushchair/pram to the chemist & waited at the pavement to cross over when the driver waved at me to cross & as soon as I did, the dam driver started driving up as I was crossing with my Baby we just escaped fate by an inch or less ,it freaked me out, I was feeling shaky & weak the thought that I could of Lost my newborn Daughter left me very worried,what if it happened again.
I understand how you all feel that has experienced someone trying to kill you or seaming too bad

Or seaming like they want to kill, certainly looks that way at the time, & can't think what else the driver would be trying to do, (just correcting my spelling mistake? at the end of my sentence from the first post I sent

Not a pedestrian but on a horse. My sister and I were riding up on a wide grass verge on the side of a road up a hill, near the top of the hill you had to cross the road to get to a bridleway on the other side of the road. It was fairly close to the brow of the hill and you couldn't see over the other side, but the other side was a 30mph limit just coming out of a village and you could hear if anything was coming. She crossed first and as I was about to cross, 2 cars came over the brow of the hill at about 80mph, side by side (one on the wrong side of the road, one on the right side). Her horse still had one foot on the road and mine had just stepped out and we all just looked at each other in complete and utter horror. Thank god that no one was coming the other way or there would have been no one that survived that day. It still flashes back to me very regularly, how lucky all of us were that split second timing mean't none of the horses were in the road, no one was coming the other way.

Not just London, quite normal in other places too!

That was Very Lucky & Fortunate indeed, Glad No one plus the Horses -didn't get hurt,Thankfully!

Yes a boy racer in Manchester was speeding around and around a block, mounted the pavement and hit the woman walking next to me. I was so shaken up I kept crying the next day and it wasn’t even me that was hit.

very sad case here in ireland, husband wife and kids, late afternoon this xmas, hit and run, on a busy road/crossing.,,completely random, driver handed himself in that evening i believe. RIP the two adults.