Over 36 years , I’ve had plenty, from aqua planning or sliding on black ice , but here’s my top3
1 coming down the A3 , Tolworth to Cobham . snow all around , inside lane fine , middle lane, , the one I was driving in ok , doing 50 , outside lane no chance . In the inside lane 2 cars trundelling along , when the second one pulled out in front of me , no indication , I had a choice , hit them , or try my luck in the outside lane. This I went for , hit a ridge and was heading for the central reservation , turned the steering wheel away and eventually did a 720 , and finished up stationary in the inside lane facing the wrong way.
2 coming down Rowhampton Hill , and out towards Wimbledon the truck carrying garden waste was in the outside lane , and a large tarpaulin flew off and covered my windscreen , thankfully on a straightish area . Just slowed down gradually till I could stop with Hazzard lights on , and able to get out and remove it.
3 coming around the M25 down by Clackett Lane on a Friday night , doing 50 ish , not too bad for Friday on the M25 when the front tyre exploded
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2X suicidal overtakes towards me on the A9. One a minibus, fortunately there was a soft verge I could use. The other a youngster in an old Fiesta too impatient to wait behind a tractor, I saw him early and stopped to give him room, but it was close. Both times in daylight with my headlights on.
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Riding a motorbike in the dark and rain in the '60s (6V electrics) when I saw what I thought was a brick directly in front of me, too late to swerve. Decided to hit it square on and chance the consequences. It was a soggy cardboard box!
M6 and a VW beetle was slipstreaming me. It wouldn't (or couldn't) overtake so I accelerated into the outside lane and came across a stationary car. Braking hard I could stop in time, but that would then have left me stopped behind it. I carved up something rotten whatever was in lane two and then got back into lane 3 (which was empty of course) and got back up to cruising speed. Checking my mirrors I saw a VW beetle rolling end over end as a result I assume of it hitting the stationary car.
M25 recently, cruising along at an honest 70 in the middle lane I saw in my mirrors a people carrier barrel rolling down the road behind me and catching me up. Fortunately it lost momentum before getting to me.
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Driving my first car with a laminated screen I was driving behind a car with a trailer at around 60 on the A12. i saw something become detached,bounce and come straight for me like a bullet. I think it was a bolt. It hidt the screen at head height.
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Coming down the M6 on a bright Sunday morning a couple of years ago. For the purposes of this story just me and a lorry on the motorway - it really was very quiet in my direction.. Lorry was in lane 1 and, because I had room, I was starting to move to lane 3 lane to pass him.
He wobbled onto the hard shoulder then over-corrected and lost control, and the lorry did 180 degree turn right in front of me, slammed against the metal crash barrier of the central reservation , flattening it, then continued backwards under his own momentum until it stopped.
The drivers on the other carriageway were so lucky that the crash barrier kept him from crossing carriageways otherwise it would have been real carnage as northbound was quite busy.
I must admit I wasn't particularly fazed but you'd have thought the world might be ending if you'd heard SWMBO and daughter screaming and all that.
The lorry driver wasn't able (or willing) to tell me why it had happened but I expect he was distracted by a mobile device.
I think for me the scariest part was being stationary in lane 3 and not knowing if someone would come haring along and wipe us out. The Highway Agency patrol and police were pretty quickly in attendance.
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I forgot two others coming from Godalming 30+ years back on the A3 towards Guildford , was going down the hill when I saw a car flying from the other side over the top of me. Thankfully I was driving my bosses 1.6 Escort at 60 , legal then , and not my 1.1 Austin Allegro , as I was able to speed up .
And another coming back frommGt Yarmouth , and due to an accident around Thetford , I dropped down to a road that became the A14 , I was going along doing 75-80 , and I saw headlights getting closer , then a Lorry with British plates went past me , the suck was immense , glad I was an experienced driver and carrying a heavy load
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One good thing these days is there is almost 100% motorway camera surveillance, certainly in the central belt of Scotland. It means that help turns up usually quickly, normally a van with a big illuminated roof sign for protection. These can often be seen parked at motorway junctions and are provided by the company that has the trunk road maintenance contract.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 29 Aug 18 at 20:54
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Driving over a bridge in a gale in a mk2 Fiesta 950. NSL road, was doing about 30 as was other traffic.
In lane 1, I was blown in to lane 2 then back in to lane 1 and up against the barriers - but no contact.
Since then they have added a wind sock and strengthened the barriers.
Travelling to a hotel for a meeting the next day. Not rushing and in lane one of a 3 lane nsl road.
HGV in front had a scaffold board on top of the tarpaulin and it came off spinning towards me like a buzz saw.
I was in a 3.2l V6 convertible (those were the days) and managed to close the gap. The board sailed inches over my roof.
Last edited by: zippy on Wed 29 Aug 18 at 21:25
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Reminded me of driving towards a right angled RH bend. A brick lorry (remember them, stacks of bricks with the outside angled towards the top) coming the other way. I saw the bricks start to move and accelerated. The bricks did a good demolition job on the car behind me, but I was in in an old Vitesse with swing axles, now going too fast to make the right hander, so I lifted off - 180 degrees later I got everything sorted and as there were no casualties (just loads of bricks on the road) i went on my way.
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Cars are also getting inbuilt notification systems for accidents. Mine has an SOS button which will let emergency services know where etc. I think it might even say how many passengers. If airbags trigger it will do all this automatically.
To get high Euro NCAP scores I think cars need this as standard. Or will soon.
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One morning, in the dark, I met a car coming towards me in the 'fast' lane of the M4.
I missed it. Don't know how, but I did.
It was in the paper the next day.
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>> One morning, in the dark, I met a car coming towards me in the 'fast' lane of the M4.
"Ring ring"
"Hello"
"Hi honey, just phoning to tell you to be careful, apparently there's a lunatic on the M4 driving in the wrong direction"
"ONE!!! There's ruddy hundreds of them"
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Pulling into an Ikea car park.
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Wotspur, you live and drive in my neck of the woods.
Can you send me a monthly diary of your planned road journeys so I can avoid them?
Thanks
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Last Sunday (in pouring rain) one of my nieces was following a car on the A5 which aquaplaned and spun into a car coming the other way. The driver of the car in front was killed outright and the driver of the other car died later on the scene as paramedics attended. Must have been really tough on my niece not only to witness the accident, but to be the first on the scene and see the dead driver, etc. Police statements etc. followed - a long day.
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Aquaplaning.
I was on the A1 where it had just rained heavily. I could see water running across the road so I lifted. The engine revs dropped to tickover although I knew I was still doing 60. Dipped the clutch and waited, fortunately nothing untoward happened. The tyres weren't new, but they were far from worn out.
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Following a bin wagon on a rural road, saw it had a large cobble wedged between it's two offside rear tyres, just as I was thinking of warning the driver, it shot out and came straight at us, luckily it skimmed over the top of the car missing us by inches, bounced a couple of times in the road behind, and rolled into the hedge. very scary!
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4 or 5 years ago I was overtaking a car on the A34 near Abingdon. It was peeing down with rain at the time.
As I drew alongside him we both hit some standing water under a bridge and both of us aquaplaned.
My vision completely obscured by a vast spray of water created by our cars hitting the standing water.
I was waiting for the crunch, or even worse to happen, but nothing.
What seemed like ages, but probably only a few seconds later I could see out the windscreen again. I was now in the nearside lane and the car I was overtaking was in the overtaking lane. Somehow we'd swapped lanes. How either of us didn't wipe each other out, or end up in the central barrier is anyone's guess.
There was a layby just ahead which I pulled into. I got out the car for some much needed air, and a chill pill.
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I am amazed at the speed some people drive in wet conditions. A guy did a spin on a roundabout in front of me recently. Too much right pedal in a RWD car.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 30 Aug 18 at 11:34
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>> I am amazed at the speed some people drive in wet conditions.
I'm amazed at the speed some people drive.........
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>> I'm amazed at the speed some people drive.........
>>
I'm amazed that some people drive ......
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>> I'm amazed that some people drive ......
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I agree, but I don't think speed itself is a problem. The clever bit is "when".
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>> I'm amazed at the speed some people drive.........
Or the lack of it. Or braking for a speed camera when they're already travelling 10 mph slower than the posted limit, or when it's not even on their side of the road.
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Some of the digital cameras in my bit of the world cover both directions. I agree that some people seem to be terrified of cameras, usually the ones who are also terrified of accelerating in case it uses a little extra fuel.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 30 Aug 18 at 12:56
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No ,where woul d the fun be in that ....
As you asked nicely , today I’m off to Hove
Oh that reminds me of another time , come back from Hurstpierpoint , I pulled onto the A23 , pulled,out to overtake a slow moving vehicle( tractor) , accelerated and there was nothing there, zero power , and with a lorry bearing down on me , I just had to hit the hazard lights , pull in after the tractor went by .
The AA man came out ,checked it all out and it was deciced it was an ERG valve that was blocked ......
Last edited by: wotspur on Fri 31 Aug 18 at 09:24
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>> The AA man came out ,checked it all out and it was deciced it was
>> an ERG valve that was blocked ......
>>
It wasn't a Focus 2.0 TDCI was it? Ford did a campaign to fix that problem, if you complained of the problem they impounded the car to await a modified EGR, supplying a hire car if it was less than a year old (manufacturers warranty). I got a new Mondeo for three weeks.
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1. M621, south Leeds, just managing to keep up with rush hour traffic by driving flat out in a Citroen Ami 8 (known to friends and family as the 'Dulux Dog' owing to the quality of the paintwork). I become aware of a hot smell. I hope its from outside. It's coming from a rusty Mk3 Cortina which I'm about to pass. The whole offside half-shaft, wheel, brake drum slides off the Cortina and starts an irregular bounce towards me. I freeze as the assembly pole-vaults over me and the wheel contacts the roof of the car behind. Goodness knows what happened after that.
2. A34 near Newbury coming back from a family holiday and heading north in a Citroen CX with the caravan on the back. We're not long off the ferry and it's still misty in patches. A military ambulance without lights of any sort does a suicide overtake on an artic coming towards me. I brake hard, ABS is in the distant future and 6 wheels lock but eveything stays in line. The ambulance takes a towing mirror with it as it disappears.
3. A85 coming back from the Tour of Mull rally. My mate's rally-prepped Mk1 Escort and 8 wheels and tyres are on a borrowed 4-wheel car trailer being towed by my Citroen CX. The loaded trailer weighs 1375kg, exactly the same as the CX. My mate and his lady are in a Citroen 2CV following me. My wife, infant child and mate's navigator are asleep in the CX. We start going downhill and the trailer is in charge starting with a slow oscillation. I remember reading somewhere that it's possible to accelerate out of a snake and I push the gas. The slow swing quickly becomes a massive snake. The trailer tyres squeal on each swing and the Escort fills first one mirror then the other. At this point I decide that we are going to have an accident but I resolve to have it as slowly as possible and try and brake hard when the trailer is in line with the car. All returns to normal at the bottom of the hill but I need to stop and throw up at the side of the road.
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Mine is one, a memory of my own driving.
I once rode a Suzuki GS750 between two pedestrians, in a group of pedestrians, where neither of my handle bar grips had more than an inch or two of clearance at full acceleration, with consequently no weight on the steering, starting from about 20mph, so probably around 60mph or thereabouts.
To this day I break out in cold sweats thinking about my own stupidity and just how badly that could have gone.
The slightest touch...……..
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 30 Aug 18 at 19:04
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Blooooming Hell. How did tha manage that?
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Biggest brown trouser moment was making progress down a quiet bit of the M40 a couple of years ago. I'd just overtaken another car in the middle lane which had moved over to overtake an MPV dawdling along in the inside lane doing about 50mph. As I was returning to the middle lane the MPV driver pulled out straight in front of me for no obvious reason and no indication.
I had to slam on the brakes and jerk the wheel over to avoid him. I was then almost sideways facing the barrier. I'd like to say that it was my driving skills that got it back under control but thank Glub for ABS and Stability Control.
Second biggest was years ago when we were living in Namibia.
We were heading back home to Swakopmund after a weekend break in Windhoek. It was late at night and I was doing about 160kph through the desert when I saw a gemsbok run across the road in front of me. I braked hard and when I was past where it had crossed I hit the throttle again. I was probably back up to around 120kph when a young gemsbok jumped straight in front of my headlights. BANG! - serious front end damage and car undriveable.
Stranded in the middle of the night in the Namib desert and half an hour later a bus appears coming in the other direction! The driver gave us a lift back to the nearest town where the local cop drove me about 30km back to my car and towed it into town before it was stripped for parts overnight - the dead antelope was already gone. When we got back to the station he showed me the recent accident record for that stretch of road. With the exception of a few incidents where cars had left the road, the majority of fatalities were due to injuries caused by antelope sliding up the bonnet and entering the passenger cabin.
Apparently we were very, very lucky that it was a young animal and we were going fast enough that it was thrown over the top.
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It wasn't frightening but driving in a 20mph zone earlier today and an oncoming BMW X5 behind other cars was driving aggressively, flashing lights, sounding horn and trying to overtake where it was a bit narrow. Had I not stopped and pulled in he'd have probably hit my car as he had crossed the white line by a wide margin. Soon after I roared around the other cars in front of him.
Seconds later a Police car with the blue lights on was also approaching. Me thinking that's why he's in a hurry and quite possibly was.... But they turned off. Maybe they were going to where he'd come from. Who knows.
That driver was going to cause an accident today sooner or later unless he continued to be lucky others got out of his way.
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Working in a post retirement job I had to have a driving assessment that was carried out in my case by an ex-police traffic officer.
I was toodling along in a string of traffic, when I commented 'that guy's in a hurry', as a white van sped past us on the wrong side of the road.
The assessor made a note of his registration number and commented that his old colleagues would be interested. I always wondered what happened.
I passed the assessment, with the comments that he thought I probably drove with one hand on the steering wheel (I replied he was probably right) and that I stopped too close behind stationary vehicles. He reckoned you should leave enough space to pull out round them if they stalled.
I was also praised for a very smooth drive, although he also asked if I could have joined at a slip road any faster despite me red lining it in every gear in a naturally aspirated diesel and almost getting up to 60MPH before joining!
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Not sure which was the most frightening.
Many years ago going south up a hill in Sussex with all the traffic going north I was suddenly confronted by a low powered familymobile on my side of the road and trying to overtake a coach.
I slammed on the non servo brakes and veered into a field entrance, stopping just before the gate.
SWMBO said he waved to me !!!!!
In South Africa driving on a gravel road in a non A/C car with all the windows open, SWMBO ( who has a licence but had not driven for decades) thought I was driving too fast, panicked and with no warning yanked the handbrake on.
In a flash we were into the bush in a big cloud of dust outside and inside the car.
No recollection of detail as we could not see anything.
We finished up having done at least 180 degrees on flat ground and had hit nothing nasty or hard.
A totally different frightening experience occurring over 10 minutes at 30 mph ish.
Road rage. A biker on a lowish powered bike had the red mist and chased me along streets in my area.
Putting it bluntly I was really worried for my safety to the extent that I was prepared to see him splattered on the road. He had already done several 180 degree turns and was now two miles in the opposite direction he was originally traveling.
I did a crash stop to do a late right turn and he went past my nearside.
The prawn attempted to kick my door in passing and almost bit the tarmac.
If his attempt had been successful he would have been on the ground.
There it ended. He gave up.
The biker was had thought he should not have to share the road with me and lost all reason it when discovered he had to.
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Your most frightening driving experience ? - Old Navy
