Wow that was close!

[SelfMadeTramp]

Drove to work today in the worst black ice i've ever seen in my life. Turned down a narrow country lane and went down a short but steep hill which also turned left. A river had been flowing down the hill off the fields and had gone straight on across the road instead of around it.

 

Due to the 'law of sod' a VW Golf was scrabbling up the hill, in the middle of the road, there was just enough room to get past on a bike! In what felt like slow motion I watched the accident unfold in my head, wheels locked and sliding towards the inevitable.... So, pumping the brakes as I have no ABS on my Transit Connect I am furiously trying to lose some speed. About 3 car lengths away and the Golf driver moves enough to let a Smart car through, so, plan B! I found enough grip to reach the marbles at the edge of the road (thanks rain) and turned up the grass bank.

 

There then followed a slightly surreal moment as we passed each other with me over at 30 deg looking down into the Golf. We just missed door mirrors but it was sooooo close. We both stopped a few car lengths later and probably both thought about a bit of road rage blaming the other etc..... After a long 5 seconds we both realised the futility of it and thanked the gods that we missed each other and drove away having learned another valued lesson in ice driving.

 

So, just how close have you come without actually crashing?

[M444TTB]

Slid down my parents steep and very snowy drive in my Mum's old Astra once. Stopped on the garden before it ended up in some bushes! Not had a problem on the road in recent years as I've had winter tyres on my BMWs and they are magic if you drive sensibly.

Probably the closest I've actually come to crashing and not done so was in my old Peugeot 106 when I had a big lift off oversteer moment on a roundabout. Nice pendulum yet it remained on the tarmac and didn't go through the fence into the Honda factory car park!

[corsechris]

A winter weather related one, although not recently. It was after some heavy snow that had mostly cleared, was in the Stratos copy heading to Chipping Norton on the A44 from Broadway, to find the road had been closed at Moreton in Marsh so followed the diversion. This took us down some twisty lanes which would normally have been grand, but of course, they were a bit iffy with lumps of compacted snow all over the shop. Generally OK...then I come to a small village I've never been to before that happens to be on a fairly steep hill with a blind bend as you enter. Crest the brow (slowly!) to be greeted by parked cars on the left and compacted snow/ice all across the road. Move out to avoid those then see someone coming up the hill. Swing into a gap in the parked cars to avoid the head-on, but now faced with the back end of a parked car. Just managed to get enough control to put it into the verge. Stopped with about 3" to spare before contact, with the nose of the car already underneath the back bumper of the one in front.

 

Phew.

[fatbaldbloke]

The closest I've ever come to a big accident was on the M1 and occurred just a split second before I had a big accident......

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

Couple of near misses

 

Coming back from a corporate event down a redistricted A road one summer, it had been raining heavily earlier after a long period of dry weather so the roads were greasy. Came round a corner to be presented with a long line of stationary cars waiting at the temporary traffic lights. Braked and panicked a little but stopped easily enough.  Then sat watching through my rear view mirror as the following car did not react immediately then braked far to late come hurtling towards my rear,  I move forward a right as far as I could bracing my self and waiting for the pain, only for the driver to veer left at the last moment and go sailing by across the verge and into the adjacent field. I had had time to brace so whiplash would have been minimized for me but I had a passenger who would not. Judging the speed the car was travelling as it passed it would have been a mess had it hit. We got out to check on the other driver, I did not really say much as I was still in the "thank god they missed mode", they were ok, just shook up and had a car that was somewhat stuck on top of a fence and hedge.

 

the other was similar

 

Travelling north up the M6 on a drizzly Friday evening towards where the M42 splits off I was considering stick to the M6 or switch to the M42, I made the decision to stick with the M6 only to find myself in the outside lane when the traffic started to grind quickly to a halt just as the M42 splits off, I looked to see if there was any sort of gap to move left and decided they was not it was too congested and therefore risky I was going to have to stick to the M6. Thankfully for me someone following was not so considerate and they must have moved lane when the gap was not there and caused a pill up. This meant that the lanes to my left were now free and I could safely move over and on to the M42. With less patients it could have been me that caused a big accident.

[pistonbroke]

Lost both wing mirrors on my Anglia van , one on the bus I was overtaking , one on the bus that was coming the other way !

[Stuart]

In my Mini Marcos many years ago waiting in a queue at the t-junction at the Thurcroft end of the Bramley to Thurcroft Road (Rotherham chaps).  Looked in my mirror and hurtling towards us was a van.  And I mean hurtling.  Nothing I could do.  Thought we were in big trouble.  But he shot past us (I'd guess at about 40mph) and past the several cars in front of us on the grass verge - it may even have been a verge cum ditch.  When he eventually stopped he got out and came back to apologize.  "Sorry mate, ah were listnin to t'Flying Pickets and were miles away" he said (yes that's how long ago it was).  

 

That same Mini Marcos got driven into by the H&S chief from Norwest Holst a few months later.  He on wrong side of road - head on but at fairly low speed.  I drove away but his tintop didn't!

[AidanPlace]

Bought a lovely BRG '66 BGT with wire wheels just before I moved to Northern Ireland. It had just been restored. No problems with driving it over here but on my second day heading down to work i came to the roundabout at the end of the motorway and braked to hear a noise like an air ratchet and my driverside front wheel overtook me.

 

Thankfully there wasnt much traffic and I steered around wha there was. Managed to coast to a halt on 3 wheels and a disk. Couple of motorists help me lift the car to fasten the wheel on and locate the spinner. When I checked it out at home that evening the front axle assemblies had been fitted to the wrong sides so every time I braked it was trying to undo. Lucky I reckon.

[SelfMadeTramp]

Me again, just remembered an old one. I drove a Metro Turbo Mk1, it had mentally powerful front brakes in a very short wheelbase chassis. If it wasn't pointing straight when you hit the brakes it pivoted around the front axle .I used to belong to gun club (before Hungerford) and I was on the way back from Bisley shooting range with my cousin next to me. It was a hot day so we had the windows open. We came upon a very nice young lady on a bicycle, my cousin had his arm out of the window mimicking to squeeze her.... you know. So while I was watching him I wasn't watching the car in front.

 

I had started to go around the bike when I looked up to see a stationary car in front, at a zebra crossing. I hit the brakes soooo hard, the car snapped sideways which I caught without thinking, then I corrected the reverse tank slapper. We came to halt alongside the other car, perfectly aligned on the wrong side and perfectly level with the other car at the crossing. It was a complete fluke, un-repeatable if I tried it a hundred times. As we sat there watching the startled pedestrian we were enveloped in a cloud of blue tyre smoke, so funny afterwards but not at that moment. I sh@t myself.

[blue ass fly]

Nasty fog and drizzle one evening about 16yrs ago

Just come off the m6 sth onto m42 sth and was busting for a wee wee ( had a pint with a mate)so pulled up under the bridge for a quicky

Off i went - outside lane out of the way of hgv spray,squinting to see when saw a dim light ahead so i backed off a bit thinking it was a car in front with a broken rear lense

It was a hgv that had crossed the central res and was sat facing me in the outside lane , lit by one sidelight

I calmly swerved around him,ran over the barrier that was lying across two lanes , and continued on without touching the brakes

Got home about 20 minutes later and shook for about a hour

I honestly think if i hadnt had a beer and needed the loo ide have probably hit him