Posted on 03/31/2011 4:46:24 AM PDT by sussex
In the UK we call them lorries, not trucks and, of course, we drive on the left, not on the right, but whichever country you live in it must be a terrifying moment when you are on a dual carriageway and suddenly come face to face with a vehicle driving in the wrong direction….
(Excerpt) Read more at theagedp.com ...
One thing you really CAN’T do in that situation is try to avoid grief by swerving into the other guy’s lane (he being in yours); it’s guaranteed he’ll swerve back and there will be no explaining your side of it to the authorities. If you can’t get off the road altogether, best is to get stopped.
Nah, my nightmare is driving at night on a dark road and suddenly all the lights go out. I can feel the car still moving and I’m trying like hell to brake and pull off without hitting anything. Been a while since I had that one but it’s kinda nerve-racking...
Haven’t had the train in the tunnel one in quite some time... ;-)
“Nah, my nightmare is driving at night on a dark road”
My nightmare is that I’m driving down a dark road and I drop my lighter, and it’s just out of reach so I stretch......kaboom
I had a near miss with this in January on the 2 lane 55 mph road near my house. Some moron tried passing another car on the back side of a blind hill and when I crested the other side of it there he was, in my lane. No where to go because he was parallel to the car he was trying to pass.
Fortunately there was a wide shoulder there (but rock cliffs on both sides off the shoulder) yet it was covered with 2 feet of snow. I swerved into the shoulder, he missed my by a whisker, then as I tried to brake and ease my way back onto the road my car started to spin and I ended up sliding backwards down the road.
I ended up coming to a stop in the opposite shoulder facing the direction I had just come from, and somehow missed the moron, the guy he was trying to pass, the car behind the pass-ee, the rock cliffs, and the ditches.
If I hadn’t avoided him I would’ve been dead, we were both doing about 60 mph. I’m still rattled from it 3 months later.
1. Teenage moron texting in head-on.
2. Drunk.
3. Tailgaiting me at high-speed.
4. Illegal alien asswipe, drunk, and no license or insurance.
5. Teenage moron on phone.
6. 20 something woman on phone, texting, applying make-up, reading. Oh yeah, I've got many more.......................................
Almost a daily occurrence here in Italy! They all think they’re Juan Manuel Fangio.
Try a near miss like that on a motorcycle. Talk about bad choices. I had to choose between a head on with a Ford pickup or hit a curb at 55mph. Chose the curb. Played superman but didn’t land like him. Broken ribs on the left side and a broken wrist. Knocked me out. Best part was when I woke up, I found out that I had landed in a fire ant bed.
The real pisser is that the truck kept on with his pass and never stopped.
Someday, I hope to meet that person and personally thank him/her, with a baseball bat.
He replied, "I know it! But it isn't just one, they're hundreds of them."
The best I’ve seen was a woman shaving he legs while driving. Nice legs too.
It's times like this when I consider giving up being a Baptist and becoming a Lutheran.
Don't make me bring up the 'lady' in Florida who was shaving her 'business' while heading out for a date.
Seriously.
That would have been a video to watch.
I'm feeling no mercy nor Christian charity this morning, {must be my hidden mooselimb poking out today}.
Happened to my dad once.
Late at night, he was approaching a bridge and saw lights - a tractor trailer - in his lane headed towards him.
He figured his choices were to move the left (there was no other oncoming traffic) on the bridge or take the slope on the side of the road (no shoulder).
He took the slope. He tells me that, in his mind’s eye, he saw the driver waking up and pulling back into his lane just as he was passing him in th left lane on the bridge. He figured the slope was a better deal.
He totaled out a nice Honda Accord, but walked away without a scratch. He has no idea what happened to the truck and its driver.
Similar situation here in Colorado - two lane road coming back from NM. Luckily the road had nice shoulders so when I saw him passing, I went to the shoulder !
Also on the UK versus continental Europe, when I was in New Zealand, I rented a car and had to keep reminding myself to stay on the left side. Basically look at the opposing lane through my window. Just when I was turning, I had to think my turns through.
> I had a near miss with this in January on the 2 lane 55 mph road near my house. Some moron tried passing another car on the back side of a blind hill and when I crested the other side of it there he was, in my lane.
Happened to me a year and a half ago. Fortunately, I was driving a 15-passenger van, or two children and I would be dead.
My first thought was that this is how patriotic Americans feel about nobama (the great leader) coming at them relentlessly each and every day.
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