Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General This car saved my *** yesterday

I'm driving home from work. It's about 6:30 p.m. Traffic is fairly light. I'm on a freeway out here about 2 miles from my exit. I'm the next to last car in a group in the fast lane. We're all doing about 80. I have about 4 car lengths between myself and the guy in front of me.

Anyway, we're ticking along and I'm inching past an 18-wheeler in the middle lane with one of those low, flat trailers like they use to carry heavy equipment. He has nothing on the trailer.

Completely out of the blue, everyone in front starts lighting up their brakes hard and swerving! I'm thinking someone in front must've blew a tire. I start braking fairly hard myself. Out of nowhere a huge (6"x6" or so) piece of lumber appears from under the car in front of me. He starts to slowly lose the back-end and looks like he's going to cross paths with the semi.

I'm on the brakes as much as I can be w/out locking them up and dive to the inside shoulder. The car in front gets back under control and ends up there, too. Problem is, now I'm sandwiched between two cars - one damn near stopping in front and one up my ass behind me (a Land Rover, of all things). In a situation like this, I always try to make sure I can stop safely if need be while allowing whoever's behind enough room to do the same and not crunch my car.

During all this I glance in the rear-view and notice the empty trailer on the 18-wheeler has locked up its tires. Now I'm thinking jack-knife and I'm right here to take full advantage of an out-of-control trailer

I stayed on the shoulder for about 100 yards. Good thing since there were some large boxes that were in the road, too; the kind that those small refrigerators come in. They must've been empty, because the semi clipped one and it went flying off the road.

After I feel the situation is over, I ease back into the lane and head toward my exit. The board and boxes all seem to have been knocked off the road and I didn't have my cell phone with me, so I just breathed a sigh of relief, patted my baby on the dash and went home.

Almost lost her last night. That could've been far worse if the guy in front hadn't resumed control of his car, the semi had actually jack-knifed or the guy behind me hadn't been paying attention. All-in-all, a wake up call, but that's about it.

WOW!

that was intense. so where did all that crap come from?

That's funny, when I got to my destination in Az yesterday (7pm) my pick up full of 6x6s and cardboard boxes with no tie downs was empty?

I'm not sure. There was a pickup about 1/4 mile up the road off to the shoulder with the tailgate down. No one was in it and I didn't see anyone on the side of the freeway, so it may not have been from there.

I noticed the guy in front and behind both on the phone as soon as we cleared the debris, so I assume they were calling the authorities. I saw a police cruiser getting on the freeway just up the road and suddenly he hit his lights, flipped a ***** and sped towards the area. Likely responding to the calls.

Nothing surprises me on the roads in AZ.

I saw a 6ft ladder in the middle of the hi-way in Phoenix traffic one day. By the looks of it a few cars had hit it hard. I also saw an almost complete patio set another time, not to mention all the roadkill..

Glad you escaped ok. Stay safe out there ...

Thats why i say pepole who buy pick ups should have to go to calss befor being allowed to drive them legaly not much of a class just proper loading securing and basic manuviering especially with the 1 ton dullays.

i think i doo-doo'd on myself reading this...here in soCal there are too many close calls on the road

my bro was in stop and stop traffic one day when he was rear ended by some numbnuts estimated to be moving at a pretty high rate of speed especially considering the traffic in front of him was stopped or stopping...he pushed my bros car up between two cars in front of him tearing up his car from stem to stern and causing him soft tissue damage to his arm

one nite i was in the lane next to but behind a car carrier when (in my taurusaurus) when something fell off the truck...something like a piece of sheet metal....it skidded and sparked and i ran right over it making a horrible noise..i thought i had torn up my car but nothing seemed wrong so i kept going and check the car out when i got to my destination....it was okay

was cruising down the freeway in the fast lane one day in my passat when i noticed a semi (smart and final) veer sharply to the left from the far right lane several car lengths ahead. i immediately started slowing and thankfully so had the person behind me...i thought the semi was heading toward the center divider(its amazing how fast 55mph looks when u see a semi take a sideways path on the freeway)...so i stopped completely

the semi driver corrected really hard back to the right and as i watch him head toward the guardrail a vehicle appears between him and it....he hits it full-on broadside at speed and just crushes it to an unreconizable lump of metal...

the semi skidded down the guardrail to a stop while the vehicle (couldn't tell what it had been) slingshots all the way across the freeway and stops against the center divider....just a few car lengths from where i and the car behind me stopped...the car directly in front of me barely managed to sqeeze by the sliding clump

when things settled down we had to creep by the vehicle the truck hit and the roof was crushed in in a 'v' shape and i saw no one inside...all i kept thinking is whoever is in there is dead

a few of us stopped at a call box and took turns giving our side of what happened to the cali highway patrol....and waited for them to show up on the scene...what a mess i've still never seen anything like it

ultimately i ended up doing another phone interview from home with chp (who basically told me that they didn't agree with what i said i saw so i decided i wouldnt talk to them anymore) and i gave a deposition to some attorney (smart and final's i think) who told me that the pickup (it turned out to be) was coming on to the freeway at exactly the wrong place and time and basically ran into the big rig's front right wheel causing him to swerve...when he swerved back he made contact killing the two people that were inside

i dont remember much else except that the attorney (guy) complimented me on my hoop earings i was wearing.....i took that as a sign to get the hell outta that office

to this day i try not to drive directly beside or just to the front of big rig's....i try to stay toward the rear so that i can see what going on with them and then to pass them only when i have enough room to accelerate and get away from them

i am so glad to hear that your tour performed as u needed it to and very glad to hear that u were not hurt

You're right, gdub; So-Cal is nuts. I think close calls are a way of life out there.

One day while I was on Camp Pendleton headed to a buddy's place to help him move, I came upon a construction zone. This was a 4-lane road that they had shut down to 2 and were stopping vehicles occassionaly to allow the heavy equipment an opportunity to enter/exit the site. It was well-known that the lane closures existed - they had been doing this for about 3 weeks.

I'm one of the lucky ones that got stopped waiting for a truck to get across. Everyone comes to a stop and we're just sitting there waiting. All of a sudden - BLAM - my wife's van lurches forward and the seat back reclines a few inches forcing my foot off the brake. I pull myself up and stab the brake again before I move far. About this time there are some things flying through my head:

1 - What happened?

2 - Why did the damn seat recline during this?

3 - This van is only 2 months old - my wife is going to kill me.

4 - Did I hit anyone in front when I lost the brake for a second?

5 - Guess I won't be helping my buddy move his junk.

I collect my thoughts and get out to investigate. Turns out there's a white Ford Explorer that decided his front bumper and my rear gate could, despite the laws of physics, occupy the same space at the same time. I didn't hit the car in front.

The trick here is; he was stopped! Before this happened he had come to a complete stop. After talking to him he tells me he thought traffic was moving again and took off...right into my van. :rolleyes: I think he was intimidated a little too, since I was an NCO and he wasn't.

Anyway, his insurance paid for everything. My van was fixed and hasn't exhibited any problems related to the accident in the 3 years since.

Don't get me started on what happened to my Escort

Okay class, what's the rule?.....One car length per ten miles per hour? I like traveling at warp speed as well as everybody else but not enough gap between vehicles and too much speed difference between vehicles are the two biggest causes of accidents. I know it's hard to keep space between your vehicle and the one in front of you, especially here in the Los Angeles area. Someone always thinks you're leaving that gap for them to fill. :rolleyes: But it beats getting into an accident.

Karl