Still Nervous and Shaky

[crokett]

Was coming home from work tonight and the car ahead of me on the interstate squibbed a little. I backed off on the gas just in case, then lost my steering. Still not sure if it was a hydroplane or something else on the road. Probably both. There was an accident around that spot earlier today.

Anyhoo, the car started spinning. As the car started slewing around I thought it would really suck to hit the guardrail. As I was sliding backwards looking at oncoming headlights I decided it would really suck to get hit. I ended up spinning back around so I was headed more or less the right direction then steered the car off the road - the engine had quit. The guy behind me stopped to see if I was ok and said when he saw me lose it he started to dial 911 cause he didn't think I was gonna recover.

[KenBurris]

I did that once on a banked curve on I-70 in downtown Indy - but because of glare ice on all 4 lanes. after the momentum dissapated, i slowly slid down to the bottom of the curve sideways. don't remember how I got going again - luckily no traffic in the way. glad you came out ok - makes your head spin too, doesn't it ?

[footprintsinconc]

wow! you are definitely very lucky. some one must be watching over you.

something similar happened to my father back when i was in grade 2. he use to visit us on the weekends since the drive to work was about 8 hours away. so sunday night he left home so that he could be at work by morning, but on the way early morning, he went to sleep on the highway. he says he was in the right lane, but he crossed three lanes, went through the barrier, went through three lanes of on coming highway and went through another barrier and into the ditch. he says, he just remembers waking up all of a sudden when the car hit the ditch. miraculously, he was not injured. he said, he got a second chance to lift that day.

glad to see that you are well.

[Uncle Cracker]

Was doing about 50 on the local tollway in a medium rain a few years back, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the car passing me in the left lane looked very familiar. Turns out it was my own ass-end, as the rear wheels on the T-Bird Super Coupe I was driving had hydroplaned completely loose. I spun backwards through the grass median, and somehow managed to come to rest without re-entering on my side or plowing into the oncoming lanes. Had to pull about three feet of leather upholstery out of my you-know-what on that day.

[jackellis]

Just a thought but those of you who live where the roads tend to ice up in winter might look into a course that trains you to deal with sliding around.

I'm a private pilot and twice now all the initial and recurrent training I get helped me deal very calmly with in-flight emergencies. Part of the value is in knowing exactly what to do to get yourself out of trouble. More important is the confidence you'll have if you actually do have to deal with an emergency.

[Anna]

Wow, glad to hear you're okay.

I witnessed something similar happen to an SUV in front of me on the freeway. We were both in the fast lane, going at least 70mph, with the lanes pretty full. The SUV jerked to the right, like when someone pulls on the steering wheel to the right, over-corrected and jerked to the left, driving straight into the concrete median. I started slowing down when I noticed the motion just before the jerk, and the other cars beside me already started moving towards the outer shoulder.

I was glad they did that, because my only choices at that point was to run into the SUV, now parked with its nose in the highway and its rear in the median (the impact was so hard that, although it ran into the median, it pretty much jumped up and bounced 180 degrees around), drive into the car beside me, or step on my brakes and have the cars behind me drive into me.

I stopped a few feet ahead of the SUV and started dialing 911. I remember broken glass, a big mud splotch on my windshield, and people running towards the SUV in seemingly slow motion. Funny enough, I don't remember any sounds. I didn't get out of the car because there were at least half a dozen cars already stopped with their occupants trying to get to help the SUV. I read somewhere that I'd probably be more of a hindrance if I stuck around, and traffic had to start moving again anyway.

It probably could have been much worse if the other drivers were not paying attention. It was close to rush hour on a major highway and there were lots of cars. I was really impressed with the discipline that the other drivers exhibited. I thought California drivers are the worst in the country. That experience suggested otherwise.

Needless to say, I drove under the speed limit the rest of the way home.

[gerti]

Germany, Autobahn: 2 lanes my way, I was doing about 100mph on the left lane when I notice a Mercedes come up fast behind me. A semi was a ways ahead on the right, plenty of time to move over, let the other car pass and get back in the left lane to pass the semi.

The Mercedes seemed to take it's time, but finally caught up. Then that %$%$#& decides he wants the exit (always on the right on the Autobahn) and cuts in front of me, less then 3 feet away while breaking (remember, I am still going 100mph).

Trying to miss him I lost control. Did 3 full 360s. Saw guardrails rushing on in the front and the back for what seemed like an eternity. Came out of the spin facing the right way, rolling to a stop on the emergency lane, seeing the Mercedes on the exit ramp in the distance (&*^%$^% never slowed down to check). People in cars coming by were applauding and honking.

Once the (literal) smoke cleared, I had caught my breath and my body began to resume normal operation, I stepped out to check the car. Not a scratch, and to my surprise the tires were still there, though having a bluish cast all over the treads.

I was very lucky that day.

[RayintheUK]

Just a thought but those of you who live where the roads tend to ice up in winter might look into a course that trains you to deal with sliding around. ........... More important is the confidence you'll have if you actually do have to deal with an emergency.

An excellent suggestion, Jack! It doesn't only apply to those likely to be affected by weather, you can have a surface-related skid anywhere (diesel spill, whatever) and being trained to react calmly and instinctively is worth every penny.

The trouble is that when you have an awful experience like David did - great to hear the outcome was OK, BTW - you tend to drive more carefully for a day or two, then as the memory fades, so does the anticipation of a repeat.

When I was working, training advanced police drivers, we used skid-frames for training, so we could do it all year round in any condition. Here's one:



Ray.

[cabinetman]

I'm also involved as an instructor in performance/car control training. Taking classes is very beneficial as the classroom/driving sequence puts theory to use. There are many low cost courses available less than the cost of schools like Bob Bondurant, or Skip Barber.

Major car clubs like BMWCCA (BMW Car Club of America), PCA (Porsche Club of America), and POC (Porsche Owners Club), don't require you to own their marque. Any of the local chapters of these organizations can give details. There are one day, two day courses, usually held at major racetracks. On track training with an instructor, wet/dry skidpad, accident avoidance, braking, and slalom training are all incorporated with a sit down classroom, teaching vehicle dynamics and car control principles.

Car control can be learned, but has to be practiced. Most driving incidents happen so fast that the first seconds of a reaction may be the difference of nothing happening except for a fast heartbeat, to something very serious.
.

[mater]

That will leave you nervous & shaky. I am glad everything turned out for the good.

[sparkeyjames]

Back in 2001 I was driving a Jeep Cherokee to my GF's house and was on the freeway heading west. Near an intersection with another freeway there was a curve with an off camber tilt to the roadway (ie turn is to right tilt of roadway is high right low left. Since rebuilt correctly). Anyway it was raining and cold just on the verge of freezing. I was in the far left lane of a four lane stretch doing 70mph. I hit a patch of ice and the front end broke loose to the right. Nothing I did helped. The front end was planing after that. So I let go of the wheel and thought this is a Jeep it's gonna roll, I'll keep my eyes open till it does. To my good fortune it stayed on the pavement as opposed to going into the grass median and with wheels down only spun 1 and 1/2 times. I wound up facing the traffic behind me which had slowed to a stop to watch the show and of course to avoid me. When the Jeep finally stopped a couple of hundred feet down the road my shaking hands were able to shift the car into neutral and restart the engine which had stalled. I pulled off to the side of the road to calm down. One kind motorist behind me pulled over to see if I was ok. A few minutes later I continued on to my destination at a much reduced speed.

[rnelson0]

As the car started slewing around I thought it would really suck to hit the guardrail. As I was sliding backwards looking at oncoming headlights I decided it would really suck to get hit.

I had an episode like that when hydroplaning. I thought "Wow, it's really going to suck to hit that guardrail," quickly followed by, "Wow, that really sucked to hit that guardrail!" Amazing how time slows down to give you the ability to think that - total time from hydroplane to collision was probably less than 3 seconds.

Glad it turned out okay. You will probably think of this accident for the rest of your life, so at least it's not a horrible memory. I still think of hitting that guardrail, and how I was listening to "Enjoy the Silence", which cut out right at the time I hydroplaned, like it was coreographed. I don't know that it actually happened like that, but that's how I remember it

[Ed62]

That's not one you're likely to forget any time soon. Glad you made out OK.

It was probably about 40 years ago when I was pulling a camping trailer behind my station wagon. We were going down I-65 through Indianapolis, when I hit a patch of ice. After doing a couple of 360s, we were on our way to Florida again. Luckily, it was in the middle of the night, so there were no other cars close to me when it happened. Those type of things stay with you for a while.

Ed

[Richard in Smithville]

I'm glad you here to write about it Davey. Sometimes you think, " I doubt I could drive out of something like that", but when it happens you amaze yourself. Many moons ago, I hit black ice on a multi-laned highway, skidded over two lanes and I finally got control. I was just glad there were no cars beside me at the time.

[gsmittle]

Dave, (and everybody else with similar stories)

Glad to hear it turned out OK. Did you need to treat yourself to a new set of boxers?

g.