It Felt Like The Big One At NASCAR.....

[icanfixall]

I have been reading all the posts about those crappy drivers wrecking our rigs... Now hopeing this wont ever happen to me or anyone else but... Last nite I was driving home from dinner at our daughters home... Great dinner and friends. I'm in double overdrive doing around 75 mph just like the traffic is .... I'm in the lane 3 of the 4 offered when this white 4 door import suddenly turns left just up in front of me so hard that smoke is coming off the tires. So I'm testing my hydroboost brakes and my friends dog takes flight under the dash. This car then turns back so suddenly with even more smoke burning off the tires towards the crash rail... Then it overcorrcts and now is traveling across all 4 lanes of 75+ mph traffic. Now I'm easily missing this white missle but... The red ford suv just starting to pass me on the left wasn't so lucky. I hear a crunch.. Then the white car hits the center concrete barrier hard... So there is another crunch sound... Then a huge thundering crach of metal sound... I'm thinking someone in the fast lane hit the white car doing around 75 plus mph... Now "parts" are flying everywhere in front of me... Its like someone just hit a pinyata and all the candy is flung everywhere. Now the red ford suv is still right beside me on the left going the same speed as me. I start slowing down but so this guy is doing the same thing.. I finally slow wnough and the suv gets past me... The left side of the suv is a mess... The front end is ripped up. The left tire is throwing crap and the left tail lite is broken out. Just as this suv makes it to the right side of the freeway something big that looks like a black shoebox jumps in front of me... I was able to straddle it and miss it. Now everyone is pulling of the freeway... I gather my thoughts... The dog now jumps into the back seat hiding from whatever is going on and I'm doing about 20 mph now about 100 yards from the mess behind me. I finally felt it was done and drove on. I know some safety and am ver good at cpr but... This is California. Its not uncommen for someone that stops to help ends up being sued for it. I'm not so sure anyone survived the accident. The sounds were not compatible with life. I do plane to go in to the chp and offer up what I saw happen. The 4 door white car didn't have anything in front of it. That car was just about 2 car lengths up in front of me. It was like someone was fighting for the steering wheel or they had a stroke of something hot spilled in there laps. Waht ever it was it was the drivers fault. I'm not a driver that will drive next to another car for very long nor will I allow another to pace right next to me... I always want free travel to both sides of me. As this was the red suv was just starting to pass me and I know I was doing right at 75 mph so they had to be doing more like 85mph by the speed at which they came up on me... I watch the rear view mirrors too... Both of them.. How I got thru all this is a mirical for sure. I looked the front of the truck over but didn't see any damage.... It was really like the big one at NASCAR....

 

[towcat]

gary-
your experience is almost identical to Lisa's experience a couple years ago when she totaled the last MBZ. Only difference she was in the #4 lane.
She avoided the errant vehicle but went off-roading when she over-corrected. She walked away but the MBZ left it's front suspension and oil pan in a drainage culvert.

 

[The Warden]

YIKES!! Which freeway was this on? Thank goodness everyone in your truck was safe, but I wonder how the people in the involved cars fared...it seems like accidents are getting to be more and more survivable with these modern cars, but nothing is guaranteed...

I know some safety and am ver good at cpr but... This is California. Its not uncommen for someone that stops to help ends up being sued for it.

Good point, not to mention other possible problems...

 

[MR.T]

another story -- Big Dog from Hell

Double YIKES!!! That sounds like one of those split-second moments of skill and luck where lives can change.

Here's a story of mine from about 20 years ago. I call it the "Big dog from Hell story". We flew to SoCal to visit relatives, then borrowed my fathers Chevy sedan to vist some other relatives. Stayed late and was headed back to Dad's on the 101 freeway a bit after midnight. It started to drizzle, and rain a little.

When I was a kid, Dad told us that traffic tends to run in packs, so if possible, get in front or fall behind so there's some room to maneuver in an emergency. Following this advice is going to be instrumental in surviving what's about to happen. My kids are in the back seat, almost asleep, when this big white dog from hell appears and tries to cross the freeway!

When I change lanes to avoid it, the dog turns back and into my lane. So I'm back to my original center lane and the dog does the same. This big white dog is suicidal, and there is no time for anything besides impact.

For a split-second I felt sorry for the dog. But empathy for this dog from hell evaporated as we went into a skid, rotated, and saw the headlights of the cars BEHIND us. Survival instinct kicks in an I'm doing everything to complete the pirouette... Forward speed decreases and somehow I got it to the right shoulder where the tires kiss the burm, but not with enough momentum to go further and hit the guard rail. The cars that were behind us **** by.

The engine is dead, and it turns out the transmission has somehow locked up. This explained the sudden skid, the rear wheels stopped turning when the tranny locked up. The drizzle turned into hard rain and we walked to a restaurant to call for a tow. We had to fly out the next morning, so I told Dad to send me the bill.

He took it to a shop where the guy turned out to be squeamish and couldn't handle the blood and guts. Dad had to help. Damaging the transmission linkage was the last act of defiance for this big dog from hell.