That was close!

[Alex225]

What's the closest you've come to having a crash or being crashed into without an accident actually occurring?

Had a moment on Saturday morning which was so close but luckily resulted in just a change of pants for the other driver.

Headed along a country lane at about 34-35mph, it was winding and damp at this point so not where you'd go any quicker. As I've come over the brow of a hill, there's a tractor coming the other way. It took a moment to realise the size of the thing as the green body and lights are central, the tyres being the same colour as the road took a moment to register that they were in half of my lane. So I came to a fairly abrupt but perfectly safe stop.

It was just as I came to this stop that I realised that I had a Ford Focus about 6" to an angle up the bank to my left! I had to reverse around the car to allow the tractor past.

I then got out to see if the driver was ok, which she was but just a bit shaken. I hadn't even noticed her driving particularly close behind me but the sudden stop caught her out completely and she was then given the choice of hit the back of my other half's CLS or mount the grass verge. I'm glad she opted for the latter!

 

[Gazwould]

Just over a week ago .

U-turn in front of me from a layby .

 

[219]

Just over a week ago .

U-turn in front of me from a layby .

I had a taxi driver do that to me in a built up area , thankfully I was obeying the 30mph limit when he pulled out without warning , forcing me to stand on the brakes and blast the horn - then he gave me dogs abuse as if it was MY fault !!! Sadly , no photos or video .

 

[Alex225]

Just over a week ago .

U-turn in front of me from a layby .

Proper code brown moment there!! I mean what goes through their mind as they do that, especially on a road that I'm assuming would be at least a 50mph speed limit? Well done for getting round them though.

I had a taxi driver do that to me in a built up area , thankfully I was obeying the 30mph limit when he pulled out without warning , forcing me to stand on the brakes and blast the horn - then he gave me dogs abuse as if it was MY fault !!! Sadly , no photos or video .

Got to love that reaction haven't you! Someone else does something wrong and as a reaction to you nearly hitting them and likely being somewhat annoyed yourself, their reaction is to have a go back.

Funnily enough I can recall a guy reversing out of a space despite me being literally straight behind his car. Looking in any mirror he'd have seen part of my car. I beeped as he must have had his eyes shut and this guy got stroppy and told me to, 'look where I was going'. I didn't take kindly to this and in one of my less proud moments, got out and walked up to his window. It was like that scene from Snatch with me explaining that if you reverse, you need to look where you're going to which is he apologised! haha

 

[poormansporsche]

When I was young and stupid. Was caning it down a country lane, a women in a E30 equally caning it in the other direction. I swerve up a bank and travel a good 50 foot on 2 wheels but amazingly flop back the correct way destroying my rear brakes in the process (something to do with being a van) She doesn't even brake or swerve just covers both of her eyes with her hands !!! To this day I'm still not sure if my roof nudged the roof of her car and it was this that tipped me the correct way.

 

[John]

Around 20 years ago I had an old 1993 2.0 Vauxhall Carlton.

I was driving to work and was running a bit late.

I'd had a few drivers bumbling in front and was getting more and more annoyed as time went on - I perhaps wasn't able to easily deal with this sort of situation like I am now.

So after one particularly-annoying driver got out my way, I decided to make some reasonable progress on a 30mph road in Bourne End heading to Cookham (the cut through that takes you in front of the shops if you know the area).

As I reached level with the first shop on the left the car coming the other way, obviously not being able to gauge my speed at all (understandably), just pulled across me to park in front of the shops.

I slammed on the brakes and steered to the right hard and I was astounded that I was able to steer round the back of said other car.

Given the size of the car, to this day I still cannot believe I was able to steer it whilst braking that hard around the other car and have no issues.

I thought I was fcked the second he pulled in front but it all happened so quickly that I came out the other side utterly amazed.

Learnt a lesson that day thankfully!

Also, around 25 years ago when I had my first Opel Manta 2.0 GTE (making good progress again), I discovered the hard way that brakes in that car were not great and got them sorted after.

But on a main road (Hayes Road if you know it), I literally sailed out through the give way onto the main road (Hayes Lane) before I was able to scrub off enough speed to be able to turn right. The roundabout wasn't there in the early 90s.

Luckily very late / early hours meant nothing on the road!

Another lesson learnt that day.

There were probably others but these were the most memorable and produced the most brown liquid.

 

[Meldrew2]

Many years ago, driving a Bedford Chevanne I spun - despite travelling slowly - on ice on the A1... up and down the bank and onto the central reservation. No trees or crash barrier interfered with my slide, the road was quiet, but it was certainly a "moment"

In a Ford Fiesta, I was overtaken on a winding country lane by a boy racer in an old Mini, who tore off into the distance - for about 30 seconds - before firmly implanting himself in the front of a Capri.

Several years later, in a Renault Extra, I was in a queue of moving traffic on the M6 on L3 - a split second after I moved across to L2 the traffic in L3 collided end to end but L2 was not impacted.

More recently, in a W163 ML on the M6 passing slower traffic in L3, a foreign registered HGV pulled into L2, colliding with the car which was already in that lane, causing it to hit the central barrier, cue (very) firm braking from me and the Transit that was to my rear.

In a BMW M3 on the A55 expressway, I drove into a cloudburst and while the traffic was slowing, the car in front, which was towing a trailer, jackknifed into the central barrier, and I was very grateful for the ABS which enabled me to change lane while braking sharply and I was equally grateful for the Pirelli P6 tyres which kept their grip throughout.

Finally, in a W204 C class on the M58 I was passing slower traffic on an uphill stretch in L3 when a car joining from the Pimbo slip road pulled straight across to L3, again extremely firm braking and a subsequent change of underwear.

 

[Wolfie1]

A car coming the wrong way down a dual carriageway straight for me or the foreign driver driving on the wrong side of the b road again directly at me and getting my drivers mirror knocked off are prob mine

 

[anglaslt]

Many years ago on a cold winter's night I was driving home from London to Flax Bourton, just south of Bristol. I had finished work around midnight and at around 3 am found myself on the Long Ashton by-pass. The road conditions had been good up to that point but without warning the back end slid out and despite trying to correct it the car eventually spun off across the central reservation, across the opposite carriageway and up the grass bank on the other side of the road. I still remember the inevitability of what was about to happen as a small slide turned into increasingly larger slides until it spun off backwards. I was probably doing 70-80 at the time. There is an elevated section of the by pass where the cold air above and below must have formed a patch of black ice on the surface.

After coming to a stop all seemed well so I cautiously drove back onto the correct side of the road, went home and went to bed. Later in the morning there were news reports of several vehicles having crashed on the by-pass, including a poilce car that had managed to roll over.

Maybe tiredness, maybe a momentary lapse in concentration but to this day I consider myself fortunate that there was no oncoming traffic and, at that time, no central barrier to crash into. Although the car looked like it had been ploughing a field it was otherwise undamaged.

 

[HB]

Many years ago, driving a Bedford Chevanne I spun - despite travelling slowly - on ice on the A1... up and down the bank and onto the central reservation. No trees or crash barrier interfered with my slide, the road was quiet, but it was certainly a "moment"

In a Ford Fiesta, I was overtaken on a winding country lane by a boy racer in an old Mini, who tore off into the distance - for about 30 seconds - before firmly implanting himself in the front of a Capri.

Several years later, in a Renault Extra, I was in a queue of moving traffic on the M6 on L3 - a split second after I moved across to L2 the traffic in L3 collided end to end but L2 was not impacted.

More recently, in a W163 ML on the M6 passing slower traffic in L3, a foreign registered HGV pulled into L2, colliding with the car which was already in that lane, causing it to hit the central barrier, cue (very) firm braking from me and the Transit that was to my rear.

In a BMW M3 on the A55 expressway, I drove into a cloudburst and while the traffic was slowing, the car in front, which was towing a trailer, jackknifed into the central barrier, and I was very grateful for the ABS which enabled me to change lane while braking sharply and I was equally grateful for the Pirelli P6 tyres which kept their grip throughout.

Finally, in a W204 C class on the M58 I was passing slower traffic on an uphill stretch in L3 when a car joining from the Pimbo slip road pulled straight across to L3, again extremely firm braking and a subsequent change of underwear.

Remind me never to get in a car with Andrew! Hope you’re well you old dog. Get yer arus up to Glasgow next time we meet for a curry.

 

[Meldrew2]

Remind me never to get in a car with Andrew! Hope you’re well you old dog. Get yer arus up to Glasgow next time we meet for a curry.

It's been a while... not seen any posts about a Yadgar GTG, would love to come up next time.

 

[Alex225]

Some great replies here, looks like we've all had a near miss here and there.

The closest I have ever got to causing an accident was back in around 2007. My daily car was a beastly 1993 Clio, which despite having power steering lacked ABS and had somewhat unknown tyres fitted.

On this particular day it was raining very heavily and I was following what was at the time a new Punto.

I'm at what feels like a safe distance but notice the Punto ahead being somewhat hesitant as there was a car waiting to pull out of a junction to the right. I've come off the throttle to slow but didn't anticipate the Punto practically doing an emergency stop.

At this point I have three options -
1. I swerve right and hope the VW waiting at the junction doesn't pull out.

2. I go into the back of the Punto, likely writing off my £600 car and losing my no claims.

3. The last option being that I aim up the thankfully empty pavement, don't hit the telegraph pole and hope I minimise damage to my car.

In that split moment, whilst braking with the wheels locked up I release the brake, got some grip and instinctively took option 3.

I'd like to say it was skill but I suspect more pure luck but I managed to steer the car up a dipped part of the kerb. All four wheels along the pavement, avoiding the telegraph pole, round the Punto and back down another dipped kerb. It happened so quickly that my girlfriend at the time who'd been looking down at her phone, looked up and casually said, 'What happened there then?'.

I pulled over a few yards up ahead to assess the damage. The Punto driver just drove off probably oblivious to how close they'd come to an accident and likely thinking, 'Impatient w*****'.

The car was absolutely fine, not even a mark on the alloys, even the tracking wasn't out!

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Had a near miss recently at Ricoh Tesco but on foot...

Parked my car furthest out as I could, nobody near where I parked whatsoever. I leave Tesco’s and I’m walking back to my car towards the drivers door, I’ve unlocked it (late at night so lights turn on), I’m roughly three car spaces away from it, some dozy woman in a car approaches and parks right next to my car as I’m walking into that space next to mine, didn’t even see me approaching!

I worry about humans in general, sometimes. In fact I worry about all drivers in Coventry as it seems a lot of them can not drive...

 

[pillow]

A few months ago I had an issue with an ABS sensor which I hadn't gotten round to replacing due to the naff weather. My remedy was just to switch off the traction control...

Cue one cold wet evening on the way home from work. I pull out onto an A-road and with 60mph traffic approaching my rear ease my right foot down a bit. Lose traction so let off, let the car regain traction and ease back on. Unfortunately this second time spun the car off to the right, narrowly missing a mini island separator thing and onto the opposing side of the road. Thankfully I managed to keep it on the tarmac, and the nearest car was a ways away. The approaching traffic behind had backed right off after witnessing me make a fool of myself.

I do have the dashcam footage somewhere. Will dig it out.

 

[219]

Around 20 years ago I had an old 1993 2.0 Vauxhall Carlton.

I was driving to work and was running a bit late.

I'd had a few drivers bumbling in front and was getting more and more annoyed as time went on - I perhaps wasn't able to easily deal with this sort of situation like I am now.

So after one particularly-annoying driver got out my way, I decided to make some reasonable progress on a 30mph road in Bourne End heading to Cookham (the cut through that takes you in front of the shops if you know the area).

As I reached level with the first shop on the left the car coming the other way, obviously not being able to gauge my speed at all (understandably), just pulled across me to park in front of the shops.

I slammed on the brakes and steered to the right hard and I was astounded that I was able to steer round the back of said other car.

Given the size of the car, to this day I still cannot believe I was able to steer it whilst braking that hard around the other car and have no issues.

I thought I was fcked the second he pulled in front but it all happened so quickly that I came out the other side utterly amazed.

Learnt a lesson that day thankfully!

Also, around 25 years ago when I had my first Opel Manta 2.0 GTE (making good progress again), I discovered the hard way that brakes in that car were not great and got them sorted after.

But on a main road (Hayes Road if you know it), I literally sailed out through the give way onto the main road (Hayes Lane) before I was able to scrub off enough speed to be able to turn right. The roundabout wasn't there in the early 90s.

Luckily very late / early hours meant nothing on the road!

Another lesson learnt that day.

There were probably others but these were the most memorable and produced the most brown liquid.

We've all been there at one time or another ...