Lounge of Tomorrow - Scary Driving

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5 late at night tooling along at say 80ish. No one around me. Come up on a car in the right lane, I'm in the left. As I pull next to him he totally comes over into my line (mind you no one ahead of him for miles). I ended up doing donuts on the 5 while dodging oncoming cars. Trying to pull over and slow down and that whaever crap bump stuff they have in the medians to keep you on the road is brutal. Makes it hard to steer.

Driving once and the hood on the truck just suddenly popped up and bent over the windshield.

Going down Olympic on my way to work when the brakes went totally out.

405 North near the 10 one morning. Zipping along and one of my rear wheel spindles broke (they told me later) making the tire basically freeze and quit rotating. After the nice policman called AAA and they towed me and I finally get to work no less than 8 people mentioned they'd seen me on the side of the road -umm hello perhaps pull over and help?

I've had a lot of minor adventures. I still remember the first time I hit 85mph. I was scared that my mother would somehow find out and kick my butt. I was late for something.

Driving from Montana to Wyoming through a white-out blizzard was interesting. We could see about five feet in front of the car. We had another car trip in a blizzard where we could see, but did have to be careful. A car with California plates passed us, but we caught back up to him in just a few minutes. He didn't pass us again. This was a storm which tipped over semi-trucks into the ditch.

Driving from Montana to California was a road trip from the darkest pits of bad. Blowout tire at 11 at night; getting lost above Valencia somewhere, with all our stuff in the car and trailer, no money, and no sleep for a couple of days; having a flat on the trailer and U-Haul not being able to find us (pre-cellphone). We nearly killed each other on this trip. Oh, and the car overheated on the short trip from ... what's that city on the east end of Nevada? It's only about 80 miles from there to Vegas, where we were stopping, and the car overheats.

Luckily I haven't had many adventures here in California other than finding my way in unfamiliar areas.

I'm glad I'm not the only one scared by the North Avenue Irregulars intersection.

I'd like to add to the list of scary driving: all Massachusetts roads.
:D

I was 17 yrs. old & I was working at Disneyland. My Grandma & Grandpa had just bought me a brand spankin' new Toyota Corolla SR5. All sporty & blue! :) My new car didn't even have plates yet. :(

One night, I stayed out way past curfew (only because I was spending the night at one of my best girlfriend's house, who worked in Frontierland). She was already home (since Frontierland closed way before Main Street, where I worked) and after I kissed my boyfriend, the Big Thunder cowboy, good-bye, I raced to her house. The reason I'm being so detailed, I suppose, is that I can remember every single moment of that night crystal clearly. I remember my entire outfit (but um, I remember every occasion by outfit. :()

And race I did. While I was on the freeway, I decided to see how fast I could take my new car. In my youthful wisdom, I decided to see if I could take the needle to end of the speedometer.

WHY ARE WE SO RECKLESS AND THOUGHTLESS IN OUR YOUTH?

As I took my car to 110 MPH, I realized, "Hey! There's the freeway ramp I need to turn onto!" (I needed to take two freeways to get to my girl friend's house)

I turned my wheel to turn onto the second freeway, but at the speed I was going, I lost control. My tire also struck an object on the road and I blew a tire. I began spinning in circles and screaming. I couldn't grab onto my wheel. It was spinning too fast. I thought "PLEASE don't let me hit the median! I'll crash my car and be in big trouble!"

Then, I began to pray I'd hit the median, since my other option was toppling off the embankment.

Of course, I toppled off the embankment. I remember 3 trillion thoughts entering my mind all at once, and as fast as the speed of light. When the car flipped onto the roof, I was knocked out, and thankfully, I rolled five times with my car in a peaceful & relaxed state.

When I came to, I was hanging upside down, restrained by my seatbelt, which I struggled to unlatch. I was so disoriented all I could think was "I've seen enough Charlie's Angels, CHiPs & Dukes Of Hazzard episodes to know this could explode!"

Okay, not likely. But what did I know? I was stupid enough to race my car.

I crawled out the shattered back window, and I remember looking at my hands and thinking, "I didn't even break an acrylic nail! I must be totally fine!! I bet I can just push the car over and all will be well. " I ACTUALLY THOUGHT THAT. Heaven help my parents.

However, upon escape, I flew up the hill, wonked on adrenaline I suppose. I screamed so loudly for help that I woke up a couple at an apartment complex across the way. When I called for help on the call box, I told the operator that I felt completely fine. They asked me to check for sure and see. When I looked down, my outfit was splattered in blood. I fainted. On the side of the freeway. It was just a NIGHTMARE from beginning to end. It was like a scene from "Faces Of Potential Death For Complete And Utter F*cktards That Take Lame-Ass Chances" (if that existed). The paramedics & police arrived, and stuck an oxygen mask on my face (I was hyperventilating like a nutjob) and strapped me up and rushed me off to the hospital after they determined I was under the influence of nothing (except being an idiot).

My car, of course, was completely totaled. In retrospect, I could have been totaled. My belt is what saved my life.

I was fortunate. I was totally fine except for minor cuts and lacerations. What do I remember most? My mouth and face full of dirt. I had bits of weeds, gravel & glass in my mouth. ACK. My Dad alternated from screaming at me to hugging me at the hospital. I certainly don't blame him. Looking back, he probably should have whacked me upside the head with my destroyed bumper.

It's been so long since I've told that story! I've been in quite a few accidents. That one totally took the cake, however. :(

Ally, that sounds very scary indeed.

When I was in college we had an ice storm here in Portland that closed a lot of the city, including the school. (For those of you in So'Cal, picture every surface - the ground, cars, tree branches, power lines - literally encased in 1-3 inches of ice.) It was a Friday, and since there was no power on campus I decided I'd just spend the weekend at home. It was just a four-hour drive up the Columbia River Gorge, right? It then took almost an hour to break my car out of its ice-cocoon.

Of course the weather moves from Portland east into the gorge. I encountered black ice the first half of the trip. I spun out a number of times, each time avoiding ending up in a ditch on the median, although once I did find myself staring at the oncoming headlights of a semi. After passing The Dalles, the worst is generally over. This time, however, I was dealing with an incredibly thick fog. I actually couldn't see the side of the road through the fog, even if it hadn't been freezing on my windshield as I drove. At one point I was reduced to driving very slowly, my door open, following the line painted down the middle of the highway. THAT'S how I missed my exit. I did realize my mistake fairly quickly and backed up on the shoulder.

My usual four-hour trip took almost nine hours that night. It was made even more nerve-wracking by the realization that I had told no one in Portland that I was leaving, and no one at home knew I was coming.

If anything had happened, I wouldn't have been found until the spring thaw!

In a news story I read, it talked about how there's no correlation between use of cell phones while driving and accidents. I disagree. I have witnessed many close calls due to cellphone use behind the wheel. Many were not because of me.

The time I was headed to work and apparently did something to enrage someone else on the freeway and they repeatedly tried to sideswipe my car and run me off the road into a large retaining wall (right before the 520 exit heading northbound on I-5) at freeway speed.

(I have told this story previously on MousePad)

Mine wasn't a close call for me, but witnessing a car lose control and slam into the center divider at full speed (lotsa sparks - holy crud!)

The scariest part was when Susan was taking care of the injured person and I realized that this darkened car was still half-way in the far right lane (and not at all visible with no lights around). To insure Susan wasn't killed or hurt, I went a ways up the freeway waving cars over. Took a while to wind down from that experience.

You can read the whole account in my post on MousePad.

Kevy, I came up on a car like that - dark, crashed, in the center divider and the closest lane, at night. I saw something on the right shoulder which confused me. Turned out to be a person dressed all in black waving a tiny flashlight at cars (presumably to confuse them and slow them down). Glad to have a cell phone at that point.

Later that same drive I came up on a car stopped half on the right shoulder half in the right lane, on a connector from one freeway to another. Both had already been reported to CHP, but that's ok. As far as I know they were single-car incidents so nobody else got hurt.