Whats the scariest driving experience you ever had

greencap · 18-06-2017 01:49AM

Misjudged my speed when coming up to a line of stopped traffic.

Momentary lapse of attention, had to go a fair deal harder on the breaks than normal.

I would have been the douchebag who plowed right into the back of a stationary car.

Probably would have seriously injured someone. Left them with back issues.

Horrible thought.

The experience put a little manners on me.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 18-06-2017 01:51AM

Here's another one actually. Driving to the south of the country late one night. I was only young, maybe 20/21. It was a Sunday night, about 1am and the roads were quiet. I passed through a small town and about 15km further on there was another town, if you could even call it a town. It was basically a street, a chipper a few pubs a church and a derelict hotel on my left. The side of the hotel was next to the street and you could turn off the street to the left to the front of the hotel was facing into a square/carpark area. Now it was completely empty. Street lights lit the street and up past the front of hotel but it was so secluded.
When you go through this village/town about 10km is the next huge town.

So I'm driving along, tunes blaring, not a care in the world. Then, I see someone laying in the middle of the road. I completely panicked, I'd be horrid **** in an emergency and I have no nerves for medical emergencies. I was afraid to drive past it incase I saw a dead person and I didn't know what to do. I reversed the car in a panic thinking I'd go back to the previous town but realistically it was too far and I couldn't think, my mind and heart was racing, I thought someone had knocked this person down and left him there. Just as I was thinking wtf I was going to do, the would be corpse got off the road and stood in onto the footpath. Knowing he wasn't roadkill, I relaxed a bit and drove on slowly.

As I got closer I noticed he looked like a complete scumbag. Hoodie, snapback, tracksuit etc. I passed him by slowly, and as I was passing the hotel (just a little bit down from him) I looked up to my left and there was a few young lads all together waiting there.

It dawned on me then, they would have most likely taken my car had I approached and got out to check the person on the road. It completely unnerved me, and I'll always lock the doors driving

Junkyard Tom · 18-06-2017 02:00AM

greencap · 18-06-2017 02:09AM

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

ahh i remember that. legendary post.

Noo · 18-06-2017 02:11AM

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Scariest experience was not the rollover crash or being hit by a lorry on my passenger side, it was driving to work along a narrow country road as a car coming against me pulled back in to his side of the road having overtaken a vehicle on a blind bend. Had I reached that same spot one second earlier I'd be dead (and him as well).

I had something similar only a few months ago down the country. The road was wide and had a wide hard shoulder, which probably saved my life. I could see someone overtaking on the opposite side, i wasn't sure if he had enough time to pull back in before I got there so I slowed down and moved over, giving enough room for 3 vehicles on the road if need be. He managed to pull back in just in time so all good. Anyway another guy in the line of traffic (unaware of me) suddenly pulls out to overtake too! Right where I was! Only because I had been moved over for the previous guy he would've smashed right into me. He did the overtake in the space i had left. I didnt even get the jolt of adrenaline because my mind didn't register what they guy had just done quick enough. He couldve killed us.

K.Flyer · 18-06-2017 02:20AM

About 25 years ago I was driving late at night leaving a coastal town in southern Turkey to get over the mountain to head north on the main road.
The car was an old Ford Taunus and as it was the first time to have it out on unlit country roads we then realised that the headlights were not worth a fart in the pitch dark.
As were started up the twisty mountain road we got caught behind an artic. That's handy I thought, as I could see eff all as there were no roadmarkings or reflectors, so I stayed on his tail lights and thought I'd let him guide me over the mountain.
All was going well for the climb until I suddenly felt the smoothness of asphalt disappear, truck brake lights are on and gravel and dirt started bouncing off the bonnet and windscreen, I'm straight on the brakes with no grip in the dirt, the trailer lights, now bouncing around in front of us, suddenly vanish off to our right and leave us stopped and wondering what just happened.
Remember we are in a left hand drive, I look out my window and all I could say was something like .. oh sweet fcuking jesus, or words to that effect, I said to my wife to take a look and she said something similar.
Can't explain how's or why's, but we think the truck driver just hadn't seen the sharp bend in the road, veered across to the wrong side of the road and almost went straight over the unguarded edge of the mountain road and we would have probably just followed him over.
Luckily he managed to save himself and carried on.
We got out of the car, we had stopped about 3 metres from the edge of what looked like a sheer drop with the tiny lights of the town miles away.
What happened shook us up a bit, but what nearly happened on that pitch dark night on the side of Turkish mountain still gives me a shudder.

pragmatic1 · 18-06-2017 02:43AM

Seeing my friends spin out of control and almost getting hit by an artic lorry. I just covered my eyes. Luckily the lorry driver was quick thinking and managed to go off the road to avoid hitting them. That was sheer terror. No one was badly injured luckily.

A few years later I went off the road and crashed into a tree, but that wasn't as frightening as almost seeing three of my good friends get killed.

Latatian · 18-06-2017 03:10AM

Was driving along at 60 in a 60 zone, unfamiliar road, speed limit had just gone down from 80. Noticed that the road was a bit wet, not much, so I cautiously went down to 50 as I had family in the car and wanted to be safe.

Went 'round a corner and the back of the car attempted to go straight instead. I couldn't hit the brakes as someone had just come up behind me doing something closer to 80. My car slid sideways and it took me a minute or two to regain control, I accelerated out of it meaning that the car behind us didn't hit us, they slid as well on the same spot, we all got out of it safely.

No harm done. But jesus, another morning I might not have noticed the speed change down on the unfamiliar road. 50 feels like such a crawl, I would have thought it was impossible to slide like that.

Stigura · 18-06-2017 03:50AM

Alright; I haven't ploughed through the thread ~ see what I, sort of, just did there?

~ Because the first glance at the title alone gave me a virtual 'flashback'!

Twenty, thirty years ago? Roughly. I'm in england and doing a bit on a builders crew. Like ye do.

I've never learned to drive. But, I always had a thing for the Peugeot 504 pick up. And I'm bombing along a motorway one morning, on to the way to a job. Just me and Andy, driving.

Great! No problemo. Chattering away. Smoking our roll ups. Got a Concrete Mixer in the back. (Yes, lads! F**king great Concrete mixer. Not one of these little, orange, one man DIY set up cement mixers!)

Battering along. Rush hour. I'm dimly aware of a 'Strangeness' is the ride experience.

Moments later? I'm seeing how we're no longer cruising along beside that white line.We're, for lack of any better description; Flickering. Or shuddering against it. I had no seat belt on.

Then we're Fishtailing!!! Easy to read it. Seen it in the f**king films. But. we're Doing it!!!

08:23. Tuesday morning. Somewhere along the M275. In a white Peugeot 502 pickup. And our arse end if offering to swap places with either side of our front end, at any second now!!! The f**king back end was Side to Side across the entire f**king Lane!

" It's alright. I've got it. " Spits Andy, Between teeth so gritted they were almost smashing themselves. Pulse in his temple. Carotid artery fit to burst. Sweat gleaming on his top lip.

Either I was watching a Bruce Willis scene? Or I was seeing a man envisaging the next moment, where concrete mixer 1. Peugeot 0. comes up.

And we side roll across the lanes. The cab and our smashed and mangled bodies and heads accompanied by the screams and sparks or rending metal as an errant concrete mixer crashes through a random other poor souls family or work team motors windscreen!

I had Never, at that point, been so f**king scared in my life!!!

Obviously; Andy managed to slow down. Do what ever one does, in that situation. We got to work. Got home. And I'm still here to talk about it ~ even while sh!tting myself at the Horrible memory.

But, yeah; Never been so scared, in a regular motoring incident, in my f**king life!

Harry Palmr · 18-06-2017 09:51AM

K.Flyer wrote: »

As were started up the twisty mountain road we got caught behind an artic. That's handy I thought, as I could see eff all as there were no roadmarkings or reflectors, so I stayed on his tail lights and thought I'd let him guide me over the mountain.

This is actually one of the most dangerous things you can do at night - I'm sure many of us have esp on a journey along country roads, as they are doing the hard work of picking out the unlit verges and unmarked sharp bends etc not you but it's so easy to slip into autopilot mode and end up in their boot! :pac:

Samaris · 18-06-2017 10:03AM

Stormchasing in Greece. We started near the top of a mountain, doing our study of whatever we were studying that day, and then the storm started up. Funnel cloud reaching down from the sky, air turns grey-yellow (although we must have been fifteen km away, distance is hard to judge in the mountains). So we hop into the jeep and the hail starts, fecking golfballs raining down on the jeep and on the narrow mountain path. Well, we bombed down that dirt track, hail skeetering all over and I'm thinking "this is the guy that nearly headed us off a cliff or into another car when we got here and he forgot we should be on the other side of the road...and that's a really long way down to the right of us...oh well."

Welp, we chased that storm down onto the plain and then it did what they do and split. Then we had one behind us and one in front of us and we bombed the hell out of there at right angles to both.

It was actually awesome, tbh. But definitely alarming.

marklazarcovic · 18-06-2017 10:08AM

Used to live in a wooded area,house in the middle of small woods,one dirt road in and out,leaving for work one morning,it was frosty,kinda foggy, beautiful to look at. Just to set the scene.

Anyway,I leave at 4.45am ..driving down , (had a Opel Corsa at the time) ..doing about 30mph.. see a figure just about ahead of me..can't make it out properly.

Think it's just my eyes and the fog playing with me,still I ease off a bit.. had window half open coz I was smoking.

Then I hear a Almighty roar/scream and the figure bounds towards me ..a deer,big bitch, didn't have time to brake,didn't matter..she hopped clean over me,bonnet to boot..in that instant I was elated,then she roared, and a smaller deer appeared up ahead,it started panicking,darting right then left in front of me about 30ft all the time wailing..the mother roared again.

The baby ran at me and did the same as it's mother but my lights caught it's eyes as it was lower to the ground ..sheer terror and panic..much like my own I'd imagine
.

All that in about 10 seconds .

JPF82 · 18-06-2017 10:19AM

12 years ago, when I was a learner driver, I was heading from Roscommon to Athlone in my 1 litre polo. The road is a 100kph zone. I come up behind a car doing 60. The Polo only has 50 horsepower so I have to plan my overtakes. I know the road well so I decide to wait until the straight stretch in Kiltoom which was clear to overtake. As I get alongside the slower car, the prick I'm overtaking decides to speed up to 100 kph and beyond, leaving me hung out to dry. Nothing coming the other way thank God, but what a prick that other driver was.

Samaris · 18-06-2017 11:11AM

JPF82 wrote: »

12 years ago, when I was a learner driver, I was heading from Roscommon to Athlone in my 1 litre polo. The road is a 100kph zone. I come up behind a car doing 60. The Polo only has 50 horsepower so I have to plan my overtakes. I know the road well so I decide to wait until the straight stretch in Kiltoom which was clear to overtake. As I get alongside the slower car, the prick I'm overtaking decides to speed up to 100 kph and beyond, leaving me hung out to dry. Nothing coming the other way thank God, but what a prick that other driver was.

Hate when people do that. It's such a dickish thing to do. People derping around on roundabouts may just be idiots or ignorant (which is also no excuse), but that sort of malarky is deliberate and endangers people. >.>

ToddyDoody · 18-06-2017 11:29AM

I'm thinking it was the time my friend put the car in reverse by mistake. Luckily there was no-one behind us but it does open your eyes as to how easy it is to be in an accident when you're a terrible driver.

dudara · 18-06-2017 11:35AM

I had a very bad acquaplane once when doing 100 km/hr on a dual lane carriage way. Car went to right to left and back. Thought I was either going to hit traffic on the right or go into the ditch on the left.

Thankfully, driving logic prevailed, I took my foot off the accelerator to lose sped, kept my foot off the brakes and steered through it. Had to sit down for 15 mins afterwards when I did get to work.

bmwguy · 18-06-2017 11:46AM

A high powered motorcycle on the m50 performed a punishment overtake on me recently.

Just insanely frightening.

D Trent · 18-06-2017 11:48AM

Stigura wrote: »

Alright; I haven't ploughed through the thread ~ see what I, sort of, just did there? ~ Because the first glance at the title alone gave me a virtual 'flashback'!

Twenty, thirty years ago? Roughly. I'm in england and doing a bit on a builders crew. Like ye do.

I've never learned to drive. But, I always had a thing for the Peugeot 504 pick up. And I'm bombing along a motorway one morning, on to the way to a job. Just me and Andy, driving.

Great! No problemo. Chattering away. Smoking our roll ups. Got a Concrete Mixer in the back. (Yes, lads! F**king great Concrete mixer. Not one of these little, orange, one man DIY set up cement mixers!)

Battering along. Rush hour. I'm dimly aware of a 'Strangeness' is the ride experience.

Moments later? I'm seeing how we're no longer cruising along beside that white line.We're, for lack of any better description; Flickering. Or shuddering against it. I had no seat belt on.

Then we're Fishtailing!!! Easy to read it. Seen it in the f**king films. But. we're Doing it!!!

08:23. Tuesday morning. Somewhere along the M275. In a white Peugeot 502 pickup. And our arse end if offering to swap places with either side of our front end, at any second now!!! The f**king back end was Side to Side across the entire f**king Lane!

" It's alright. I've got it. " Spits Andy, Between teeth so gritted they were almost smashing themselves. Pulse in his temple. Carotid artery fit to burst. Sweat gleaming on his top lip.

Either I was watching a Bruce Willis scene? Or I was seeing a man envisaging the next moment, where concrete mixer 1. Peugeot 0. comes up.

And we side roll across the lanes. The cab and our smashed and mangled bodies and heads accompanied by the screams and sparks or rending metal as an errant concrete mixer crashes through a random other poor souls family or work team motors windscreen!

I had Never, at that point, been so f**king scared in my life!!!

Obviously; Andy managed to slow down. Do what ever one does, in that situation. We got to work. Got home. And I'm still here to talk about it ~ even while sh!tting myself at the Horrible memory.

But, yeah; Never been so scared, in a regular motoring incident, in my f**king life!

Do you think your Enid Blyton or something.

Cut to the chase, tell the f*cking experience.

TerrorFirmer · 18-06-2017 12:29PM

Was in Greece a few years ago on one of the islands, and the road was at an extremely high altitude in a mountainy area and actually had no guard rails at all along huge stretches - just sheer drops of several hundred feet along a very sharp incline.

We were in a rented jeep and the driver not being used to driving on the opposite side of the road kept drifting way, way too close to the edge - so close all I could see was the horrifying, eternal drop from my passenger seat and had to keep shouting at him to pull back towards the middle - once or twice we were so perilously close it felt like we were almost floating from my viewpoint.

Feel sick thinking about it.

osarusan · 18-06-2017 12:35PM

EDIT: Just realised that the thread is about driving...somehow managed to miss that! Anyway...

Came (somewhat) close to drowning after getting tangled in seaweed. Worst bit was my young daughter on an inflatable float above me watching my thrashing round and thinking it was me being funny.

At one point I made the deliberate decision to push her float away from me, so that if the worst came to the worst, I wouldn't be able to grab it and pull her down with me.

I'll never forget it.

ED E · 18-06-2017 12:40PM

osarusan wrote: »

Came (somewhat) close to drowning after getting tangled in seaweed. Worst bit was my young daughter on an inflatable float above me watching my thrashing round and thinking it was me being funny.

At one point I made the deliberate decision to push her float away from me, so that if the worst came to the worst, I wouldn't be able to grab it and pull her down with me.

I'll never forget it.

You were driving in seaweed?

Will I Am Not · 18-06-2017 12:41PM

Sat Nav went rogue in Malaga. Brought us up a small mountainous "road" with literally inches either side until it became overgrown and impassable. Obviously no longer in use.

We were left with a choice of abandoning the car or reversing back down. Reversing back down was most definitely the scariest experience I've ever had.

D Trent · 18-06-2017 12:42PM

osarusan wrote: »

Came (somewhat) close to drowning after getting tangled in seaweed. Worst bit was my young daughter on an inflatable float above me watching my thrashing round and thinking it was me being funny.

At one point I made the deliberate decision to push her float away from me, so that if the worst came to the worst, I wouldn't be able to grab it and pull her down with me.

I'll never forget it.

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osarusan · 18-06-2017 12:43PM

ED E wrote: »

You were driving in seaweed?

Ah....somehow missed that part of the title!!

In that case, when I was about 8, was in the car with my father and brother, travelling along a country lane. Car coming against us but that's grand, until suddenly the bonnet of a tractor pulls out from a hidden gate. My father swerved to avoid it, moving right into the path of the oncoming car, and didn't miss much by either I'd say.

I was a bit too young to realise how dangerous it had been, but I remember my father just sitting there breathing heavily, must have been adrenaline pumping through him.

Stigura · 18-06-2017 12:50PM

D Trent wrote: »

Do you think your Enid Blyton or something.

Cut to the chase, tell the f*cking experience.

F**k Yeself.

There. I cut right to the chase, for you. Left out the superfluous " Go ".

TheRiverman · 18-06-2017 12:54PM

Two years ago I was driving a 4x4 drawing a trailer,travelling between Horseleap and Mullingar on the R391 when I was passed on a continuous white line by six crazed motorcyclists doing reckless speeds.Luckily there was nothing coming from the opposite direction,if there was it would have been carnage.It was frightening having them pass so dangerously close to me as I drove along.

Big Nasty · 18-06-2017 01:15PM

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Was in Greece a few years ago on one of the islands, and the road was at an extremely high altitude in a mountainy area and actually had no guard rails at all along huge stretches - just sheer drops of several hundred feet along a very sharp incline.

We were in a rented jeep and the driver not being used to driving on the opposite side of the road kept drifting way, way too close to the edge - so close all I could see was the horrifying, eternal drop from my passenger seat and had to keep shouting at him to pull back towards the middle - once or twice we were so perilously close it felt like we were almost floating from my viewpoint.

Feel sick thinking about it.

I'd say you were glad to be back on TerrorFirmer! :pac:

mart_in · 18-06-2017 01:28PM

first big roundabout in Paris

MysticMonk · 18-06-2017 01:57PM

Not a driving experience per se but back in the 70s myself and my mother were pushing my baby sister in a pram when a stolen car rounded a bend at high speed and a wheel literally detached from the car,mounted the pavement and almost killed all of us.

I'll never forget the wheel missing my mother by literally inches.

I've hated joyriders with a passion ever since.

jmayo · 18-06-2017 02:03PM

Someone mentioned tractor earlier.

Good few years back one sunday evening on narrow country road with room for two cars to pass if going slow enough so I had to pull in as I spotted a Ford 8210 tractor approaching.
I began to notice he was wandering all over the road.
I came to a stop, undid my seat belt and got ready to bail into passenger seat.
He managed to just go by really close to the side of car.
Now the 8210 are only 110hp, but their front wheels stick out a bit and can look mighty scary when it looks like they are destined to go over the bonnet.

It was the fact I was helpless that made it so scary.

And speaking of tractors brakes on older ones were often cra* and with a big trailer on back could ensure some fun times on slippy wet hills.

Whats the scariest driving experience you ever had

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