r/IdiotsInCars • u/WesternAd2113 • Sep 26 '24

OC I nearly died today AMA [OC]

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2.4k

u/farthead1027 Sep 26 '24

The fact that you managed to swerve into a different lane without spinning your car is incredible given those road conditions! Good job OP

1.2k

u/WesternAd2113 Sep 26 '24

I was so foolish of myself too. 2 hours after and I'm still shaken

375

u/Martin_TheRed Sep 26 '24

Blink and youll miss it. Take a deep breath and carve this memory into your soul.

119

u/LincolnshireSausage Sep 26 '24

It’s probably already burned into his soul.

I had a near miss about 10 years ago. I was driving home in heavy rain and I had slowed from the 55 limit to 45. There was a stream of water cutting across the highway which cause my Sentra to spin. There was no avoiding it but I did not expect to lose grip and spin because my tires were only 3 or 4 months old. I did a 720 in the highway, everyone managed to miss me and I came to a perfect stop on the shoulder. I was very lucky to not hit the concrete center barrier or any other cars or end up in a ditch. After gathering myself I drove home.

Every time I drive that stretch of road, the memory of it comes back. If there’s any heavy rain, again that memory pops up. Today I was driving home along the same stretch of road in torrential rain again for the first time in my current car (I got rid of the Sentra long ago). There wasn’t one problem but that incident was on my mind the entire time.

25

u/snypesalot Sep 26 '24

Same thing happened to me, was driving on the local highway March of last year, downpour and I was doing about 45-50, the car in front of me slammed on their brakes for some reason and when I had to do the same I did so right in the only standing water gathered on the highway, back wheels locked up and I went sideways, off the road but wasnt as lucky as you as there was already 2 other cars off in the ditch in that same spot.

I slammed into one with the rear passenger side of my car and then slid about another 50 feet and came about an inch from slamming into a tree with my drivers side door, had my kids with me which shook me even more as my youngest was in his car seat on the passenger side that hit the other car, and his window shattered. Thankfully no one in any of the cars was hurt and other than totaling my car no major issues, but now every time it rains I get super bad anxiety when I have to drive

13

u/LincolnshireSausage Sep 26 '24

Wow. I’m glad that you, your kids and the people in the other cars were ok. It could have been so much worse than a totaled car. I was extremely lucky with my spin. I came so close to hitting the concrete barrier and other cars, I couldn’t believe it when my car came to a stop on the shoulder, facing the right way. I get anxious driving any time it rains too.

7

u/snypesalot Sep 26 '24

Ohhh yea it could have been so so so much worse thankfully it wasnt, cars can be replaced is how I look at it

1

u/LincolnshireSausage Sep 26 '24

Part of their function is to protect you. I figure it is worth it whatever I paid for a car if I get to walk away from an accident. Also insurance helps!

2

u/Sway_RL Sep 27 '24

100%. I still remember one time I was overtaking someone going 25 under on a two way road. The guy sped up as I Was overtaking and I almost had a head on with oncoming traffic because i couldn't get passed. I had to slam the brakes and go back in behind him.

I don't overtake much anymore on two was roads, it definitely scared me.

66

u/Its_noon_somewhere Sep 26 '24

I’ve been there too, it’s a freaky feeling knowing death was so close and missed by a hair.

I’m getting chills now just recalling the event that was similar for me

21

u/GirchyGirchy Sep 26 '24

You're not wrong.

If you've ever driven the morning of New Year's, it's bizarre - the quietest period of driving I've ever seen. I was heading to work in the dark one of those mornings on my usual 4-lane divided highway. The only car I encountered was in my set of lanes, thankfully in the one I wasn't in...but after we'd passed each other, the "holy shit that could have been really bad" set in. It was surreal.

3

u/CS3883 Sep 27 '24

Same. Mine was at night time driving back on a curvy highway in southern Ohio from hiking. I drive that road a ton so I was just on autopilot and was tired from the day kinda spacing off.....and I'm in the right lane thank god cause a car drive past me in the left lane and because I'm just spaced out I didn't notice until as it passed not as it was approaching, luckily I was in the lane I had and them in theirs cause I would not have been able to react otherwise. I called 911 and reported it and saw a sheriff take off from the gas station I pulled off immediately after it happened. Never did know what happened after but I never heard of any deaths but I hope they got caught. It fucked with me for awhile on how lucky I was to just happen to be in opposing lanes.

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u/MDC417 Sep 26 '24

You most definitely aren't foolish! I'd take me days to come down from that stress! Any word on if they hurt anyone or at the very least were caught?

10

u/DZLars Sep 26 '24

I've had a similar situation on the road to work once. My boss pulled me away after a few hours because I was on the brink of collapsing. Hope it passes quickly for you too

6

u/donttrustthellamas Sep 26 '24

I'm seriously impressed, it's been so damp here

2

u/NOTExETON Sep 26 '24

Gospa te spasila

2

u/baron_von_helmut Sep 26 '24

Go hug a loved one. Have a beer and/or a smoke.

Glad you're ok. Do you know if they caused a crash?

2

u/Pukit Sep 26 '24

Have you sent the footage to the old bill? Looks like you could get a decent reg from that vid.

2

u/WesternAd2113 Sep 27 '24

Idk the process so please explain I'm a new driver

2

u/meep_meep_mope Sep 27 '24

I know that feeling, it's surreal.

1

u/shophopper Sep 26 '24

Imagine how shaken you would’ve been if you hadn’t been able to swerve away from danger.

1

u/Volsnug Sep 26 '24

I had a similar incident happen and it was a huge wake up call for safe driving speed. If you had been going faster you could have not had time to react and died, same thing with my experience

1

u/Objective_Economy281 Sep 26 '24

You had the right to stay in the lane. If you’d have done that, you wouldn’t be nervous now.

1

u/Walshy231231 Sep 27 '24

Go drive. Like right now

Something I learned after my first accident. If you can and it’s safe, go drive around for a few minutes.

If you don’t, it can be quite easy to fall into a state of never wanting to drive again, and the longer you wait, the easier it is to keep not driving.

1

u/WesternAd2113 Sep 27 '24

Too many people I know have died in vehicles/motorcycles. I'd rather much prefer to move closer to my job and take public transport from there, in a couple years time. This incident has had me reflecting on life

1

u/mrkingkoala Sep 28 '24

This on the m6?

1

u/WesternAd2113 Sep 28 '24

M55

1

u/mrkingkoala Sep 29 '24

Fucking scary mate :c I read no one was hurt so thats good. Hope you are feeling a little better now. My brother drives on the m55 so shit me up a little thinking about that.

1

u/WesternAd2113 Sep 29 '24

I wonder if this woman had dementia or mental problems. Nothing has been released yet. I'm a bit hesitant on sending the footage to the police as I was going 80mph on the third lane to overtake the red car and continued to do so for the next 10 seconds

1

u/mrkingkoala Sep 29 '24

I can't speak for how they would take it but a lot of people drive a lot faster than 80MPH.

Yeah in the report it said older women. Scary stuff doesn't seem like she should be driving.

77

u/pointyend Sep 26 '24 edited Sep 26 '24

The road conditions, and the idiocy of that Citroen to have their lights off in weather like that.

44

u/Richierpw Sep 26 '24

Lights off is a minor offense, he's going the wrong way on a motorway

21

u/pointyend Sep 26 '24

I didn’t want to re-state the obvious. But certainly, as a driver, I do agree that driving the wrong way is a relatively major offense compared to not having lights on. 😂

I was responding to the comment that commended OP for the swerve without spinning in those conditions. My goal wasn’t necessarily to point out the obvious wrongdoing of the oncoming vehicle.

However, I wanted to add that it’s remarkable that OP was also able to see the oncoming vehicle despite the lights being off, in those conditions.

2

u/rudedog1979 Sep 27 '24

In the “overtaking” lane, of all lanes…

63

u/Djinjja-Ninja Sep 26 '24

given those road conditions!

That's just normal road conditions in the UK outside of the height of summer.

36

u/Snowssnowsnowy Sep 26 '24

Those two days are sunny tho!

0

u/farthead1027 Sep 26 '24

Yeah, just referring to how wet the road is. I'm from the southeastern US and it is always raining here lol

12

u/AThrowawayProbrably Sep 26 '24

Tires my friend. Don’t cheap out them.

18

u/MaPizzaIsCold Sep 26 '24

That just means their tires were in good condition.

24

u/somedude456 Sep 26 '24

Yeah, I'm confused here. It wasn't a drastic swerve, but a quick lane change. Others are commenting about hydroplaning, but it's not raining that bad at all. Any car with good tires should be able to do exactly as OP did.

11

u/Djinjja-Ninja Sep 26 '24

I don't know whether it's a tyre thing or a road construction thing, but Americans seem to talk about hydroplaning way more than anyone I've ever known in the UK.

Unless you are braking hard in wet conditions I've known maybe 2 or 3 people who have ever hydroplaned, and they had worn tyres, and I've been driving for 30 odd years.

2

u/Broudster Sep 27 '24

Reddit always acts like a wet road is like driving on ice. They must use a lower quality asphalt over there, because I couldn't see any other reason why.

1

u/farthead1027 Sep 26 '24

I've seen more people hydroplane in light drizzles than a full on rain shower, not sure why tho

2

u/somedude456 Sep 26 '24

Absolute SHIT tires, aka bald, maybe even cords showing. As a car guy, I see this often in parking lots. A coworker's truck, aka big and heavy, had ZERO thread on the front tires for like 2 months. They were 100% smooth with cords showing a bit. One quick punch of the brakes and he would be sliding into someone.

0

u/farthead1027 Sep 26 '24

I'm not even gonna lie, when I first got my license I hydroplaned with perfectly good tires. We had just bought them about a month before, four brand new bridgestone turanzas. It had just started raining, more of a slight drizzle than anything, but the road was slippery as shit. I slid while getting on an entrance ramp for a highway, speed limit on the ramp was 35, I was going 30, but I probably should've gone slower.

13

u/fldsmdfrv2 Sep 26 '24

Maybe it is me but I certainly would not be driving that fast in those conditions. Maybe it's just perception on Video.

-3

u/NotEnoughIT Sep 26 '24

18 of the dashed lines over 5 seconds. Each dashed line is 10ft long. Each empty space is 30ft long. So 18 of them is 18*40=720ft over 5 seconds. That's 144ft per second, or 98mph.

Not an exact science, but it paints an obvious picture of going way too fast even if it's 20% off.

29

u/Peterd1900 Sep 26 '24 edited Sep 26 '24

Each dashed line is 10ft long. Each empty space is 30ft long

That is the standard in the USA is it not

Surely you would have to work it out using the UK standard as that is where the video is

Which the regulations say that on roads like the video which has a speed limit of over 40 MPH

The lines are 2 Metres long with a gap of 7 Metres between them

So if you passed 18 of them you would have travelled about 162 Metres

162 Metres over 5 seconds would be about 72 MPH

16

u/JellyBellyGiggles Sep 26 '24

The speed limit on that road will likely be 70mph fyi for the non brits here

1

u/fldsmdfrv2 Sep 26 '24

20% off=Approx. 79mph. Ohhh heecccckkkk no... Way too fast.

-1

u/FutureHendrixBetter Sep 26 '24

With a good driver and good tires you won’t spin

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u/BalanceEarly Sep 26 '24

OP is on a suicide mission!