Worst experience whilst driving

Worst experience whilst driving

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Discussion

driveaway

Original Poster:

88 posts

1 month

Sunday 19th May
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I mistakenly posted this in a different section, but was wondering what peoples experience was:
What was the worst/most scary/annoying driving experience you had, excluding accidents, like e.g. road rage/stupid drivers/mopeds with learner plates/other unaware road users etc..?

POIDH

846 posts

67 months

Sunday 19th May
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I once came to a squealing, skidding stop from 70mph in the outside lane of the M80 - with another car less than a car length in front of me but facing the wrong way. Another car was still spinning away, raining debris onto us and the HGV on the inside, which was also struggling to stop before smashing into a third car involved....

Someone swerved on from Cumbernauld junction between two HGV's in the inside lane, and bounced off the car in the outside lane, triggering a chain reaction.

New pants moment.

lord trumpton

7,492 posts

128 months

Sunday 19th May
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1995

21 years old

3 Door Sierra Cosworth on that way back from tuning at Collins Performance Engineering

Driving like an absolute grade 1 bellend on motorway; racing with a Merc of some sort. Dropped into 3rd, floored it and completely lost control. 10 car pile up, me quite damaged and car written off

Life changing moment and I've driven like miss daisy ever since.

dudleybloke

20,032 posts

188 months

Sunday 19th May
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Fully laden arctic driving through a red light with no hint of stopping while I was driving across the junction.
I spotted him at the last second and managed to slam the anchors on and he barely missed me.
Certainly got the adrenaline flowing.

Monkeylegend

26,605 posts

233 months

Sunday 19th May
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Driving my ex FiL to hospital in his yellow Skoda Estelle

simon_harris

1,415 posts

36 months

Monday 20th May
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fitted a new boost controller in my Skyline, was fiddling with it on a dual carriageway and looked up to see an artic changing lanes in front of me. To this day I do not know how I didn't end up under his rear wheels but I managed to avoid him by literal millimeters.

Every day a journey

1,680 posts

40 months

Monday 20th May
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December 2003

Dark, cold, wet night on a busy M25 A/C just after J8 heading down the hill

Random wheel bouncing in my direction

How it didn't hit my windscreen I have no idea. Quick reactions??

Oh, and many times when in the Police, my partner was an absolute lunatic driver!

David87

6,682 posts

214 months

Monday 20th May
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Vomit. That's all I have to say on the matter.

Mad Maximus

390 posts

5 months

Monday 20th May
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Slipping on a diesel spill and falling off my motorbike. Couldn’t see it as sun was direct in my eyes. Thankfully going very slow but still pissed off.

NDA

21,745 posts

227 months

Monday 20th May
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Many years ago, driving an MR2, a lorry wheel (not tyre, but a full wheel) bounced down the motorway towards me. I didn't do anything as I was mesmerised by it.... it bounced over me, touching nothing.

LimmerickLad

1,184 posts

17 months

Monday 20th May
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Southern france somewhere.....having driven from Calais through the night with 3 kids asleep in the back.........4am ish still dark...saw a lorry about 1/2 mile in front - next thing I know I was just about to ram it in the rear - luckily I swerved the right way (left not right as I would have in the UK) and nothing was alongside me.......I could have killed the lot of us..............never driven thru the night without stopping regularly since!!!!!!!!!!!

G Thang

307 posts

30 months

Monday 20th May
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Driving across Europe in an old 4x4, either Czech or East Germany, I forget.
Nose to tail traffic of trucks in the slow lane doing 50, which I was happy to sit in.
The truck behind me didn't like it, overtook, and forced me off the road when alongside.


james6546

1,029 posts

53 months

Monday 20th May
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I wouldn’t let a driver push in in front of me when two lanes went into 1 in central Reading as he was being a bellend and undertaking people.

He followed me into a the car park and attacked me, fortunately I did fight back, and an awesome guy came over to help me.

He kicked my car and cracked the bumper too.

The police gave him a good telling off and he had to pay for repairs, he tried to pull the self defence card but the police weren’t having any of it. I think it helped that I had a witness. He kept shouting something about having his girlfriend in the car, she was sitting there with her head in her hands.

I believe he is in some kind of management role at Thames water if anyone wants to go say hi! The police accidentally forwarded me his details biggrin

I wouldn’t drive into Reading for a month after that and even 4 years later I’m still a lot more careful than I was.

ImbackYo

230 posts

14 months

Monday 20th May
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Many years ago on the M23 coming into Hooley, riding my 2 week old ducati at stupid speeds, hit the seem between two bits of newly laid tarmac whilst leant over. Triggered a massive tank slapper for the entire length of that part of the M23, sitting me up and just missing a grab lorries wheels and then the bridge wall.

Leant the bike on the wall and sat contemplating life for about 20 minutes whilst being called (rightfully) a wker by passing traffic.


J4CKO

41,821 posts

202 months

Monday 20th May
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Killing a dog back in about 1989 as a new driver, was going slowly, near home, kid launches ball into road closely followed by a small dog, into my path, nothing I could do and it went under my front wheel. Even though it was not my fault you dont forget killing someone's pet in front of them. Well it was mortally wounded, assumed it didnt make it, cant still hear the noise it made, thinking about it still makes me well up 30 odd years later.

LennyM1984

667 posts

70 months

Monday 20th May
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Driving along in the outside lane of the Oxford ring-road (between Wolvercote and Headington for those that know it) when all of a sudden the car in front of me swerved into the inside lane to reveal a lady in her mid-60s/early-70s, driving the wrong way down the dual carriageway in the outside lane. I swerved out of the way just in time to see her scowl at me as she went past (I assume she thought that she was in the right and I had been overtaking or something).

At the time I felt fine but when I tried to get out of the car when I got to work, the adrenaline suddenly hit me and I could barely stand on my legs.

Before the music stops

3,160 posts

269 months

Monday 20th May
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heading up to Black & White Garage to pick up one of my various Alfas many years ago... driving along a country lane and a flatbed truck with a JCB on the back is coming the other way. As he enters a bend, the back arm thingy on the JCB swings across into my path. No idea how it missed me, but still terrifies me to this day.

Red9zero

7,164 posts

59 months

Monday 20th May
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David87 said:
Vomit. That's all I have to say on the matter.
I was bringing my wife home from a girls night in out 3 day old Focus when she suddenly threw up. Before I got the chance to stop, she had managed to splatter the dash and windscreen, made even worse as she put her hand over mouth to try and stop it. The rest of the drive home was very quiet ... Even though we got home at 1am, I got the wet vac out and cleaned up the mess, as well as disinfecting everything.
Proper worst experiences have been cars spinning on the motorway in front of me, which has happened three times over the years. Two were when the cars ahead braked hard causing the car in front of me to jump on their brakes, catch the grass next to the crash barrier and spin. Luckily, both times I was looking far enough ahead to see what was happening and leave enough enough room in case anything happened, which it then did. Scariest part was then sitting there for a couple of seconds while the spun car sorted themselves out and hoping nothing piled into the back of me.
The other time was driving past Gordano services in heavy fog, when a car swerved out from the slip road causing a couple of cars in front of me to brake hard and lose control. Being young and dumb I just floored it (as much as I could in a Metro GTA laugh) and go through the gap they had left. Luckily there was nothing in front and I continued on my way with a slightly raised heartrate laugh
Nowadays I am rather older and supposedly more grown up, and ABS tends to stop so many cars losing control under braking. Worst experiences these days are normally needing the toilet when I have just passed the services laugh

king arthur

6,641 posts

263 months

Monday 20th May
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Before the music stops said:
heading up to Black & White Garage to pick up one of my various Alfas many years ago... driving along a country lane and a flatbed truck with a JCB on the back is coming the other way. As he enters a bend, the back arm thingy on the JCB swings across into my path. No idea how it missed me, but still terrifies me to this day.
Oh Christ, that reminds me of an incident in Cornwall some years ago when a digger or some such on the back of a truck somehow had its bucket swung out into the opposite lane, decapitated several people driving the other way.

Alex_225

6,345 posts

203 months

Monday 20th May
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Encountering an utter lunatic in a pickup truck.

Back when I was about 24, I had a tidy little Renault 5 as my daily car. Coming back from my then girlfriends house (her in the car) a pick up truck pulls out on me and being a more fiery young lad I hit the horn, we exchanged gestures. Typical kind of stuff.

Except this guy went utterly batsh!t. I assumed we were done until we're coming alongside each other at a roundabout, me to the left going straight on and him going right. Firstly he brake tests me, then as I'm coming alongside he tries to run me off the road. I pulled in behind him, turned right as thankfully the road was clear and pulled up at the side of the road.

I've come to a stop to see a pickup truck accelerating at the back of my car and bang, he's rammed it. Long story short, we were fine, the car was written off, he got punched, I made a profit, his shiny new pickup was all smashed up and I learned that 50 something year old men can be some of the most angry on the road.