Your most helpless moment in a car.

Your most helpless moment in a car.

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Hasbeen

Original Poster:

2,073 posts

220 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Mid 60s & a mate & I were setting a club car trial for the Morgan owners club Of Oz. The trial was more a Sunday social run with a bit of competition flavour than a serious trial, so we weren't low flying.

We were in his new 4/4, with the 115E Ford engine, & he offered me a drive. It was a transport stage, crossing a small river, 600 ft. down in a deep sandstone gorge. The road was cut into the sandstone, with sweeping curves, followed by hairpins too tight for tour coaches.

I was rolling gently through a left hander, with a 100Ft high cut face to my left, & a fair drop to my right. The sign had told me there was a right hand hairpin around this curve. I was going carefully, as after some recent rain, there were a few largish chunks of sandstone fallen on the road from the cutting.

Suddenly a large sedan appeared around the rock face. He had pulled a bit of a power slide out of the hairpin, & was out on our side of the road. I would not have had a problem stopping as he got back over, if, when I gently applied the brakes, the right front wheel had not climbed up onto a foot diameter or so lump of fallen sandstone, locked up, & stayed there. Nothing I did in the 25 Ft or so I had, would get it off.

It was like one of those 3D movies. The accident is coming relentlessly, & there is nothing you can do to stop it. You can only sit & wait for the crash. Sliding helplessly into it at probably only 7 MPH it took for ever.

Afterwards you could see the broad sandstone line on the road, dead straight from where the wheel had mounted it, to where the sudden stop occurred. This stopped still on our side of the road, so the cops charged the other bloke.

It wasn't even much of a prang, but the drivers side suspension was bent back. I grabbed a cab home, chucked the Brabham out of it's trailer, & went & got the 4/4.

I will never forget that feeling of helplessness as the thing totally ignored my input, & slid slowly into the other cars door.

surveyor

17,767 posts

183 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Indicative left, and pulled out slightly to give room to do a near 180 left turn. Then hear tyres screeching as van from behind realised that yes my left indicating means that I am turning left.

I had no time to unwind the lock. Thankfully a small collision.

MathieuGT

39 posts

112 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Sitting there waiting for a mate to cross to the road and get in my car. Engine off, in neutral listening to the radio. Completely oblivious to the stupidity I was about to encounter. While seeing my friend coming across the road on the right hand side I gave him a little hello 'nod', only to see his face change completely and look to my left.
I look left and see a Astra in reverse heading for me at a uncomfortable angle, driver completely unaware I was there. 2 seconds later just as I gave a healthy beep of the horn it was too late and the Astra had managed to reverse into my front passengers A panel and along the door. Woman got out and said 'oops sorry, didn't check my mirror at all' which as I'm sure you can imagine didn't go down well.

Asterix

24,438 posts

227 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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A404 between High Wycombe & Amersham - I'm in my first ever car, Mini 850, blatting along at a mighty 60mph and a woman in a Renault Fuego pulls out of a side lane 15 ft in front of me. I manage to steer a bit to the right so it's not head-on. I glance off the side of her car but that's enough to crumple most of the front, the engine pushed the bulkhead just up to me knees. All the glass in the car instantly shatters.

I'm now simply a passenger - I see a car in the oncoming lane flash by, as does a telegragh pole on the oppoosite verge and I come to rest next to one of those green boxes you see at the side of the road.

Not a scratch on me.

Without thinking about it, I jumped out and ran over to see if she was ok. Ten minutes later I go into shock and can't stop shaking for about half an hour.

Had a wee cry afterwards that my pride and joy had been totaled.

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

156 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Flying through the air upsidedown waiting for the inevitable landing .....

GravelBen

15,654 posts

229 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Hasbeen said:
I will never forget that feeling of helplessness as the thing totally ignored my input, & slid slowly into the other cars door.
I've had a similar slow-motion experience - drove up a skifield road, ignore the 'fit chains here' sign cos we're nearly at the top and hey its a 4wd car and the snow feels grippy enough. Get to the top carpark and can't see any spaces so I stop for another look around.

About 10 seconds after stopping (and I think turning the car off), the car starts to slowly shuffle its away sideways across the very slight slope, straight towards someones shiny new Grand Cherokee. Uh oh...

Fortunately it stopped moving a foot away from the Jeep, then my mate got out and leant against the side of my car to stop it sliding any further while I swung the nose around towards the exit and moved away. Having a bit more experience now I would have got the wheels turning and driven out of the slow-mo slide, but I was just a young fulla back then.

Driving carefully back down to the next carpark was fine, but we could barely stand up on the surface to walk up again.

I've had scarier moments with ABS getting confused approaching tight corners on steep gravel roads, but not so helpless because there is always the handbrake to help out with those.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 26th January 06:15

Pints

18,444 posts

193 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Many years ago, soon after having passed my driving test, I was on my way to class in the morning rush. I was sitting waiting in a long queue on a narrow road, a light drizzle moistening the asphalt.

I looked in my rearview mirrow and saw a car approaching at a speed I thought too quick for the conditions. With nowhere for me to go, I tapped at the gearstick to ensure it was in neutral, put my head back and watched it approach. Only at the last instant did I look away as he hit the back of the car.

It all happened very quickly but time seemed to slow, which was even more frustrating that you can do nothing to stop the inevitable.

conkerman

3,298 posts

134 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Failed gearbox.

Nothing quite so helpless as being stranded in a running car.

Ended up getting home with judicious use of 'the persuader'to the mechanism

GravelBen

15,654 posts

229 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Come to think of it, this one wasn't a pleasant feeling either...


Buster73

5,042 posts

152 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Sitting in a hire car outside our hotel in Florida in 1989 waiting for my wife and 4 year old son to join me , he'd been to the toilet iirc.

As they came out of the hotel , he saw me in the car and started running through the car park towards me , except a big tour bus was driving through the car park , how the bloody thing stopped without hitting him I'll never know.

The driver was as shook up as both me and the wife were , he explained afterwards with his elevated position he noticed the boy leave his mam and run between two parked cars straight in front of him before he slammed the brakes on .

He must have missed hitting him by a couple of feet.

Talk about everything happenings in slow motion , it was exactly that.

Sends shivers down my spine thinking about it now.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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PurpleMoonlight said:
Flying through the air upsidedown waiting for the inevitable landing .....
Yep.

Then standing there waiting for the AA, and noticing the fence post lying on the back seat having gone through the OSR door window.

stargazer30

1,582 posts

165 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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I did the longest les than 10mph skid in history in a focus ST (older 2.5T volvo job).

Bottom of the road sharpish down hill dip up to some lights. Freezing cold, dusting of snow but black ice under it. I slowed right down as the lights were red. Entered the bank and that was it. Big wide summer low profile tyres on ICE with a nice heavy engine. Basically a sledge.

Brakes useless, ABS refused to switch off so I had no brakes.

Steering, no grip, no chance.

Handbrake, try to slide back end into kerb to slow down, nope that didn't work.

Reverse? Nope bank too steep.

Nice big 4x4 at lights with a tow hook. Yep that'll stop it.

Cue list of expletives, there goes my lovely clean driving record of 10 years.

Monkeylegend

26,226 posts

230 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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A small crane jib swinging towards us from the pavement and the hook crashing through the windscreen, pushing the roof up from the inside and swinging back out again, right between me and the driver, leaving us unhurt but covered in glass, and poo.

This happened in 1970 and I can still see it happening.

Edited by Monkeylegend on Monday 26th January 09:01

Sycamore

1,726 posts

117 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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I live at the bottom of a steep hill, about half a mile long. It has speed bumps every 30 metres or so (!!!).
Despite being a bus route, in the winter it doesn't get gritted whatsoever, so for several weeks a year we often have a ski slope.

During heavy snow I had to drive to the bottom in my Smart Roadster to get home. It's light, rear wheel drive, rear engine, semi-automatic and I was behind the wheel. In hindsight it was doomed from the off.

Twitching down at 0.1 mph and the back end overtook the front and I'm now hopelessly pirouetting at ~20mph down a hill with no control whatsoever.

Ended up mounting the kerb and buckling two alloys, but at least it stopped..

CallorFold

831 posts

132 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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First car, Rover Metro, bad winter, lots of snow and ice on the road, heading towards a bend rather too quickly, turned the wheel, nothing happened, anchored on the brakes, nothing happened......smashed the front of the car into a very solid wooden barrier which smashed out a headlight and reshaped the bonnet slightly. DOH.

Blib

43,792 posts

196 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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In the mid seventies and driving through Hackney as a passenger in my father's rather ropey Silver Shadow. We were driving down a gently curving road, cars parked on either side, allowing only one vehicle through, in one direction, at a time. All of a sudden a brown Ford Capri appeared coming towards us at some speed. The driver was not looking at the road. He was hunched across to the passenger side, fumbling in his glove compartment.

My father stopped the Rolls as far to the left of the road as the parked cars would allow and said to me, "Brace yourself", while putting his arm across my chest. (We didn't do seat belts back in the seventies). The Ford raced ever closer. There was no way he would be able to stop. The accident was about to happen and there was nothing we could do about it. Finally, the other driver looked up, saw our car barring the way and hit the brakes. It was all far too late, he careered into the offside front corner of the Rolls and came to a shuddering, steaming halt.

I'll never forget the look of surprised horror on the driver's face as he hit us.

I recall that we barely felt the impact and when we inspected the damage, my dad's Roller had a substantial but driveable dent in the front wing, while the Capri's front end had been turned into a catamaran.

No on was hurt and as an aside, there was only one witness to the accident. That witness was my Grandfather who just happened to be walking by at the time.

velocitas

225 posts

158 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Two come to mind:

December 2003
Stopped on an icy uphill B-road watching a Peugeot Partner van slide broadside down the road drifting across from his lane with no way for either of us to avoid the impact. Front driver’s side of my car connected with the rear driver’s side wheel of his van and sent him arseways into a ditch whilst pushing my car back into a wall. Damage wasn’t severe as the impact was only around 15mph.

March 2013
Driving a rental Insignia to the airport in heavy rain when on a gentle right hand bend the car hit standing water in the outside lane at 65mph. It drifted across the two lanes but thankfully found traction and responded just before I ended up on the grass bank. Proper poo in the pants moment as the car didn’t slow down and there was an overpass support up ahead - would have been a big impact.

r11co

6,244 posts

229 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Slowed to a stop to let an old man pushing a bicycle cross at a pedestrian crossing in Dolo, near Venice while driving a rented Daewoo Matiz (I know!). I should have remembered that the locals treat pedestrian crossings as 'optional' as I heard the screech of the tyres of what turned out be a Transit van just before it plowed into the back of us. The agonising fraction of a second before impact was waiting for the old guy to clear the front of the car so I could release the brakes!

Shot past him by inches. The rear axle of the Matiz ended up under the rear seats!

Post-script - probably saved the old geezer's life and he didn't even stop to give his name as a witness!

Edited by r11co on Monday 26th January 09:14

Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

185 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Taking my parents' elderly bulldog out to Maiden Castle for his birthday walk in my old Fiesta, many years ago.

Sat him on the front seat on the way back. Driving down a country lane, had to do a sudden stop on a left hand bend when something came round the corner too fast, dog slid off the seat and managed to land with the gearstick wedged more or less up his arse.

I had to grab his behind with both hands, pull him vertically upwards and back on to the seat, give the gearknob a quick wipe, then reverse out of the way of the opposing car.

budfox

1,510 posts

128 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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I wasn't sat in my car, the wife was driving it.I was in my office 30 miles away. The phone call came... "I've done something stupid". She was driving my Fabia Tdi instead of her Aygo. I knew instantly that she'd just filled it with four star.