Worst incident that didn't hurt you
Discussion
Anyone been really lucky and not got hurt when they should've? I was crossing the road at some traffic lights and a Vauxhall Astra drove onto me at about 20mph. The bumper hit me on the side of the knee and I was thrown straight up in the air while the car passed under me. I woman watching said I went about 9 feet in the air and did a sideways flip coming down and landing in a full squat in the same spot where the car hit me. There was no pain at all and no marks left on me so after talking to the driver for a bit I carried on home.
is this purely car related? If not, there was a bit of an uprising in Port Gentil, Gabon, when I was there a few years back. We had just arrived from the worst rickety Wright brother plane flight from Libreville, and as we passed through the Port Authority building there were loads of shots going off just outside, and literally thousands of people charging down the main street. There were AK-47's waving about in the air, shooting them off, and we just bolted for the boat! There was a few people 'injured' we heard, but it went on for about a week, and we couldn't leave the port, as they had blocked it all off! It was the most frghtening thing I've ever had happen! The only news we had was from the BBC world service, which mentioned nothing about it, and the gossip on channel-16 ship to ship radio! gangway went up, and quite a few ships were robbed blind. Food, equipment, rope, cables, and tools all gone. We were ok though, as we had 24 hour peeps on deck. very scary situation!
More than I can remember in a kart but one springs to mind. I got tagged coming out of a fast corner, hit the outside kerb about 50mph and launched me backwards off the track. I hit the tyre wall about a foot off the ground having flown across about 4 foot of grass.
Luckly all the pads and neck brace did their job and I was fine, must have looked really bad as other drivers stopped and came over to see if I was ok
Luckly all the pads and neck brace did their job and I was fine, must have looked really bad as other drivers stopped and came over to see if I was ok
Was replacing the sockets in my kitchen.
Turned electricity off to do the work.
Before putting the new socket on, I decided to be good and vacuum the mess up. Had to put power back on to use the vacuum cleaner...
...forgot to turn it off again.
So on resumption of work I was unknowingly looking at a pattress box with three (live) wires sticking out of it. Went to grab one to wire it in - and by grace of something chose the Earth. However I must have come within a micron of the Live as I felt a very soft 'tap'.
Down to 8 lives now. Well 7 actually, but that's another story
Turned electricity off to do the work.
Before putting the new socket on, I decided to be good and vacuum the mess up. Had to put power back on to use the vacuum cleaner...
...forgot to turn it off again.
So on resumption of work I was unknowingly looking at a pattress box with three (live) wires sticking out of it. Went to grab one to wire it in - and by grace of something chose the Earth. However I must have come within a micron of the Live as I felt a very soft 'tap'.
Down to 8 lives now. Well 7 actually, but that's another story
Wrapped a bike around a lampost at 45MPH. Bent the frame, smashed the wheels and knocked myself out for a minute or two..... laid there for a second. Worked out I wasnt bleeding or hurt and then walked home..... bizzare! Didnt see the lampost, dont remember the impact and not a scratch.....
Someone's looking out for you lot! Some scary ones there.
Worst for me was when I was 18. I was a passenger in an immaculate Morgan Plus8, which my friend was driving. Being young, we were showing off and ended up scraping along a wall for 50 feet before going through it.
Scarier still was the look on his father's face when his pride and joy arrived home on a trailer.
Worst for me was when I was 18. I was a passenger in an immaculate Morgan Plus8, which my friend was driving. Being young, we were showing off and ended up scraping along a wall for 50 feet before going through it.
Scarier still was the look on his father's face when his pride and joy arrived home on a trailer.
Not on a par with some of them here but a scary moment in a mini with my brother just after he'd learned to drive - going round a corner on a narrow country lane very quickly, back started stepping out, he corrected, but it was just getting more and more wayward. We ended up at 90 degrees to the road and on full lock when suddenly the tyres bit, and we did a 270 spin onto the verge facing back the way we came, with the wheels about 3 inches from a nasty looking ditch. Old giffer came out of a drive {to see if we were ok|to tear a strip of us} so we drove off sharpish. Us and car totally unharmed by the grace of God (although I seem to remember some grass wedged between the tyre and the wheel rim
)Backpacking in the former Yugoslavia. Train pulled into a station at about 2am. The guards and driver refused to let anybody else on, as the train was packed, and I do mean packed!
The 500 or so people that had waited a long time for this train didn't take the news well. Virtually all the men, and a large percentage of the women started throwing the ballast from off the tracks at the train. The first we knew of it, was a piece of rock as big as my fist came through the window next to my head, and took the curtain down. The noise as everyone started pelting the train was horrendous. Panic inside the train was something to see, with everyone trying to find a safe spot away from the windows. I used my noggin, and climbed up onto the luggage rack, my mates went under the seats. The driver decided that now would be a good time to pull away. As he did, the bombardment REALLY got going. We stopped at the next station up the line to survey the damage, and help the casualties.
We came away without a scratch, others, and particularly the train weren't so lucky.
Phil
The 500 or so people that had waited a long time for this train didn't take the news well. Virtually all the men, and a large percentage of the women started throwing the ballast from off the tracks at the train. The first we knew of it, was a piece of rock as big as my fist came through the window next to my head, and took the curtain down. The noise as everyone started pelting the train was horrendous. Panic inside the train was something to see, with everyone trying to find a safe spot away from the windows. I used my noggin, and climbed up onto the luggage rack, my mates went under the seats. The driver decided that now would be a good time to pull away. As he did, the bombardment REALLY got going. We stopped at the next station up the line to survey the damage, and help the casualties.
We came away without a scratch, others, and particularly the train weren't so lucky.
Phil
Aged about 6, trellis broke when I was climbing on it and I fell about 7 feet and landed flat on my back. Concussed my spine and couldn't move for about 10 minutes. Didn't hurt at all though.
Blinded myself for a couple of minutes by accidentally shorting live to neutral on a 60A circuit (BANG).
Fell off bicycle trying to make a turn too sharply at 30mph, skidded along the road for some distance, still in the riding position. The bicycle was sliding on the handlebar end, the end of the pedal and the rear axle nut. It cut through the three-speed cable, but I remained above the surface of the road until the bike came to a halt and was unmarked.
Flew off the same bicycle due to a Volvo 340 pulling out of a junction in front of me. Slammed the brakes on but they were wet so nothing happened and I whacked into the side of the car and the next thing I knew I was picking myself up off the road on the other side of it. No damage to me, though the cheeky t
t tried to get me to pay for the dent in his car.
Another tt, this time in a BMW, decided to pull out of a side road while my motorcycle was passing on the main road, and drove into the side of me. Didn't quite knock me off the bike, but did suddenly knock me sideways and into the path of a car coming the other way which I hit head-on and went flying again. No damage to me this time either.
I could go on for ages... God is good.
Blinded myself for a couple of minutes by accidentally shorting live to neutral on a 60A circuit (BANG).
Fell off bicycle trying to make a turn too sharply at 30mph, skidded along the road for some distance, still in the riding position. The bicycle was sliding on the handlebar end, the end of the pedal and the rear axle nut. It cut through the three-speed cable, but I remained above the surface of the road until the bike came to a halt and was unmarked.
Flew off the same bicycle due to a Volvo 340 pulling out of a junction in front of me. Slammed the brakes on but they were wet so nothing happened and I whacked into the side of the car and the next thing I knew I was picking myself up off the road on the other side of it. No damage to me, though the cheeky t
t tried to get me to pay for the dent in his car. Another t
t, this time in a BMW, decided to pull out of a side road while my motorcycle was passing on the main road, and drove into the side of me. Didn't quite knock me off the bike, but did suddenly knock me sideways and into the path of a car coming the other way which I hit head-on and went flying again. No damage to me this time either. I could go on for ages... God is good.
Couple of karting ones.
First, on a track at Gravelines in France - doing about 50 down the main straight, a few inches away to my left was a tyre wall. My right front tyre delaminated and blew out, producing the equivalent of a very sharp right-angled turn into the wall.
Second, a Club 100 race at bayford Meadows, starting from the front row of the grid. These things do 0-60 in three seconds, so I'd have been doing about 60 when I reached the first corner, where I was rammed from behind, prompting a 360 into the tyre wall, followed by a powered reverse 720-degree spin back onto the racetrack (whilst the rest of the grid was still coming past), as the clutchless drive shifted into reverse.
First, on a track at Gravelines in France - doing about 50 down the main straight, a few inches away to my left was a tyre wall. My right front tyre delaminated and blew out, producing the equivalent of a very sharp right-angled turn into the wall.
Second, a Club 100 race at bayford Meadows, starting from the front row of the grid. These things do 0-60 in three seconds, so I'd have been doing about 60 when I reached the first corner, where I was rammed from behind, prompting a 360 into the tyre wall, followed by a powered reverse 720-degree spin back onto the racetrack (whilst the rest of the grid was still coming past), as the clutchless drive shifted into reverse.
When I was 18 I was a passenger in an old Renault, we were about to overtake an old couple in a car along a country lane when they decided to turn in front of us instead, we were doing about 40mph. The driver swerved to miss them, we hit a ditch and rolled the car 3 times, ending on the roof a foot away from a large tree. We both walked away with no injuries.
Surely this deserves a little recognition 
That's more than lucky 
A Truck came through the central barrier on the A3 (March 2005). Took out the car next to me, flipping it onto it's side (alongside me) catapaulting it into an end to end flip - finally hurtling over my boot before coming to rest. 3 people were thrown out of the car whilst this was happening & died instantly.
I missed being involved by a hair's breadth - literally in the middle of it but totally unscathed... makes me go cold to think of it - especially as I was in a convertible.
I missed being involved by a hair's breadth - literally in the middle of it but totally unscathed... makes me go cold to think of it - especially as I was in a convertible.
Loving those backpacking/travelling stories, keep them coming!
My story: I was navigating for my mate in an rallied-up XR2, on a stage near lake Baala. Now, there was a caution where there was a straight run up to a crest, follower by a 90 right after it... maybe I could have been a bit louder in shouting that one out, but thats all in the past now cause basically we didnt even touch the ground before the road, and the hill disappeared away to the right beneath us and everything went quiet as we soared out over the dry ploughed field. We landed flat and hard, skittled allong for 30 feet or so and somehow despite the fact that the windows were up the whole inside of the car filled with soil and dust leaving us choking, coughing and squinting.
We were thinking 'game over' at this point. We were extracting ourselves from our harnesses and staggering outside, vaguely starting to wonder how much a trailer back to Wigan would be.
Then, from out of nowhere came a load of blokes in flourecent jackets. 'We'll get you going lads!!' they shouted. 'Are you morons?' we thought.. the car's obviousley fecked. We tried the key: She fired! Clutch up: She moved!!! So after being manhandled back onto the track we finished the stage. The sum total of the damage was that the tracking was a bit out, and the inside was full of soil.
My story: I was navigating for my mate in an rallied-up XR2, on a stage near lake Baala. Now, there was a caution where there was a straight run up to a crest, follower by a 90 right after it... maybe I could have been a bit louder in shouting that one out, but thats all in the past now cause basically we didnt even touch the ground before the road, and the hill disappeared away to the right beneath us and everything went quiet as we soared out over the dry ploughed field. We landed flat and hard, skittled allong for 30 feet or so and somehow despite the fact that the windows were up the whole inside of the car filled with soil and dust leaving us choking, coughing and squinting.
We were thinking 'game over' at this point. We were extracting ourselves from our harnesses and staggering outside, vaguely starting to wonder how much a trailer back to Wigan would be.
Then, from out of nowhere came a load of blokes in flourecent jackets. 'We'll get you going lads!!' they shouted. 'Are you morons?' we thought.. the car's obviousley fecked. We tried the key: She fired! Clutch up: She moved!!! So after being manhandled back onto the track we finished the stage. The sum total of the damage was that the tracking was a bit out, and the inside was full of soil.
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