A real brown trouser moment
Discussion
Ever had a complete oh s
t moment? 
Absolutely chucking it down this morning on the A19 towards Newcastle. Was overtaking a lorry and happened to spot standing water in a natural curve in the road at the bottom of a hill. Thought nothing of it, just backed off a little and was just behind the rear bumper of the lorry in the other lane.
He goes through the water and sends up a wave of water which comes crashing down on my car, cue blindness for 1.5 - 2 seconds where my wipers couldn't clear the water fast enough. I drove those 2 seconds at 60mph and I had no idea what was in front of me, if the lorry had changed lanes, nothing. It really freaked me out, anything could have happened !!
t moment? Absolutely chucking it down this morning on the A19 towards Newcastle. Was overtaking a lorry and happened to spot standing water in a natural curve in the road at the bottom of a hill. Thought nothing of it, just backed off a little and was just behind the rear bumper of the lorry in the other lane.
He goes through the water and sends up a wave of water which comes crashing down on my car, cue blindness for 1.5 - 2 seconds where my wipers couldn't clear the water fast enough. I drove those 2 seconds at 60mph and I had no idea what was in front of me, if the lorry had changed lanes, nothing. It really freaked me out, anything could have happened !!
I've had a few brown trouser moments where cars have pulled out on me and i've had to swerve etc, thats nowt compared to a friend of mine who was driving on the motorway in the 3'rd lane at around 70/75 ish and his bonnett flew up and smashed his windscreen, he literaly had to stick his head out of the window and use his mirrors to get accross into the hard shoulder.
Driving home on the M25 in the pouring rain in a 2nd hand E39 I'd just bought. Wipers packed up while I was overtaking two elephant racing lorries. As above, it was a case of finding the window buttons, sticking my head out in the pouring rain/spray, navigate back in behind the lorries and across to the hard shoulder which required ducking back inside to check mirrors.
Terrifying!
Terrifying!
Coming round a right hand corner on an A-road late one evening to find a car coming towards me on the wrong side of the road overtaking a car on his side. Slammed on the brakes, guy being overtaken must have done the same and the car doing the overtake pulled in with no more than half a car length to spare between us. Left me pretty shaken.
Couple of times on the A19, weather can turn pretty bad up there, especially in the snow when people pull out in front of you 
A good one was coming back from Le Mans around the M25, ridiculous downpours, plenty of standing water, spot a Rover coupe facing the wrong way on a slip road. "How did he get there?" thinks I in lane 3, and then spot the river in front of me. Throttle back to even speed, arms locked to keep the wheel straight, floated for a good 3-4 seconds it felt like, in my E34 530 V8.
Was probably worse for my PH'er chum driving the TVR Chim in front
A good one was coming back from Le Mans around the M25, ridiculous downpours, plenty of standing water, spot a Rover coupe facing the wrong way on a slip road. "How did he get there?" thinks I in lane 3, and then spot the river in front of me. Throttle back to even speed, arms locked to keep the wheel straight, floated for a good 3-4 seconds it felt like, in my E34 530 V8.
Was probably worse for my PH'er chum driving the TVR Chim in front
rhinochopig said:
My mate shat himself whilst stuck in massive traffic jam on the M25 on a very very hot day. He sat their gently sobbing to himself whilst his wife called him all the names under the sun whilst hanging her head out the window so as not to be sick.
That was a real brown trouser moment.
Brilliant! Made my day...the poor guy!That was a real brown trouser moment.
Just out of interest is this maybe one for the "friend" thread?
AClownsPocket said:
Ever had a complete oh st moment?
Absolutely chucking it down this morning on the A19 towards Newcastle. Was overtaking a lorry and happened to spot standing water in a natural curve in the road at the bottom of a hill. Thought nothing of it, just backed off a little and was just behind the rear bumper of the lorry in the other lane.
He goes through the water and sends up a wave of water which comes crashing down on my car, cue blindness for 1.5 - 2 seconds where my wipers couldn't clear the water fast enough. I drove those 2 seconds at 60mph and I had no idea what was in front of me, if the lorry had changed lanes, nothing. It really freaked me out, anything could have happened !!
I had the exact same thing happen to me a few months ago only the water came over the central barrier of a dual cariiageway. It had been raining heavy earlier in the day but the sun was out and the roads were dry, so the drain on the other side of the road must have been blocked. My nappy filled quite quickly while i got the wipers on and they cleared the windscreen. Was not a nice experience.t moment? Absolutely chucking it down this morning on the A19 towards Newcastle. Was overtaking a lorry and happened to spot standing water in a natural curve in the road at the bottom of a hill. Thought nothing of it, just backed off a little and was just behind the rear bumper of the lorry in the other lane.
He goes through the water and sends up a wave of water which comes crashing down on my car, cue blindness for 1.5 - 2 seconds where my wipers couldn't clear the water fast enough. I drove those 2 seconds at 60mph and I had no idea what was in front of me, if the lorry had changed lanes, nothing. It really freaked me out, anything could have happened !!
Aside from the brown trouser moments of being in a crash and near crash (in the snow) the one there are two that stick out to me.
Driving out of London on the way to Oxfordshire (I think), I drove in just about the worst weather I've encountered. Literally out of nowhere there was the worst rain I've ever seen, my wipers on their fastest setting could not keep up at all, visibility was 2 meters approx beyond the end of my bonnet as it had become so misty from the spray of other cars. The rain was so heavy that at least 1 metre's width of the inside lane (which I was in) was full of standing water forcing me to pull slightly to the rightnearly in lane 2. Nearly shat myself in that sitation as for that time I had no visual referance around me, and only knew that if I drove any closer to the left I'dd lose all control of the car.
Second experience was me not driving, rather foolishly my brothers friend. I never knew how bad he was, only decided to tell us of his history of car accidents when we were in the car with him. In about 3 years motoring he had 2 crashes (writing off both cars). He paid absolutely NO attention to his driving, finding his iPod and chatting to us more interesting. Ie joining the motorway, he swung into the outside lane 2 of the slipway, whislst chatting to us paying no attention to the road, he didnt notice the person in front of him doing 40mph in our lane, cue emergency braking, crossing the white hatched lines, and barging his way onto the M25
When we got onto the M20 he thought it would be fun to find out how fast he could make his car go. It was unstable at 70mph, and against my will (I old him to slow down), he sped up to an indicated 100mph (this in a Toyota Yaris). I couldnt refuse a ride home from our destination as I hadnt a clue how to, so had to accept one.
For this part of the journey I had to direct him. He decided he knew this duel carrigeway better than me. I had told him that It was a 50mph limit (it is), and that I road joins this carraigeway as it narrows to 1 lane. He decided to drive at 80, and speed up when I told him to slow down, narrowly missing a car that pulled out on us on the duel caraigeway.
I spent the rest of the day quite shook up and shocked at his driving. The only reason I didnt report him for dangerous driving is that nothing would come of it, and it would probably be bought back to me, and make it awkward for my brother. No excuse I know, but I've refused to drive him, or step foot in a car with him since.
Edit to add: Awaiting cool story bro
Driving out of London on the way to Oxfordshire (I think), I drove in just about the worst weather I've encountered. Literally out of nowhere there was the worst rain I've ever seen, my wipers on their fastest setting could not keep up at all, visibility was 2 meters approx beyond the end of my bonnet as it had become so misty from the spray of other cars. The rain was so heavy that at least 1 metre's width of the inside lane (which I was in) was full of standing water forcing me to pull slightly to the rightnearly in lane 2. Nearly shat myself in that sitation as for that time I had no visual referance around me, and only knew that if I drove any closer to the left I'dd lose all control of the car.
Second experience was me not driving, rather foolishly my brothers friend. I never knew how bad he was, only decided to tell us of his history of car accidents when we were in the car with him. In about 3 years motoring he had 2 crashes (writing off both cars). He paid absolutely NO attention to his driving, finding his iPod and chatting to us more interesting. Ie joining the motorway, he swung into the outside lane 2 of the slipway, whislst chatting to us paying no attention to the road, he didnt notice the person in front of him doing 40mph in our lane, cue emergency braking, crossing the white hatched lines, and barging his way onto the M25
When we got onto the M20 he thought it would be fun to find out how fast he could make his car go. It was unstable at 70mph, and against my will (I old him to slow down), he sped up to an indicated 100mph (this in a Toyota Yaris). I couldnt refuse a ride home from our destination as I hadnt a clue how to, so had to accept one.
For this part of the journey I had to direct him. He decided he knew this duel carrigeway better than me. I had told him that It was a 50mph limit (it is), and that I road joins this carraigeway as it narrows to 1 lane. He decided to drive at 80, and speed up when I told him to slow down, narrowly missing a car that pulled out on us on the duel caraigeway.
I spent the rest of the day quite shook up and shocked at his driving. The only reason I didnt report him for dangerous driving is that nothing would come of it, and it would probably be bought back to me, and make it awkward for my brother. No excuse I know, but I've refused to drive him, or step foot in a car with him since.
Edit to add: Awaiting cool story bro
rhinochopig said:
My mate shat himself whilst stuck in massive traffic jam on the M25 on a very very hot day. He sat their gently sobbing to himself whilst his wife called him all the names under the sun whilst hanging her head out the window so as not to be sick.
That was a real brown trouser moment.
That was a real brown trouser moment.
groomi said:
Driving home on the M25 in the pouring rain in a 2nd hand E39 I'd just bought. Wipers packed up while I was overtaking two elephant racing lorries. As above, it was a case of finding the window buttons, sticking my head out in the pouring rain/spray, navigate back in behind the lorries and across to the hard shoulder which required ducking back inside to check mirrors.
Terrifying!
Similar to mine and same car.Terrifying!
E39 530D with automatic wipers. Absolutely chucking it down on the M4 (the type when its raining so hard its bouncing off the road) and the wipers are working overtime. Taking it easy but in the outside lane overtaking a couple of lorries.
Suddenly wipers stop. No problem it has a manual override. Which is true, however on this occasion the manual override decided to do absolutely nothing (and flicking the stalk harder didn't appear to work either). Nada, zip, zero, zilch, no window clearing action at all. Which, to be honest, considering my position did pose a slight problem.
So slow down hazards on, head out of window and navigate to the hard shoulder mostly using wing mirrors and praying I didn't go into the back of anybody (even head out of window visibility was rubbish).
So on the hard shoulder flicking the stalk and still nothing would function. So I turned the car off and on again and hey presto all back to normal. I can only presume it was a software bug or something as it never happened again.
I never trusted the car after that and hated driving in heavy rain.
TryingHard said:
groomi said:
Driving home on the M25 in the pouring rain in a 2nd hand E39 I'd just bought. Wipers packed up while I was overtaking two elephant racing lorries. As above, it was a case of finding the window buttons, sticking my head out in the pouring rain/spray, navigate back in behind the lorries and across to the hard shoulder which required ducking back inside to check mirrors.
Terrifying!
Similar to mine and same car.Terrifying!
E39 530D with automatic wipers. Absolutely chucking it down on the M4 (the type when its raining so hard its bouncing off the road) and the wipers are working overtime. Taking it easy but in the outside lane overtaking a couple of lorries.
Suddenly wipers stop. No problem it has a manual override. Which is true, however on this occasion the manual override decided to do absolutely nothing (and flicking the stalk harder didn't appear to work either). Nada, zip, zero, zilch, no window clearing action at all. Which, to be honest, considering my position did pose a slight problem.
So slow down hazards on, head out of window and navigate to the hard shoulder mostly using wing mirrors and praying I didn't go into the back of anybody (even head out of window visibility was rubbish).
So on the hard shoulder flicking the stalk and still nothing would function. So I turned the car off and on again and hey presto all back to normal. I can only presume it was a software bug or something as it never happened again.
I never trusted the car after that and hated driving in heavy rain.
Palms said:
I've had a few brown trouser moments where cars have pulled out on me and i've had to swerve etc, thats nowt compared to a friend of mine who was driving on the motorway in the 3'rd lane at around 70/75 ish and his bonnett flew up and smashed his windscreen, he literaly had to stick his head out of the window and use his mirrors to get accross into the hard shoulder.
That happened to me one morning on the M3 in rush hour doing 70-75 in the outside lane. Car needed new bonnet, new roof, bonnet hinges and windscreen. Had to Ace Ventura it onto the hard shoulder of a packed motorway.Autowindscreens paid for it as they had fitted a new windscreen the day before and now closed the bonnet properly even though it looked shut.
When I was 20 and had my first car (Orange Morris Marina - cue jokes) I worked in a country pub. Driving home flat out (cue more jokes) at about 1:00am, on a quiet A road, a very large stag jumped over the left hand hedge into the road in front of me. I swerved right just as he jumped into the right hand lane and then I swerved left and he then jumped over the right hand hedge and to safety in the field. For some reason the motorsport inspired handling of the car and my natural racing driver instincts failed, resulting in me travelling at quite a decent speed sideways down the road. I was really expecting the thing to roll over, but it just kept sliding until it came to a stop and still on the tarmac, no hedges involved. I think it's fair to say that the incident left me somewhat distressed.
groomi said:
TryingHard said:
groomi said:
Driving home on the M25 in the pouring rain in a 2nd hand E39 I'd just bought. Wipers packed up while I was overtaking two elephant racing lorries. As above, it was a case of finding the window buttons, sticking my head out in the pouring rain/spray, navigate back in behind the lorries and across to the hard shoulder which required ducking back inside to check mirrors.
Terrifying!
Similar to mine and same car.Terrifying!
E39 530D with automatic wipers. Absolutely chucking it down on the M4 (the type when its raining so hard its bouncing off the road) and the wipers are working overtime. Taking it easy but in the outside lane overtaking a couple of lorries.
Suddenly wipers stop. No problem it has a manual override. Which is true, however on this occasion the manual override decided to do absolutely nothing (and flicking the stalk harder didn't appear to work either). Nada, zip, zero, zilch, no window clearing action at all. Which, to be honest, considering my position did pose a slight problem.
So slow down hazards on, head out of window and navigate to the hard shoulder mostly using wing mirrors and praying I didn't go into the back of anybody (even head out of window visibility was rubbish).
So on the hard shoulder flicking the stalk and still nothing would function. So I turned the car off and on again and hey presto all back to normal. I can only presume it was a software bug or something as it never happened again.
I never trusted the car after that and hated driving in heavy rain.
I've only had one so far - after it had snowed heavily a couple of winters ago I went in the Landy out for a bimble on the totally ungritted country lanes, principally for fun to also in the vain hope of finding a stranded motorist to rescue!
Anyway, for those of you that know the road around Oulton park from the main entrance to the Knickerbrook gate, you'll know that there is a hill with a fairly pronounced crest at the top, leading down to a very sharp bend at the bottom. Knowing the first rule of snow/ice driving it to use engine braking, I changed down just before the crest of the hill so as to control my descent, but let the clutch in slightly too sharply. result - the rear wheels locked, and the back came round. It got to about 45 degrees by the time I'd thought "OH st!!!" whilst instinctively stamping the clutch back down and piling on the opposite lock. Slightly too much oppo it turned out, as it then snapped back the other way, but this time I caught it and got it back in a straight line. I then let the clutch back in very gently and coasted the rest of the hill at a snails pace.
Suitably chastened, I headed home, but to this day I still attribute my prompt and correct response to the situation to instinct learned through many many "wasted hours" on Gran Turismo
Anyway, for those of you that know the road around Oulton park from the main entrance to the Knickerbrook gate, you'll know that there is a hill with a fairly pronounced crest at the top, leading down to a very sharp bend at the bottom. Knowing the first rule of snow/ice driving it to use engine braking, I changed down just before the crest of the hill so as to control my descent, but let the clutch in slightly too sharply. result - the rear wheels locked, and the back came round. It got to about 45 degrees by the time I'd thought "OH s
t!!!" whilst instinctively stamping the clutch back down and piling on the opposite lock. Slightly too much oppo it turned out, as it then snapped back the other way, but this time I caught it and got it back in a straight line. I then let the clutch back in very gently and coasted the rest of the hill at a snails pace.Suitably chastened, I headed home, but to this day I still attribute my prompt and correct response to the situation to instinct learned through many many "wasted hours" on Gran Turismo
Graebob said:
A good one was coming back from Le Mans around the M25, ridiculous downpours, plenty of standing water, spot a Rover coupe facing the wrong way on a slip road. "How did he get there?" thinks I in lane 3, and then spot the river in front of me. Throttle back to even speed, arms locked to keep the wheel straight, floated for a good 3-4 seconds it felt like, in my E34 530 V8.
Was probably worse for my PH'er chum driving the TVR Chim in front
That's where you made your mistake. Better to accelerate gently and cut through the standing water than back off and create a bow wave and aquaplane.Was probably worse for my PH'er chum driving the TVR Chim in front
To mat777, yes snow-driving has it's moments.
Had a mate years ago who jumped a red-light which controlled traffic across a single-lane-bridge.
Sped up the snow-covered bridge wheelspinning in a Sierra XR4i, over the top, then lost it totally on the down-side and spun the car and hit the first car waiting on the other side.
It was a traffic-police Senator.
Had a mate years ago who jumped a red-light which controlled traffic across a single-lane-bridge.
Sped up the snow-covered bridge wheelspinning in a Sierra XR4i, over the top, then lost it totally on the down-side and spun the car and hit the first car waiting on the other side.
It was a traffic-police Senator.
Had one yesterday
very wet A47 diesel and a roundabout
car short wheelbase landrover
half way around the roundabout the car steps out to the right so i correct it
i am now heading towards the concrete triangle with 3 bollards on and thinking about my no claims discount
so flick to the left and hit some diesel and the defender kept spinning to the left.
came to a stop after completing a spin torvel and dean would have been proud of!
select 1st gear and drive around the round about to complete my journey
very wet A47 diesel and a roundabout
car short wheelbase landrover
half way around the roundabout the car steps out to the right so i correct it
i am now heading towards the concrete triangle with 3 bollards on and thinking about my no claims discount
so flick to the left and hit some diesel and the defender kept spinning to the left.
came to a stop after completing a spin torvel and dean would have been proud of!
select 1st gear and drive around the round about to complete my journey
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