[poorpigi]

What are your most life endangering experiences in a motor vehicle. Those moments when you think this is it. Posted this on my bike forum some time ago. Very interesting stories.

Myself, went through a caravan at 100 k in a Honda civic, not much left of the van but not pretty.  Again in a civic, T-Boned by a Valiant Charger that was doing 75 MPH, again not very pretty, head injury which a lot of people who hear the story say that explains it... Fell asleep at 100 k in a HT Holden, arr the list could go on and on...

What are your worst near death crashes/moments  

[Shambles]

1979: I'd had my brand new Honda CX500 for just 2 days and it had 7 miles on the clock. I was bimbling through Bolton town centre and didn't notice that the road layout had changed to give priority to crossing buses. So I hit one side-on at 30mph. Headlamp cowling went spinning away along with the fuel tank and front alloy wheel. I ended up inside the bus having displaced the window which my helmeted head had hit. Hmmm... that was a costly repair, to bike and bus.

1987: Was working in Norwich (210 miles from home) and I decided I needed four new tyres on my BMW732i. It hadn't rained there for weeks beforehand, so my replacement Firestones felt like they were driving on ice that night when it finally decided to precipitate. It didn't take much speed (<50mph) to leave the winding road, spin sideways through a farm fence and utterly destroy one of the farmers chicken coops. Feathers everywhere. Car was totalled.

1989: Still in Norwich. Decided to take a mate a few miles south for something to eat after work. Bit showy-offy in the Ford Granada 2.8i Ghia 4X4. It usually stuck to the road like it was on rails. Sure didn't that night. Its last ever journey saw it finish upside down in a garden pond, having crashed through a long row of prize-winning Norfolk shrubs. When the police interviewed me a few days later, they said they'd triangulated the point of reimpact from when I'd left the road () and estimated my speed at around 138mph. Another write-off (and a few points on the licence).

1990: I'd calmed down by now as I was working back in the North West, plus I'd bought an undramatic Fiat Tipo DGT ("digital") to keep me safe. Safe? SAFE? No chance. Not for Mr Blind, here, who boldly drove right through a give-way junction. It wasn't the impact of hitting me in the side that injured the two occupants of the other car. Nor was it the impact of them being deflected into a wall. No. It was the building materials in the rear of their car that came flying forwards that hurt them the most. So I believe. More points on licence

I think I'll stop there otherwise you guys will think I'm some kind of driving nutter 

[bumpkin]

Not had anything like Shambles, who obviously just shouldn't be on the road

1988 - 17 year old, proud of my "new" Metro with styling kit and big Cibie spots (which I think weighed more than the rest of the car!!), just fitted new stereo with big speakers on rear parcel shelf which needed braced with a bit of timber, fiddling with cassette deck (the younger members might need to look that up!), looked up to see a Mercedes boot approaching waaayyy too fast and promptly parked her in there.  Metro needed new bonnet, bumper, wings and radiator, spots were wiped out completely, Merc needed a new rubber insert in it's rear bumper

1990, was late to get to the golf course one Sat morning (early) and was giving it a bootful in the Nissan Stanza, the rear end decided to get a bit loose at about 90mph on a slight bend and before I knew it the boot had overtaken me, went round in a big arc in the middle of the road, before glancing the front wing off a telegraph pole which then sent her into another sweeping arc parking me next to the petrol pumps at the local fuel station facing back the way I had come.  A little old man with a wee Fiat who I had passed about 2 miles back then trundled past as I caught my breath

That Stanza took some punishment, I was returning from the marshalls briefing for the Granite City Rally 1989 which is held in April, the meeting was on the Thursday night and all was set for the Saturday in the forests, when we came out of the meeting it had been complete white out, inches of snow.  Working my way home and she went tail happy, but not completely, suddenly bit and went headfirst into a bridge parapet which then bounced us into a spin, me and my mate just sat there and counted the same tree 5 times before we came to a halt.  Got out to inspect the damage which was the same as my Metro, but considerd ourselves lucky when we looked at the 60ft drop at the other side of the parapet.

[eye30]

I ended up inside the bus

Did you get fined for not having a bus ticket

Next time I'm going to be in you area I'll let you know so you can stay at home until I've passed thro'  

[hipposniper]

1986: in the back of me mates 2.8 ford capri, while he was driving (showing off to his new seat cover (( girlfriend)). ) going down a narrow country road at speed, he hit some mud on the road , car fishtailed twice before hit a hedge  which launced the car 360 barral roll over the hedge into a field,,, saddly she didnt stay with him after that .. as for me .. brown mark in me pants  

[Dazzler]

I posted this a long time ago in another thread..

My Step-dad had a Car Dealership which sold BMC vehicles and Volvo and VW...

A good customer bought in his near new Morris 1100 for dad to babysit while he went overseas...

anyway Mum decided to take it home one night (to give it a run) and my S-D filled it with petrol for her...

On the way home there was a bad smell of fuel so she didn't light a cigarette like she usually would.

She forgot to mention to the S-D about the fuel smell (which was even worse the next morning)

So when she took me to school she didn't have a cig and drove fairly carefully...

Coming over the hill near my school she applied the brakes and the car slid all over the road - nearly skittling my teacher  

Then we went onto the busy main drag and took the side out of a near new HD holden (Aussie car)

We were both shaken but o/k but the Holden owner went right off..

The owner of the car cut the fuel filler off and left a dummy cap on the outside (to stop people milking his fuel) but hadn't told S-D

So he had filled the boot not the tank with petrol.

Fortunately, he had a bodyworks as part of the dealership so the car was fixed as good as new and don't think the owner ever found out!

In about 1977 (I think) I was a passenger in my 12 month old 128 3p Fiat Coupe (was letting my friend who only had an old Vauxhal Victor with drum brakes have a try of my Fiat with four wheel discs) looked across and he was approaching a corner at about 140kph told him to slow down so he hit the anchors and promptly lost control skidded off the road rolled about 3 times and ended up upside down on a barb wire fence.. Neither of us were injured until I brushed some glass off my arm when we got out...Car ended up having $5000 damage (only worth 4,500) but for some reason they fixed it but used to creak and groan badly over driveways..etc so traded it on a new Renault Virage 1.4...

Before that (when I still had the Fiat...) which I used to drive at 6500 RPM in 4th all the time (160kph) .. I was running late to some relief work at a distant branch of the Bank and I came around a corner and there was a Coca Cola truck doing about 40Kph on the next straight. I hit the anchors and skidded to a stop next to him on a two lane back road.. when the smoke cleared I was expecting to see a big truck or something coming my way but I was very lucky that day...

When I had had the Renault for only about 6 months .. I came up over the brow of a hill at about 140Kph on a frost night going to stay with a friend so could relieve at another branch of the Bank the next day.. hadn't been on that road before and didn't see the T junction warning sign..Just missed a guy and his G/F on a motor bike and speared into a field (fortunately a large fence post right where I had entered the field had been knocked over by another unfortunate driver recently)
Managed to drive across the paddock and out the gate with the farmer shaking his fist at me .. dented sump guard and dented pride..

That juntion at Longley south of Hobart has since been made into a gentle curve and the roads now merge...

THere are other (mainly as a passenger) and to this day I am a terribly nervy passenger (although o/k with the wife driving she is surprisingly good)

[Myowni30]

The 70's, brand new Escort RS1800 - only had it about 2 months.  Very very lucky, out for a midnight drive with a mate in mid Wales, well you just have to with this new toy. Usual winding road, about 70mph nice corner then black ice on road, the car spun 360 at least twice and we did not hit anything, not even the grass verges. I pulled the car to the side of the road and we sat there for about 20 minutes just dumb struck, hardly said a word to each other for the first 5 mins.

[Shambles]

... the car spun 360 at least twice and we did not hit anything...

lightweight

[Dazzler]

... the car spun 360 at least twice and we did not hit anything...

lightweight

Yeah, I agree  I did that in my lamest car ever (1973 Mazda 808 sedan with crossplys) drove straight to a Tyre place and upgraded to Steel radials... (was pretty scary though  )

[Surferdude]

Rolled my Renault 12 in a motorkhana once.
On bitumen.
In reverse.
Doing a front end throw into the finish garage of the Hopkirk.
Never even looked like sliding, just straight up and over.

[deleted]

[Shambles]

Not surprised it rolled, with a number plate like that

[Surferdude]

Then there was my Datsun 1600 (well, 1800). First stage of a rally, just north of Brisbane in pouring rain.
We're in third gear and the car hit a puddle and just aquaplaned off line head first into a tree, dead centre.
I swear the impact didn't even shake the rain drops off the tree, it was so big.
And so close to the side of the road I still had three wheels on the road.
I honestly do not know to this day how neither of us didn't break our necks. I know that, despite the racing harness, the top of my helmey hit the steering wheel.
Took a cut and shut job to repair the front 18" of the car.

On another occasion I looped an R8 off a wet bitumen road, sideways through the bush for about 50 metres before sliding back onto the bitumen. My passenger was at the time one of the Holden Precision Drive Team members and was convinced he was going to die. Oh and that wasn't in a rall, just a Sunday afternoon drive.

Probably the best though, and the luckiest was when I drove across the top of a dam in the forest near Nanango just east of Kingaroy.
It was one of those dams created by building a wall across a gear chasm between two ridges and we were meant to curve around the side of the dam and pull up at a passage control located on the edge of the dam wall. However, again in third gear, I slid off the side of the road in to the dam on  the wet grass. We skated across the water and hit the dam wall about in the middle and our sump guard launched us up onto the wall (on the wrong side of the control, whose officials had bolted.)
Somehow we collected our passage card and took off up the next hill. As I changed up a gear, there came a quiet, shaky voice from the navigator's seat, "I I I I can't swim".
We had to go back the next morning to winch out another guy who had slipped into the dam and we measured the distance from where we went in to where our sump guard had ploughed up the wall. 36 meters. And I have 6 witnesses to prove it.
I put it all down to reading something Colin Bond (Australian Rally Champion and Bathurst winner) once said.
He reckoned if you were going off the road in a rally car and you could see there was nothing in front of you, not to brake but to keep some power on and try to steer through. So my subconscious didn't brake as we slid off the road.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Surferdude]

Not surprised it rolled, with a number plate like that

That's P-U-F. Not Poof!

[Dazzler]

My Renault 12 (1.4 ltr Virage) used to roll around a bit but not that much..

I loved my Renault possibly 3rd out of 25 cars after The i30 (#1) and Pulsar SSS (#2)