Near Miss This Afternoon

[41magsnub]

Stopped at a traffic light in the right lane as the last car in line.  A full size pickup was the last car in line in the left lane right next to me.  Another pickup rear ended the truck next to me at a pretty good clip causing a 4 car accident since the hit truck was pushed into the car in front of it and then that car into another.  It was a hard enough hit that airbags went off on the first 3 rigs.

I pulled over to get out and see what I could do to help, within about 3 minutes 2 ambulances, a cop, and a fire truck were there.    It happened across the street from a hospital and a fire station.  The office for the fire station had a perfect view of the accident so I would guess they were rolling even before the 1st 911 call went through.  I talked to the cop real quick to see if he needed a statement or anything (he didn't) and left since they didn't need me underfoot or blocking the shoulder.  Nobody looked like they had emergency level medical needs, there was no blood and folks were conscious and talking.  The first 3 rigs looked pretty well totaled.

Didn't so much as scratch my car.  Scared the piss out of me though, didn't see the guy coming and just watched the whole accident happen in my peripheral vision.

[Northwoods]

Musta been pretty quick to collect an extra 2 cars.  Bet the people in all those cars will be pretty sore tomorrow.

[Ben]

I've been around a few of those in my time where they either happened right in front of me or right next to me. They always freak me out because I can't help but think, "What if I'd decided to get in the other lane 5 minutes ago?" or, "What if I'd left the house 30 seconds earlier? That would be me."

[Monkeyleg]

You're lucky. Really, really lucky.

I was taught to position my motorcycle at a stop so that there's always an escape route, to keep one foot on the ground and the other on the brake, keep one hand on the clutch and the other on the accelerator, and both eyes scanning the mirrors and surroundings. If anything looks like an accident beginning to happen, get the hell out of there. Getting tail-ended on a cycle usually results in much more serious injuries (or death).

It's not something you can usually do in a car, though.

You're lucky.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Was in the middle of one of those types before. My friend was rearended by a jeep with enough force to slam us into the car infront of us.

Luckly, no real damage was done to the cars, but it was not a good day. We wern't planning on really hanging out that day, but ended up sitting at my house, chain smoking and getting over the adrinaline dump.

[Chuck Dye]

Oh, that feeling of helplessness when you see it coming.  

On I-80 westbound,  approaching the Truckee CHP truck scales, I was stopped in traffic in the rightmost lane right along side where the shoulder narrowed to about half a truck width.  In my mirror I saw another eighteen wheeler approaching much too fast to stop without hitting me.   The other three lanes blocked by traffic, Wal-Mart (lovely deep pockets there) bailed to the shoulder and came to a stop barely a foot before funneling into my truck and the guard rail.  The last thing I saw as I made my escape was the Wal-Mart driver retrieving his cell phone from the floor and returning to his call.  

[Nick1911]

Glad to hear that you avoided that one.  Gets the adrenaline pumping, doesn't it?

[Doggy Daddy]

I pulled over to get out and see what I could do to help, within about 3 minutes 2 ambulances, a cop, and a fire truck were there.

No sharks lawyers?

DD

[MillCreek]

You're lucky. Really, really lucky.

I was taught to position my motorcycle at a stop so that there's always an escape route, to keep one foot on the ground and the other on the brake, keep one hand on the clutch and the other on the accelerator, and both eyes scanning the mirrors and surroundings. If anything looks like an accident beginning to happen, get the hell out of there. Getting tail-ended on a cycle usually results in much more serious injuries (or death).

I was taught this as well, and I have personally been involved in a situation in which this saved me from a collision.  I was stopped at a road construction site and the car behind me had stopped.  I saw in my mirrors that a pickup truck was zooming down the road towards the car behind me.  I punched the throttle on the scooter and got the heck out of there just before the pickup rear-ended the car behind me, pushing it forward a good 15 feet.  I was within 15 feet of the car's front bumper and would have been hit myself. 

[230RN]

Same thing happened to me on an entrance ramp to I-25.  Traffic stopped, I saw the guy behind me rolling along and knew he wouldn't be able to stop.  Stuck my head back on the headrest and waited.  He pushed me into the car in front of me.  This was pre-airbags.

In snowy conditions I usually stop a goodly piece from the car in front of me to provide an escape distance for any drivers coming up behind who forget about the low coefficient of friction.  Saved my ass a couple of times.  When they finally look like they'll be able to stop, I roll up to the normal stopping distance.

Driving is a 110% job.

Terry, 230RN

[Lee]

Must be something in the air (cell phone waves probably).  Last Monday morning I was immediately behind a guy who rammed another driver from behind at about 30 mph.  The rear-ender was in an Expedition (I think)...and luckily, the driver he hit was in a Nissan Armada.  It tore the hell out of both cars though...pieces flew everywhere.  Obviously, the guy in back is at fault, but in this case, the jack-wad in the Nissan realized that he needed to be in the turn lane a little too late, so he just stopped suddenly in the thru lane with his left signal on. I saw what he was doing, and was muttering to myself about it, then realized the guy in the other behemoth wasn't slowing down...then WHAM.

[Boomhauer]

I'm waiting to see someone killed where I work.

People coming from one direction often miss the entrance because it's just around a blind curve (I know, I know, I didn't design the parking lot, supposedly educated "engineers" did and completely *expletive deleted*ed it up in numerous ways). Instead of going on down the road a bit and turning around at a safe place...they STOP AND BACK UP to pull in the entrance.

[Balog]

You're lucky. Really, really lucky.

I was taught to position my motorcycle at a stop so that there's always an escape route, to keep one foot on the ground and the other on the brake, keep one hand on the clutch and the other on the accelerator, and both eyes scanning the mirrors and surroundings. If anything looks like an accident beginning to happen, get the hell out of there. Getting tail-ended on a cycle usually results in much more serious injuries (or death).

It's not something you can usually do in a car, though.

You're lucky.

When a friend got his bike, I had a couple weekds where I sent every article I saw about cars/bikes getting rear ended at stop lights and off ramps to him to remind him about this. Was it AZ where the dump truck plowed into a group of bikers on a group ride and killed a whole lot of them?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

bike near misses are the most invigorating
my best was coming over the brink of a hill too fast on wet roads finding stopped traffic ahead.  tried to stop couldn't and wa able to swerve onto shoulder and not rear end pickup
gravel shoulder so even though i was sklowed down a bunch i still had my hands full.
the guy behind me?
hit that same pickup at at least 30.
i lowsided on the gravel but still chalked that one up in the win column
very educational for a rookie street rider.
if i had gotten nailed it woulda been largely my own fault

that i wasn't proves yet again that special angels watch over fools and drunks

[Devonai]

I'm glad everyone here is still in one piece!

I was once rear-ended at a stoplight.  The car pushed me into the car ahead of me.  It was just like those swinging ball things you see at Brookstone, the culprit's front end was completely messed up, and the car in front of me was mashed up all the way through the trunk.  But my Maxima?  No damage.  All the energy transferred through me and into the car in front.