Road Accident

[ratewhore]

I crashed my motorbike and ended up flying into a wood with my bike coming flying behind me. If I remember, I felt calm (after the initial panic) as you realise there ain't much you can do and you have to leave it to the fickle hand of fate...

[threaded]

I've lost it a few times. On motorcycles the one thing that always sticks in my mind is how blue tarmac is when you're sliding across it. Oh and how fast you spin about.

[EternalOptimist]

One where we blasted round a 90 degree bend and missed an oncoming by centimetres.

One where my head went through the car windscreen - over in a split second - hospital with a chipped vertebra.

One where some bloke on a motor bike went sraight over the bonnet at about 40, not nice. He wasn't very well.

Two instances of being hit by lorries on the A11 when cycling.

One where we would have been toast under the wheels of an artic had the people we were overtaking not let us in.

Oh, and one where my last word would have been "F*uckarama", as my mate decided to do a U turn on a double carriageway, and we were faced with a LARGE truck we just missed.

I learned nothing, except that truck drivers cannot see you, assume you're invisible.

On the upside, my mum & dad met each other in a head-on smash. She ended up in his passenger seat. He still has the steering wheel that fits his chest perfectly.

RH

I always wondered who the prats were that we all see doing daft things now and then. Its YOU , you sound like a right dodgy driver.

[realityhack]

And how everything really is in slow motion when you wipe out - I remember one accident where maybe 3 seconds felt like 30. And it was calm - I don't remember hearing anything, just sight and sensation.

[EternalOptimist]

And how everything really is in slow motion when you wipe out - I remember one accident where maybe 3 seconds felt like 30. And it was calm - I don't remember hearing anything, just sight and sensation.

merde bouche

[Spacecadet]

I've never had a crash whilst driving, i'm usually far too careful and I know how to avoid the people who might crash in to me, I seem to spot the lane changers before even they know what they're doing, not to mention the cyclists who seem to think that moving in front of cars without even looking is funny.

Having said that there have been a couple of times when i've been caught a bit short when over taken and ended up being flashed by on coming traffic, although at least one occasion they were just being fannys, there was plenty of room.

Things i've learnt over the years is:
If you're not sure then don't do it.
Double check blind spots
Last look forward (the roundabout might be clear, but deardry in her honda jazz might decide its best to come to a full stop anyway)
Look as far ahead as possible and always think of what "could" happen
Make sure there's plenty of room for manoeuvre - if someones getting too close then create extra room where you can
Patience, patience, patience. Aggressive, impatient driving will get you in a smash.

[hyperD]

Had a nasty accident in Shetlands - rolled the car as we hit standing water at 60mph on top of a Voe - fortunately it was on the left hand side and not right otherwise we would have gone through the barrier into the icy depths below. As we were rolling I felt incredibly calm but was waiting "for the big one". The strangest thing was while we were rolling in slo-mo, I turned and looked at my passenger and remember thinking "what a stupid face he's pulling".

Another time was when I first got my PPL - instead of waiting an extra 10 mins for the latest forecast, I went out and was flying from Biggin to the coast. There was a wall of cloud in front of me, so I went, oops, I'd better turn back. And found a simlar bank of cloud. Within a few seconds I was flying in cloud and on instruments. The sheer panic that grew inside me was incredible and then I thought: this is it, this is how I'm going to die. Then I went very calm and methodically remembered everything they taught me about flying on instruments (4 hours lessons). I think the cockpit surrounded by clouds made it feel very small and yet comforting.

According to Biggin approach (I managed to land, carrying out a reasonable landing, albeit too high on the approach, remembering descision heights) I sounded incredibly calm. One of the instructors was caught in a non-instrument rated plane and had to circle above the clouds for hours until the weather cleared. On low fuel. Now, that's cacking it...

It certainly told me one thing: training, checklists, watching flight safety videos before flying although repetitive and seemingly a waste of time, does one thing: when your brain goes swiss cheese mode, it's that repetitive training that kicks in automatically.

[realityhack]

merde bouche

I merde thee not - and I don't drive - all other people and me in passenger seat. The cycling accidents are just a fact of life here in London when you commute by bike 12 miles every day - as I was at the time. Especially at winter.

[monkeyboy]

Travelling on the motorway on my bike in the outside lane

Though I didn't see it a pigeon flew across, I hit it full on at 90mph straight into the visor. I blacked out

time went very slow, I though I had been hit in the head by a brick.

Some how I got to the hard shoulder.

God knows how I stayed on the bike. I was covered in blood and gore.

Did anyone stop to help.....Nope

eventual rode home with no visor and a broken nose.

[decode]

[QUOTE=foritisme]20 years I have been driving with out any problems on all the major motorways and A roads, then just before christmas I had my first major accident driving through our village. The driver in front was fannying around deciding whether to turn or not - I decided he wasn't so overtook him, he then decided he was !)
[QUOTE]

poor observation on your part.