One for me was back in 2007 when my Felicia got sideswiped by a truck. The hariest part was my Dad who was asleep who woke up started yelling at me.

Another happened yesterday (Wednesday 20th May). Coming up to the A50 stoke roundabout to head for the M6 Northbound.

Theres I think 3/4 lanes 2 to go left although one os to go left onto another road and not the dual carriageway.

Theres a car on my left and a truck on my right. I had the wipers on internittent as tyhe rain had eased. A car on my left had sped through a large puddle went through with a big splash.

This sprayed my windscreen and momentarily was pretty much blinded :eek:

My sister was more shaken up than I was.

This was in the Passat where the wipers are quite dire and the blade was actually coming loose when we reached home but just replaced them today

*edit* Just stuck new wipers on the Passat and they are a lot better and quieter. £20 well spent.

Edited 23 May, 200917 yr by Captain Sisko

I used to have a mk2 fiesta xr2i which i chrerished until when driving along a dual carriageway luckily at the speed limit, when my front left wheel decided to release it self and overtake me. Ive been in some hairy situations before with my job, but nowt made me **** myself like that

finding out my 3.5 tonne works van was rear wheel drive on a wet roundabout, it was dead and i was rushing, it must of looked ace from outside, power sliding a big van, my heart stopped but after i was quite pleased

Being a passenger in an old BMW going too fast over a small single lane humpback bridge not realising till we hit the apex that there was another car coming up the other side.

More recently, about a month ago coming up to one of the roundabouts at Cheshire Oaks, checked my mirror and saw a silver focus in the distance in the right hand lane, pulled into the right hand lane to turn right checked my mirror again to start slowing down and saw the focus catching up to me waaaay too fast (I was doing 40mph and its a 40mph road), then thick tyre smoke, him sliding half across the next lane (this was during rush hour too) If he ended up more than 2 inches from hitting me I would have been surprised, if it had been seconds earlier I wouldnt be here now. I barely had enough time to grip the steering wheel and shout 'hold on' to my wife and son. Its at times like these you think about NCAP tests. lol.

It has reaffirmed my thoughts that the world is now full of too many idiot drivers. :(

Edited 22 May, 200917 yr by Rhoobarb

Have been in a situation where in the outside lane about to overtake a lorry, when suddenly the lorry starts moving over followed by a 1 second flash of the indicators with the only option being to slam on the brakes. Not that the lorry didn't have plenty of space and time to try this *before* being right beside the back end of their trailer. Aren't they not supposed to go into the outside lane anyway?!

Coming round a blind corner on a NSL single carriageway to be faced with a car trying to overtake on my side of the road. Think about it, the closing speed is probably over 100mph.

Going down the M1 in the Astra Coupe i had before, doing around 75-80mph in the middle lane.

Some daft schwein in a clapped out corsa doing about 50mph, decided he was going to move out into my lane without looking or indicating. Had no where to go as a car was coming up the outside of me! Slammed on hard, even the 312mm brakes wern't stopping me quick enough! I ended up dancing about the middle lane pretty violently trying to counter for the rear end wanting to swing out!

Me and the gf were pretty well shaken, and when i got along side the corsa eventually i showed my discomfort in a polite manner (no rude hand gestures).

Had the ruddy cheek to look back as if i was at fault!

The lads in the convoy were all giving me 8 and 9 out of 10's as though it was strictly come dancing!

Oh and another one!

I went out with a work colleague ( i wasn't driving) to pick a company vehicle up and ended up someone cutting up a lorry infront (the lorry stopped very quick) bearing in mind the road was greasy we ended up with the trailer bed just over the bonnet.

I was lifting myself off of the seat trying to get out of the way of the bed and the airbag bashing me in the face!

We found my reaction quite hilarious when we came to a stop!

I had this problem just the other day!

I was on a 50 limit road, just getting dark, round a bend and on an incline.

The car coming the other way splashed a massive amount of water on my screen and I couldn't see a thing...

Good thing is I didn't panic for some reason :S

my two worst were when I was driving the Lancia Thema Turbo many years ago....

1) Outside lane of the motorway came to a standstill (the lancia had ABS even though it was made in 1986!) I stopped, heard a screech, looked in my mirrors, and saw a car locked up, heading for my rear, I checked the nearside mirror, and shot into a gap in the middle lane, watched him in my mirrors slide right into the back of the car that was in front of me! he was still doing about 40 mph by that time... ouch, made a real mess...

2) sat at the front of the que at some temp lights on a dark rainy A-road.It was a plant crossing, so no actual lane closure on the road, a lorry comming the other way didn't see the lights, (they were both red for a truck comming out of the feild on my left) he slammed on the cab brakes and fishtailed, the trailer was sliding my way from the opposite side of the road, it wasn't fast (40 ish?) but it was gonna hit me... I just popped it into first, and drove over the verge and into the field! would have been squashed otherwise! he just got the trailer straight as he approached the second car, and just missed the que....... I drove back out of the field no worse for wear

The best, if you can call it, was on my way to a friends house, with another in the passenger seat back when I had my 1.3 Felicia. The road I was planning on using was closed due to resurfacing IIRC. So folllowed the diversion but mistakenly took a wrong turn as I thought it was the one I needed to get to where I wanted to be. Anyway quickly rang them and they put my on the right road, which was a fairly straight road with rises and falls. But I was pressing on a bit to make up some time, but being dark and not knowing the road we came over a crest to discover that the road turned right and went downhill...:eek: So had no time to brake just steer. Have to say the Felicia drifted rather nicely given the cicumstances....lol

Driving round Brum on the M42 in the middle lane with cars either side of me and one close behind, the car on front suddenly swerves into the outside lane...

There directly in front of me is a huge paper sack about 6 foot long, I couldn't go anywhere and I did brake pretty hard but hit it doing about 50. I decided that hitting it dead one was probably the best option, strangely there wasn't any loud bang and then everything went white - the sack was full of polystyrene packing bits which went everywhere, gave the cars around me quite a surprise too.

I had to stop on the hard shoulder afterwards as my hands were shaking too much to carry on driving. No damage to the car though.

The one that sticks in my mind is the time I was driving down a typical country road in Cornwall, wide, narrow, up, down, that sort of thing. I had a Toyota in front of me, a lorry behind and I noticed an Astra coming the other way disappear into the dip ahead. I then looked in my drivers side mirror and saw some mentalist in a Pugeuot overtaking the lorry. I just calmly uttered the words "Oh f**k" as I knew that it was going to get interesting when the Astra reappears from the dip.

I started braking and getting as far over to the left as I could, then the Astra appears and all the spanner in the pug can do is hit the brakes and hope for the best. He locked up and slid to a stop in between my car and the Astra.

Worse bit was he just didn't care in the slightest at what he'd just done and he then continued to try and overtake the Toyota in front round the next blind bend!

Still havn't seen anything quite as crazy after that.

Worst one i had was last summer on my zx10r on a b road heading to my mothers house early evening , enjoying the run, nice mix of corners, long sweeping ones and some nice tight ones road was pretty quiet not much traffic , going round a right hander out of the corner of my eye i spotted something coming out from near a picnic area, a roe deer , i braked but hit it almost straight away at about 60mph ,luckily i had just done my brakes a few days before , i clipped the right hind quarter off the deer and luckily stayed on but the bike needed quite a few bits to sort it ,the deer faired slightly worse ,it died straight away,not pretty ,they are quite a problem round the highlands.

Mine happened about 15 years ago, on the old M62 at prestwich/whitefield junction. I was in the outside lane passing a lorry with a car on the inside of that. the car had a blow out iirc. the lorry swerved towards me to avoid the car, leaving me with nowhere to go. how the lorry missed me was a miracle. we both stopped. my legs were like jelly.

The one that sticks in my mind is the time I was driving down a typical country road in Cornwall, wide, narrow, up, down, that sort of thing. I had a Toyota in front of me, a lorry behind and I noticed an Astra coming the other way disappear into the dip ahead. I then looked in my drivers side mirror and saw some mentalist in a Pugeuot overtaking the lorry. I just calmly uttered the words "Oh f**k" as I knew that it was going to get interesting when the Astra reappears from the dip.

I started braking and getting as far over to the left as I could, then the Astra appears and all the spanner in the pug can do is hit the brakes and hope for the best. He locked up and slid to a stop in between my car and the Astra.

Worse bit was he just didn't care in the slightest at what he'd just done and he then continued to try and overtake the Toyota in front round the next blind bend!

Still havn't seen anything quite as crazy after that.

Effing hell fire!! that sounds hairy!!

Finding a Corsa side-on in M5 lane 3, in the dark, stopping just short from 80mph, and waiting for the cars to hit the back of me...

I remembered one when I was a wee-un in my uncles austin princess, around Beccles area on a single carriageway doing about 60, saw a car and caravan coming towards us. About 20 metres before we passed each other someone in a fiesta pulled out to overtake the caravan there was a brief moment before he realised we were coming and he swerved back in, looked around when passed and saw the fiesta swerving side to side trying to gain control lol.

No where near as scary as some of the others but the whole incident put the squits up me and still does.

When I was 17, first car, on a wet 30mph road I rounded a bend doing 40mph to see a car stopped turning right. I hit the brakes but just slid. There was a taxi coming the other way too! I somehow managed to manouver inbeween both cars by millimeters and hit nothing. The police arrived as if by magic and the Taxi driver from the oncoming car insisted I'd hit him (no marks on my car, how strange!) Got breathalysed etc. and sent on my way. Brown trouser moment occured the following day when recounting story to my dad. He checked my tyres, all four were bald! I'd have been banned had the coppers spotted them. I'm now paranoid about my tyres!

Hi

I was comming home from work about 2am and I was going down Babylon Hill near yeovil on the A30 at about 60mph and the engine cut out and I lost power to the Brakes in my Felly 1.3GLi.

Going down a steep hill with a dangerous bend and no brakes, suffice to say I was reliving my meager exsistance as I was pushing hard down on the brakes with both feet.... lukily it was 2am and nought on the road, I managed to get to 35mph by the time I got to the bottom and managed to go around the roundabout and slowly come to a halt halfway upto Mole Valley on sherbourne road in Yeovil.

With this in mind, though I have changed jobs I still come down that hill and now i go down at 30mph from the top just incase.... well 40mph

TL

Couple of artics on the motorway back from Preston one evening, doing the 4 mile overtaking routine, when a rear wheel from the trailer detached. Trailer dropped a corner into the tarmac, sparks and a whacking great wheel coming our way.....( I was the passenger)

second instance involved a narrow squeze with a Golf R32 oncoming on my side of the road at high speed overtaking traffic and a traffic island. Which was tight enough, but what really induced a bowel movement were the cops in pursuit that manhandled a firkin great Range Rover through the same gap....

Interestingly, I didn't feel a brown trouser moment when I had my own crash.

This was something that my Father-in-law witnessed a few year ago. He was following a couple of HGV's on the A15 towards Lincoln and it's a bit of a hilly road with blind dips. One of the lorry drivers is impatient and decides to overtake the other lorry thinking the road's clear. Pulls out and starts going past just as they start to go down into a blind dip. In the middle of this dip is a car in a box junction waiting to turn right across the carriageway (car would have been heading away from Lincoln). Good job this was the case as well because the overtaking lorry just went round the opposite side of the box junction and there wasn't a nasty accident! Think the driver in the car was a bit shaken though! Just imagine being sat in a box junction waiting to turn right to suddenly be faced with two HGV's thundering towards you and being passed on either side by them! Definite brown trouser moment!

Not quite as scary but still a "bloody hell" moment was a similar thing that I saw where a lorry pulled out to overtake another only to be met by a traffic island on either side of a box junction and they had to do a similar thing, just stay on the opposite side of the road until the overtake was complete and they could pull back in without taking out one of the islands! No cars involved in this one though.

The one that sticks in my mind is the time I was driving down a typical country road in Cornwall, wide, narrow, up, down, that sort of thing. I had a Toyota in front of me, a lorry behind and I noticed an Astra coming the other way disappear into the dip ahead. I then looked in my drivers side mirror and saw some mentalist in a Pugeuot overtaking the lorry. I just calmly uttered the words "Oh f**k" as I knew that it was going to get interesting when the Astra reappears from the dip.

I started braking and getting as far over to the left as I could, then the Astra appears and all the spanner in the pug can do is hit the brakes and hope for the best. He locked up and slid to a stop in between my car and the Astra.

Worse bit was he just didn't care in the slightest at what he'd just done and he then continued to try and overtake the Toyota in front round the next blind bend!

Still havn't seen anything quite as crazy after that.

Seen the same thing happen a few times on the A85. There is a 2 mile straight on that road that is one of the few overtaking point (so the copper sit on it) but there is a blind crest at one end.

There have been quite a few fatalities under those circumstances.

Outrage over road marking decision on killer road - Press & Journal

Myself on that road, I went to overtake a car on my ZXR400 but didn't look properly and hadn't spotted a van coming the opposite direction, went for the overtake and had to slot the bike between the car and van, stupid but all happened too quick to panic.

i`v had a couple. Recent one was thursday just gone, 35ft bus, full standing load, and as i come up to a row of traffic, the brakes failed with no warning, no air, nothing. Just had to dump it down the gears (auto) and handbrake it. luckly wasnt moving to quick, still very scary though.

Had one today on a tiny road near Launde Abbey, barely wide enough for one car. A very mature lady (who appeared to be made of orange leather) in an MX5 came belting around the corner and didn't attempt to move over even slightly, leaving me having to dump my nearside wheels into a badly rutted farm driveway and avoid being hit by inches. As I had a car full at the tine and my trackrod ends already need work because they have some play, you can probably understand that I was a teensy little bit cheesed off.

Incidentally, anyone here own the shiny race blue Octy MK2 parked up outside the abbey?

Erm well, thought I would add one of my personal experiences, happened this February a couple of miles from where I live, been snowing for a while and the roads were covered but did a family member a favour and said I would give her and her two friends a lift to their friends house in the next village for a party.

Was taking it easy because of the roads anyway, driving along quite happily when we missed the turning (bl**dy friend got it wrong) carried on until we were coming up on a small humped back bridge, New-ish Landrover Disco coming over at about 20-25 applied brakes, NOTHING!!!!, lifted off and re-applied NOTHING again, shouted 'Hold-On' to passengers expecting to hit the landy driver side front quarter to drivers side front quarter, then decided i'd slide the car around applied almost full lock left and then the same right (still sliding at the moment) kicked the back end of the car out towards the landy and then back out towards the verge. clipped the landys rear arch with my wing mirror and merrily slid a further 30-40 over the bridge and out the other side!

Couldn't believe I had managed to get the car around the landy and between it and the Stone wall of the bridge with only a small scuff on the landys rear arch! Could have been a pretty nasty bump with two full cars and would have taken more than a bit of T-cut to sort the damage!!!

Anyway, was a bit of a brown trouser moment for all involved, in fact one of the passengers of the Land Rover congratulated me on managing to avoid hitting them full-on with the conditions being as they were. That was in the old fiesta and I must admit to giving the car a tap on the roof and a well done when I got home.

When I was a field engineer, doing up to 50,000 miles a year I had a fair few of these. The top 3 were:

1. Coming around a bend on a back road somewhere near Cambridge in the pouring rain and finding the road covered in mud. Literally a brown trouser moment, as I ended up in a field and got covered in mud getting out! I thought the car was OK, but it kept turning left whenever I slowed down!

2. Exiting the M40 at Stokenchurch, where the outside lane of the slip road was coned off. The Transit in front of me decided at the last moment to swerve back onto the motorway, clipping the first cone, which hit the next and the next, throwing them in front of me. I think the term "cone shower" is appropriate. The pattern on the bonnet of my old 406 was "interesting" afterwards

3. The least damaging but most scary -driving along the M6 in heavy rain in the dark, passing a truck then realizing he was spitting out oil, which hit my windscreen and rendered me blind. I couldn't see a thing apart from smeary blobs. I made it to the hard shoulder somehow and had to sit and shake for a few minutes before getting out to clean the screen. I called the Police to warn them about it and they reckoned the same truck had caused 3 or 4 accidents. "Did you get the registration, Sir?" "Sorry, I was too busy trying to survive....."

I had many more that I've probably blanked from my memory!

Phil