[aargee]

Well, there're several, but I'll start from first & keep them coming as I recollect.



Somewhere in 1999, when I got hold of my first Rx100. Did some sprocketing & some juggad through the mechanic to get a good top speed & I was experimenting it on the road. Those times, we didn't have too much traffic on the suburbs as we have now.

IIRC, I was speeding somewhere around 110 on a straight road & was preparing to overtake an auto. All of a sudden this auto guy, who was in front of me, prepares to take right; though this auto was several foot away, I didn't expect him to turn right; that too the moron turns to right slightly & then looks to see if anyone's behind him, instead of using mirrors. Noticing that I'm overtaking him, he stops his auto at the same position. He might've thought that I would take a deep right & pass over.

But I was in a real shock & started slowing down as much as possible; since Rx didn't have disc brakes, it was stopping at much slower rate. There was no way to avoid the accident, I was mentally preparing myself to get out with least possible injury (what a fool). In a fraction of moment, I could see the calm face of auto driver who pulled further right & yielded way & I almost brushed the rear of the auto.

Since I'd a bad intention, I didn't stop to worship him with foul words & both went away. To this day, its a real scarry incident; as I cross the auto, I notice 80 Kmph on my speedo!!!

[silversteed]

I had a near miss on the NH67 while returning to Palakkad from Ooty, in 2008 December. We'd reached Coonoor and were merrily snailing downhill, thanks to the traffic holdup at one of the hairpins.

It was just like city traffic - bumper to bumper and crawling. I was playing with the brakes and handbrake only. Since we were going downhill, I put the car in neutral and turned off the engine. There was an Indigo in front of us and a truck in front of it. And there was a truck laden with boulders dangerously tailing our M800.

We reached a narrow bridge. The first truck passes quickly and then traffic from the other side gets onto the bridge. The Indigo brakes slightly and again starts coasting for some distance before coming to an abrupt halt just before the start of the bridge.

I expected him to cross the bridge, so i was light on the brakes. But managed to stop with close to 6" between his rear bumper and our front.

The truck behind us meanwhile, just missed our rear windshield. His bumper was a few centimetres away from the glass. If that guy hadn't stopped, my parents who were in the backseat would've been in a bad shape. And add to it, the LPG tank in the hatch. It was scary

Wonder what to do if something like this is tailing us; for things in front of us, we can slow down and make a buffer zone...

[ikoneer]

During my college days, i took my dad's scooter for some errand and just reached a main road. Those were the days of acute water shortage when metro water lorries was creating chaos on the roads. As usual they have spilled half their load on the roads.
Don't remember if i saw the water spill or not, all i remember is that the scooter was skidding to a side and i was thrown to the opposite side of the road facing the on coming traffic.

Next moment, when i opened my eyes, i saw a black wheel close to my face and when i rolled out, it was a tempo and i was already under the bumper and just inches from the front wheel. The tempo driver was able to stop and here i am typing my experiences

I was trembling al over but had No scratches on me or my bajaj, we went home in a dazed state.

ps: there was this poor auto which got slammed into the tempo and he was trying to pick up a fight with the tempo. But the general public shooed him away and let me and tempo guy move.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by silversteed

... Since we were going downhill, I put the car in neutral and turned off the engine...

SilverSteed,

Keep doing the above and a lorry rear-ending you might be the last of your worries. Not sure which car you were driving, but without the engine running the hydraulics for steering and brakes will not work (provided your car had them, or one fine day you end up doing this in a car which has).

Do get out of this habit for your own well being.

[airguitar]

I've ( or rather we, take turns at the wheels on trips ) had one too many close shaves with cattle on the highways. Most notably on and NH4 (Davanagere/Hubli) ,NH13 ( Shimoga/Bhadravathi). Often they appear to be harmlessly moving on the left most lane when a naughty member of the herd decides to play around : jumping out of the herd and trying to cross the highway perpendicular to your vehicle's direction; or goading another in front of it onto the highway. At speeds of 100+ it can be nerve-wracking ( they can't seem to hear honking and they can't see you if they're crossing perpendicular ). Once I just had the presence of mind to accelerate even more from 100kph to escape a collision( slowing down would have caused a great deal of mangled metal ); while on another occassion we were not just as lucky : a family member brushed a cow at 90+ : big dent on teh car, but no injury to the cow, it pranced off.

On another occasion, I saw a dead buffalo past Aayanur ( Sagar->Shimoga highway). I just wondered how fast the guy might have driven his car to cause this and how his car might have looked like after the incident.

[goldsun]

When I was driving from Chennai to Madurai and was doing around 120 kmph. I don't know if I have took my eyes off the road for a fraction of second, but suddenly spotted a band of cows and calfs crossing the high way. My swift is not equipped with ABS. I for a moment thought it would more apt to accelerate and go past them before they come in to my lane and so did. It was really a just miss as the horn of one of the cow just hit rear left side of my car. The result being a mild dent on the rear left door and nothing to the cow. I could not imagine, if I had the cow in front of my car at that speed!

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Do get out of this habit for your own well being.

Thanks for the concern.
I was driving a Maruti 800. I turned off the ignition when we were at stand-still for quite a long time. I use 'engine braking' generously otherwise.

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

... Not sure which car you were driving, but without the engine running the hydraulics for steering and brakes will not work.

Is it like what you said, in all cars - those without brake boosters, power steering, ECU, etc?

---

Witnessed a near miss last night inside the city. Was at a signal. A biker was tailing an Indica on the right lane. The signal turned red, indica stops. Bike couldn't stop, and in order to prevent rear-ending the car, veers left. There was a truck on the left lane, moving at a good speed (since it was late night). Had the truck braked, the biker would've become history. I thought he was a goner when I saw him tailing the car...

[rm_arjuna]

This happened in college 1st year at chennai. Travelling in bus footboard or rather hanging from the window was the norm during peakhours.on that fateful day same was happening until a moron lorry driver opened his doors to get down without looking out for the bus . I got hit in the face lost balance and only thing i could hear was lots of banging on the bus and screeching of tyres.I could remember that i was centimeters away from the rear tyres.when i woke up i was admitted in hospital with eyes swollen , stiches on my cheeks ,scratches on elbows and a sprained ankle. I was just plain lucky , till date i avoid travelling by city bus.

[Reisender]

@arjuna - Oh man that's sounds really scary. I guess you were in front part of the bus. right?
Off-late all new MTC bus comes with doors at both end which i felt avoids lot of these scary incidents.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by rm_arjuna

This happened in college 1st year at chennai. Travelling in bus footboard or rather hanging from the window was the norm during peakhours.on that fateful day same was happening until a moron lorry driver opened his doors to get down without looking out for the bus . I got hit in the face lost balance and only thing i could hear was lots of banging on the bus and screeching of tyres.I could remember that i was centimeters away from the rear tyres.when i woke up i was admitted in hospital with eyes swollen , stiches on my cheeks ,scratches on elbows and a sprained ankle. I was just plain lucky , till date i avoid travelling by city bus.

Man, thank your stars. Hope you don't do such moronic (sorry if i sound harsh) acts anymore. And PLEASE tell people you know, to refrain doing such things. Last week, a school kid lost his life after he fell off a moving MTC bus - he was travelling on the footboard.

And it's not just buses, there are kids and men (yes, complete adults, including the well-educated lot) hanging on the footboard of the suburban trains. Something more dangerous I'd say. These morons prefer travelling in this fashion despite having enough and more room inside the coach - endangering the lives of the others who cannot get inside because of them.

[Googleman]

Originally Posted by rm_arjuna

This happened in college 1st year at chennai. Travelling in bus footboard or rather hanging from the window was the norm during peakhours.on that fateful day same was happening until a moron lorry driver opened his doors to get down without looking out for the bus . I got hit in the face lost balance and only thing i could hear was lots of banging on the bus and screeching of tyres.I could remember that i was centimeters away from the rear tyres.when i woke up i was admitted in hospital with eyes swollen , stiches on my cheeks ,scratches on elbows and a sprained ankle. I was just plain lucky , till date i avoid travelling by city bus.

Something similar, but not so severe happened to me when I was in 11th. I was hanging out of the mini-bus and the bus had to stop to let a passenger get down.

There was something else going in my mind and I forgot that the bus was still in motion and other than getting down with motion of the bus, I just stepped my foot and got down to realise I fell down. I was just few feets away from the tyre when the rest of the passengers shouted and the bus driver stopped.

That was the last time. I never even stay 1 metre close to the entry/exit of a moving bus

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

You know, something like the near-miss reported in the case of airplanes that almost collided - the keyword being 'almost'.

Interesting thread.

This scary incident happened to me sometime back in one of the busiest shopping lanes in Chennai.

I had to take my folks for shopping after a long day at work. Decided to stay in the car and take a power nap.

The shopping center has a *on road* parking on the side with a steep slope facing the road.

Parked the car on the slope with the bonnet facing the road, pulled the hand brake lever. The engine was running with the AC on.

While having a heavenly nap with my eyes closed, I could feel like I was moving somewhere along with the car. For few microseconds I thought I was in trance.

Unfortunately that heavenly experience lasted only for a second. I woke up to a rude shock to find out that my car has started rolling down towards the busy highly populated road. (For those from Chennai, this happened when I was on a visit to Nalli 100 store, T. Nagar, Chennai.

It was a miracle that I gained my senses back, immediately applied the brake, put the car in reverse and backed up on the slope again.

On reaching the slope, immediately pulled the hand brake, turned off the engine and put the vehicle in gear.

This is one incident that I would never forget at all. By God's grace I got away without causing any accident. I have never ever been so careless. Just Imagine what if there were kids/people standing there right in front of my car like it always happens. Phew!!

[planet_rocker]

aren't you supposed to park the car on a slope (with engine ON or OFF) with the steering / rolling wheel turned towards the pavement?

Plus driving when tired was not good at all, IMO. on top of that you fell asleep with AC on / engine running?

take care of yourself and get back to sleep, ONLY at work

[supremeBaleno]

What I don't understand is how a car that was locked on a steep slope with handbrake engaged, stayed put initially but then slid down after sometime ?

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

aren't you supposed to park the car on a slope (with engine ON or OFF) with the steering / rolling wheel turned towards the pavement?

Since I was inside the car, I never thought about it.

But in a way, it worked out to be good. Since the car parked next to me was less than a feet away, am sure it would have brushed against the other car had the steering wheel not been straight.

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

What I don't understand is how a car that was locked on a steep slope with handbrake engaged, stayed put initially but then slid down after sometime ?

The very thought of it was haunting me for a while. Just imagine if this had happened when my folks were alone in the car without anybody on the drivers seat

May be, I did not pull up the lever all the way up! or atleast that's the only way to pacify me!