I was at a red light, first car, and the light turned green. I started to move and my foot slipped off the clutch and the car died. I started it right back up and just started to move, when this huge Mack truck ran the red light and plowed through the intersection going very fast. If my foot had not slipped I would have been right in the intersection as this truck blasted through and would surely have been killed. I was in the Miata with the top down, and that sucker would have plowed right through me.
I had a very similar experience. I approached an intersection and was surprised to see my light was already green because I was the only car around on my side. I braked and hesitated for a few seconds to double check that I really had the green. Just as I put my foot on the gas to go through a car came flying through the intersection, running the red light. Had I not braked approaching the light DH and I would have been killed. It really shook us up and we drove the rest of the way home in silence.
I was at a red light, first car, and the light turned green. I started to move and my foot slipped off the clutch and the car died. I started it right back up and just started to move, when this huge Mack truck ran the red light and plowed through the intersection going very fast. If my foot had not slipped I would have been right in the intersection as this truck blasted through and would surely have been killed. I was in the Miata with the top down, and that sucker would have plowed right through me.
I remember the day you posted this. It was just a bad feeling.
We hang out at "our" restaurant in Kenmore Square (a mile from the finish line) during the Boston Marathon every year and then walk down to the finish line. In 2013, it was a few days before the boys' 1st bday. We took them to the restaurant with a friend.
We left and were almost to the finish line. We noticed that Henry had broken out in hives and decided to walk towards home instead of the finish in case they got worse and we were stuck in a crowd. We weren't far when the bombs went off. Our friend was blown backwards. Our other friend was in the stands across the street with her baby.
We would have been standing feet from where the first bomb went off. The boys were in Ergos. I still cry thinking about the what if. I started bawling from Kenmore and then well after I crossed the finish line this past April.
Pictures of that day show a bomb squad guy standing at the table where we were sitting, 15 minutes before after we left.
Texts were working, but calls were not. Everyone knows we are at the finish every year. I still have the texts from my baby brother saying in all caps, "GET OUT OF THE FINISH AREA!! BOMBS THERE!! GET OUT!! PLEASE TELL ME YOU AREN"T THERE! GET THE BOYS OUT!! BOMBS AT FINISH LINE!!"
My family was on a camping trip, and we stopped in Wells Gray Park for the night. We had been driving all day and started to set up when my Mom freaked out and said we had to leave. My Dad didn't want to, it was getting late and my Mom couldn't explain why she wanted to go.
We left.
That night, one of the worst mass murders in Canadian history took place, a family of 4 and their grandparents were murdered in the park.
I think I've told this story here before. I was driving down the freeway late at night and all of a sudden saw a black plastic garbage bag, empty and moving around in the wind, in the lane right in front of me. I was going to have to swerve into another lane to miss it and I figured I'd just drive through it and let it go over my car. And the very last second, something made me decide to swerve anyway. As I did, I passed the bag on my left. Turns out, it was a man. Sitting cross legged. In the middle of a freeway. In the middle of the night.
I was a second away from smashing into him. My stomach still turns thinking about it over 10 years later. I can't imagine his horrific that would have been.
I had an experience similar to Sue Sue's - when I lived in NJ and worked in PA, I had come over the bridge one night and was waiting at the light to make a left; I was the only car there. It was raining, and I was on the phone with my SIL (I know). The light turned green and my phone beeped, so instead of going right away, I took like two seconds to glance down at my phone. When I looked back up and eased off the brake, it was in time to see this black jeep, headlights off, blast through the red light. Had I not checked my phone first, I would have been hit, no question.
I have been super cautious about intersections ever since; I never, ever jack rabbit off when the light turns.
I was out for a run last summer. I was about to cross the street at a crosswalk and had one foot on the road when a car came speeding through the red light, only about two feet in front of me. If I had been faster crossing I would have died, i'm quite sure. I told my parents about it when I got home. The next day my dad went for a run and was about to cross an intersection at a stop sign when he decided to double check there were no cars coming, because of what I said happened on my run. Because he waited he saw the car run the stop sign right where he would have been crossing.
I have had several, but the most recent one was earlier this year. We had just bought a brand new minivan and the whole family was heading to watch me run my first 5K in the color run. I was turned toward the center of the van on my phone on facebook and DH was driving. As we were going through a green light, a Ford F-350 ran the red light, never braked. It smashed right into the passenger side. The 6 month old was behind me, but I had pushed her seat back so I could buckle her in so she was absolutely unharmed. I had seatbelt injuries and glass injuries, but I could have had broken arms and legs if I had been sitting in the seat properly.
It totaled the brand new van. And the driver of the truck was ejected. A very nasty wreck but everyone is still here.
apalettepassion.wordpress.com/ WHO IS BONQUIQUI!?!?!?!??!
"I was thinking about getting off on demand, but it sounds like I should be glad that I didn't"
A couple weeks ago I was walking into Kroger, and had E with me. I usually have her walk on the parked car side of me, so that she isn't close to actual moving cars in the parking lot. This time she happened to be walking on the other side (so moving car side), but we'd gotten a really close space, so we weren't walking far and I figured it wasn't a busy time, so whatever. We were walking behind a parked car when the driver put it in reverse, basically backing into me. The brake lights were on when we were walking, but not the reverse lights, so while I did pause for a second before walking behind it, I continued on since there wasn't any sign of the driver intending to move.
I slammed my hand on the trunk and jumped back, yanking E with me, but if she had been where she normally was, she would have been hit square in the head, neck, and chest by the bumper. The driver didn't even look and nearly ran into me. There's no way E would have been seen. Oh, and the driver just gave me a friendly wave, and smile, and drove off, like "oopsie! have a nice day!" Jerk.
Post by starburst604 on Oct 26, 2014 9:58:39 GMT -5
When I was kid I was playing with a bunch of kids in the woods behind my house. We found a length of rubber hose that had been tied to a tree branch so you could swing out and over a fairly steep drop, and started taking turns on it. I swung out and the hose snapped, I fell a good distance and landed on my back and got the wind knocked out of me. There were tree branches and rocks all around me, and there was a rock the size of a bowling ball so close to my head it was touching my ear. My skull would have been smashed if I landed a few inches to the right. I couldn't believe I didn't have a single injury and really believed after that that maybe a guardian angel had guided where I landed. The other kids all ran down to me convinced I was dead because I laid there in shock, unbelieving that I was alive still.
When I was 4 my parents and some friends rented a ski house in Vermont. We arrived when it was dark out so it wasn't until the next morning that we could check out the area surrounding the house. I wanted to go sledding so my dad took me out back. He did one trial run with me and then I begged to go down by myself on the smaller sled.
I went down the hill but didn't turn at the end like I was supposed to and then just disappeared out of sight into some trees. My Dad ran down and then realized that there was a steep fall off, kind of like a cliff, and that it looked like the property went on forever but was instead divided by this gorge. I had gone over the edge but got my left arm caught in a small tree on the way down and was hanging there. He was able to climb down and grab me. I broke my left arm but otherwise was fine. My father, however, had a harder time dealing with it and had to go to therapy apparently.
My mom and i were going to open an account at the bank one Thursday morning after my dentist appointment, but she decided to take me wed afternoon, even though it was inconvenient. We talked to the lady for awhile as she opened my account, and she was so excited about her upcoming wedding on Saturday. She was telling us all about it. The next day, thursday was her last day at work before her big day.
The next morning, thursday, around the time we would have been in, a man shot and killed her and injured 4 other people. The man's loan was denied and this woman gave him the news. Shot and killed 2 days before her wedding.
Even though it was many many years ago, i can still picture her. I don't remember why we ended up going wednesday, but it always gave me the chills.
apalettepassion.wordpress.com/ WHO IS BONQUIQUI!?!?!?!??!
"I was thinking about getting off on demand, but it sounds like I should be glad that I didn't"
I posted his a while ago, and while it wasn't a second-by-second close call, it is still freaky.
A guy I dated not long before DH built a two seater airplane and had his pilot's license. He had had his plane for a few years before we met and had flown it all over the country. We went up it in a few times and everything was fine. We never were official and just kind of just stopped seeing each other.
I was cleaning out my spam email a few weeks ago and had one from his account. I randomly Googled him. Apparently he sold his plane this spring and the couple that bought it died in a crash about three months ago.
It's crazy to think that a plane I had flown in a couple of years ago crashed with no survivors.
After the loan was denied, he rain out into the rain, and she went to chase after him to offer an umbrella, but he was already gone. She went back to her desk, and he came in shooting. He went out to get his gun
apalettepassion.wordpress.com/ WHO IS BONQUIQUI!?!?!?!??!
"I was thinking about getting off on demand, but it sounds like I should be glad that I didn't"
Post by marylennox on Oct 26, 2014 10:18:08 GMT -5
Yes. I hit a slick patch while driving during the winter, while going around a curve on a mountain road. The car had nowhere to go but off the edge or into the oncoming lane. We ended up in the other lane and were so fortunate that there was no oncoming traffic around at the time. I still haven't completely gotten over it tbh.
When I was 18, my friend and I went to a concert on the kther side of the mountains. We drove back after the show late that night. We found out the next morning that a rock slide fell on top of a car full of girls coming back from the same show, killing all of them. The time of incident was about 15 minutes after we had passed the same area.
15 years ago, my mom and dad were in Puerta Vallarta, and scheduled to come home on a certain day. That morning, my mom decided they should stay another day and booked my dad a tee-time for probably the first time in their entire marriage. Later that day, Alaska Flight #261 crashed in the ocean. If my mom hadnt made that tee-time, they wouldve been on that flight.
3 years ago a woman was killed at my school. She was walking to her Wednesday 9am class from a sketchy overflow parking lot. Usually people walked in large groups together, but she had been a few minutes late that day.
I was also late to my 9am class and was parked a few cars over from her. They've never caught the killer. I always wonder if he considered me before she came into his view.
This isn't my close call, but a situation I encountered on my way to work last year. A guy in a motorized wheelchair was waiting to cross the street. The traffic on this street moves very fast. He edged his front wheels off the sidewalk and into the crosswalk and I guess it was a bad angle or something because his chair flipped and he flew face first out of it. And despite that his head was inches from fast moving traffic, NO ONE STOPPED. They just kept fucking speeding like he wasn't even there. I parked my car beside him in hopes that no one would hit us. And luckily a guy ran down the sidewalk and helped me pick him up.
But seriously, no one in front of me even really slowed down. I thought for sure they were going to run over his head.
My family was on a camping trip, and we stopped in Wells Gray Park for the night. We had been driving all day and started to set up when my Mom freaked out and said we had to leave. My Dad didn't want to, it was getting late and my Mom couldn't explain why she wanted to go.
We left.
That night, one of the worst mass murders in Canadian history took place, a family of 4 and their grandparents were murdered in the park.
Still gives me chills.
I just googled this. Holy shit.
How does your mom explain it now? Wow.
She just said something didn't feel right. This is pretty out of character for my Mom, she is pretty laid back. My Dad said it was pretty crazy.
3 years ago a woman was killed at my school. She was walking to her Wednesday 9am class from a sketchy overflow parking lot. Usually people walked in large groups together, but she had been a few minutes late that day.
I was also late to my 9am class and was parked a few cars over from her. They've never caught the killer. I always wonder if he considered me before she came into his view.
Your story reminds me of the man who killed a local Boston girl last summer.
I was training for a marathon and ran a lot of distance running early in the morning. I ran through the intersection (it was on the way to a pretty route along the ocean)where the girl was abducted 2-3 times a week around the same time. I hadn't that morning. It turns out he was targeting young woman. He had tried to abduct 2 others. At 6-7am, in broad daylight.
I no longer run alone in the morning or that route even though he has been caught.
A few years ago H and I were on the freeway headed to work (carpooling). A truck next to us decided he wanted to move to our lane where we specifically were (because he didn't see us I'm guessing). If the lane on the other side of us hadn't been free for us to swerve into... ugh. We got his company name and license plate and H reported that truck driver by emailing his company. They took care of it right away and emailed H back about how sorry they were on behalf of the driver that almost killed us. We were both shaken up that day.
Not really a close call but there was a murder suicide in my office parking lot. It was a man that killed his wife and then himself. She worked at my company (I didn't know her)
3 years ago a woman was killed at my school. She was walking to her Wednesday 9am class from a sketchy overflow parking lot. Usually people walked in large groups together, but she had been a few minutes late that day.
I was also late to my 9am class and was parked a few cars over from her. They've never caught the killer. I always wonder if he considered me before she came into his view.
Your story reminds me of the man who killed a local Boston girl last summer.
I was training for a marathon and ran a lot of distance running early in the morning. I ran through the intersection (it was on the way to a pretty route along the ocean)where the girl was abducted 2-3 times a week around the same time. I hadn't that morning. It turns out he was targeting young woman. He had tried to abduct 2 others. At 6-7am, in broad daylight.
I no longer run alone in the morning or that route even though he has been caught.
I remember that, she was on her way to the gym. I was an early gym goer not far from there and I didn't stop going but I was definitely much more aware of my surroundings after that. I might have reconsidered running after that though.
I put my son to bed, he was 3.5 years old and past the age where I checked on him after I laid him down and he slept through the night.
I was almost asleep but then I started to get panicky...no clue why. Nothing was wrong. The house was quiet. Something was screaming at me in my head to check on him though and I got out of bed and walked into his room to just see him since I couldn't stop freaking out. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before.
He had these in his mouth.
Edit: they are soft little tires he pulled off a toy
I still get sick to my stomach to this day thinking about what might have happened if I wouldn't have went back in his room.
I listen to my instinct now. I can't explain why it happens but something/someone saved my son.
I have a standard veered across two lanes and could have gone over a cliff but instead crashed into a moutnain story. . . .
But what is really freaky to me is the girl who stayed home and decided not to meet up with her old friend, and then he murdered the girl he went out with. And the mass murder at the campground.
When I was 15, my cousin, sister, friend and I were rear ended on the way to pick up a pizza. We were in a tiny little Nissan Micra and the truck that hit us was huge and travelling at highway speeds, 80-90km/h. He was then rear ended; the chain was about 4 or 5 cars all rear ending each other. The man that hit us came to our car to check on us and help us out. He grabbed my hand and walked me around to the front of the car. He then started going back to the car that had hit him when he was struck by a car travelling in the opposite direction. He landed at my feet and died instantly. As a 15 year old, I had no idea how to process it. The deceased's family then sued the guy who hit him and we had to go to court to testify that unfortunately, he was in the other lane when he was hit, it was dark out and he was dressed in black.
I still struggle with the guilt. What if I hadn't sat there untwisting my seatbelt before we left? That man would probably still be alive. The four of us were lucky to not have any long term injuries other than whiplash but man, we were lucky and he was not.
Post by EmilieMadison on Oct 26, 2014 13:24:08 GMT -5
When the 35W Bridge collapsed in 2007 on DD's birthday, we normally would have taken the bridge to get to the restaurant for her birthday dinner. We ended up going a different way at the last minute and we were on a different bridge about 3/4 of a mile away when the bridge went down. I think that's a pretty close call.
I was hit by a drunk driver in 2001. I had two cars at the time- a Dodge Neon and a Subaru Impreza. I was driving the Subaru that evening and the crash investigator said there was pretty much no way I'd have survived the crash if I'd been in the Dodge.
I was at a red light, first car, and the light turned green. I started to move and my foot slipped off the clutch and the car died. I started it right back up and just started to move, when this huge Mack truck ran the red light and plowed through the intersection going very fast. If my foot had not slipped I would have been right in the intersection as this truck blasted through and would surely have been killed. I was in the Miata with the top down, and that sucker would have plowed right through me.
I remember when you posted about this. Totally terrifying.