Anyone experienced near miss or escaped a massive accident while traveling too long?

Welcome to Fluther.

Well, does ”being in a massive accident and totaling a car, but walking away from it” count? Because I have totally done that.

Years ago I drove virtually non-stop from Phoenix to Chicago trying to keep a date. The last few hundred miles I was so exhausted I couldn’t keep my eyes open and was literally hallucinating. How I managed to avoid an accident I’ll never know. Nowadays, tired of not, I feel like I constantly take my life into my hands sharing the road not only with tired and stressed drivers but also those who are drunk, high, or on their phones.

I’ve never understood the term “near miss”. It’s a “near hit”, isn’t it?

Oh yeah,but really learned from it and never did it again, been on the go for over thirty hours ,way beyond legal,and almost put the unit in the ditch,scared the crap out of me,all because of an idiot boss screaming at me to get back so he could send the truck out again.

Several years ago I went to see a friend that lived 2–3 hours away. Most of the trip was on a 2 lane blacktop. I drove home the same night, dozed off, and rolled my car a few times. Unbuckled myself (I was upside down) and walked to the nearest house.

So yeah, I was in an accident, but not a massive one in that I was the only one involved, I was unhurt, and I was fully insured.
I’d like to say I learned my lesson, but I was picked up and checked for sobriety on the same road this week because a cop saw me swerve. I was unimpaired but for being tired.

Welcome to Fluther.

Hey, welcome to the lagoon!!

Years ago, I used to drive home really late from my girlfriend’s house after a long day of school and work. One night I dozed off in the fourth lane and woke up in the first lane heading toward the shoulder. Scared the heck out of myself.

I call them a close call and when I was in college I had the closet call one could ever possibly have. I was in the left lane on a 4 lane road (2 in each direction) doing the 50 mph speed limit. I was coming up to a T interesection where there was a car to the right at the stop sign wanting to make a left turn. Traffic on the main road I was on did not have a stop sign or traffic light so I was just going forward when this car for some unknown reason decides to try the left turn and pulls out right in front of me. I had maybe 50 feet at the most and this driver realizes they fucked up big time and covers their face as they see my Camaro coming right at his side door. Of course I lock it up and brace myself for the inevitable horrible crash.

There is a pickup truck right next to me in the right lane so I cant go there and there was oncoming traffic in the oncoming lanes so I had zero options open. With 5 feet to go I am still doing 30 mph and the car had now moved far enough into the intersection that at the very last second I slam my wheel all the way to the right…I missed the rear bumper but now my car was starting to slide sideways and I now expected to side swipe the car…..then I slammed my wheel all the way to the left and the back end starts to whip back to the right and now I was sure I was going to clip the pickup truck…...my car skids to a stop….and the pickup stops…all cars stop. Everyone gets out of their cars….nothing…..not a scratch on anyone’s vehicles. The pickup driver comes over to me and says…“That is some of the best driving I have ever seen. You pulled off a miracle there. Shook my hand and we all went on our way.

Nice, @Cruiser. In the event I mentioned above, I had fallen asleep after driving too far, too long in one day and night, spun out across two lanes of interstate, and ended up rolling the car 360°, on its wheels and facing backwards, into about a 12’ drainage ditch (fortunately dry at the time) at 4 AM on a mostly deserted road. (It’s amazing how time slows at those points, isn’t it? That roll, when I play it over in my head, runs out over several minutes, and in reality… maybe two seconds?)

I stepped out of the car (the door still opened) and climbed to the top of the ditch, where a trucker who had been following me about two miles back was pulling up to stop and assist. As he saw me walking toward him he laconically said, “Saw the whole thing. I didn’t really expect to see you walking. I’ve already radioed the police for you, and they said they’ll be here shortly. If you’re alone, I’ll tell them there’s no rush.”

Yes, several. One was falling asleep at the wheel in the middle of the desert in Arizona on a summer night around midnight traveling back to San Diego from a party weekend in Lake Havasu when I was about 23 years old.
I drifted off and next thing I knew I went off the road and woke up to braking hard and spinning out in the dirt. Whew!

Good thing the road was level and there was nothing but miles of sand and scrub brush. Another was taking a wrong turn and literally, almost driving off a cliff. haha
I travel in grace, apparently. “Oooh look, the road ends and, and…oh shit, there’s nothing there!

I was driving home from college on a windy, mountainous, highway. Exits were 40 miles apart. I started to feel sleepy. I decided to pull over on a wide shoulder. I was reluctant, because I felt like it made me vulnerable. I don’t remember falling asleep, because I fell asleep so fast. I just remember waking up an hour and a half later still buckled in. I’m sure I would have caused a serious crash if I had not pulled over.

I now know I suck at trying to keep myself awake. My husband can stay awake if he needs to, I can’t. When I was younger I didn’t understand just how bad I am at resisting sleep. I figured it out in my late teens. I almost fell asleep at the wheel when driving from the airport with my dad. Luckily, he said my name. From then on I realized I could do it, I could fall asleep driving. That situation probably saved my life, because I took the lesson very seriously. I do my best to never drive very sleepy. My exboyfriend in high school fell asleep at the wheel and caused an intersection accident.

I was driving pretty fast when some idiot in the next lane decided to change lane suddenly without warning! I don’t know what power prevented an accident. I had been driving for three and a half hours and that happened just as I was nearing my destination.

If I had to guess @ZEPHYRA you were in that persons blind spot,and they failed to do a shoulder check when they switched lanes.
I try to be very aware of a persons blind spot while driving and try to move through it as quickly as possible, because you wouldn’t believe how many people do not shoulder check when they go to switch lanes.

I used to be a machanics courier and a pizza delivery guy. Got in several accidents of varying degrees over the years.
Bottom line is that I think random accidents happen on certain roadways due to probability. I.E. X amount of cars through road per day = Y amount accidents. Give or take with some variables such as road design and posted speed limit…Guess I think we all roll the dice unless you happen to be on a substance that alters your perception frequently or have medical problems that affect your behavior. Just sayin…Peace n Love.