I Nearly Died Tonight ...

[Gatekeeper]

Everyone:

... I was returning to work from my supper break, and was making a left turn with a green light in my favor and no oncoming traffic. Vehicles, per usual custom, were waiting on the red-lighted highway.

I looked right and started to look left ... and just glimpsed an 18-wheeler roaring down the highway right at me. I hit my brakes, the car screeched to a halt, and the semi swept into a turning lane and screamed right by me right through the red light, missing my vehicle by maybe a foot.

The trucker had to be doing 40 mph (this is in the middle of town, BTW) and, had he hit me, would've slammed into me on the driver's side of my vehicle. IOW, I would've been crushed and my vehicle thrown/pushed down the highway for "x" amount of feet.

I sat in the intersection for about three seconds afterwards, just too damn stunned to do anything else. Other drivers around me were staring, their mouths hanging open. And that damn trucker went merrily along. Bastard's lucky he didn't nail me, and he's lucky there wasn't a vehicle sitting in highway's turn lane.

It could've been a horrible wreck. Jaws of Life-type wreck, except I'm sure I'd have been dead. And death would have claimed me right out of the blue, no warning whatsoever.

I'm still shaking a little bit.

Gatekeeper

[Shi Huangdi]

Wow.... That's horrible.... Thank God you were not hurt

[DinoDoc]

I'm glad you're OK.

[notyoueither]

Close call. Good thing you looked, a lot of people would not have... soon enough.

[Ned]

Gatekeeper, that was an amazing story.

It reminds me the time when I first began driving. I pulled out of a driveway near my high school. I looked left left. I looked right. I began accelerating. Something caught my eye and I hit the brake. When I looked straight ahead, there was a student draped over the hood of my car. Had I not stopped in that very instant, I would have killed him.

[Gatekeeper]

Thanks, folks.

I've probably got too much time on my hands, since I'm still dwelling on the incident a bit. Thing is, the night was going so good, too! I had a great evaluation and have a raise coming my way ... and then this happens. I nearly died. It's just *weird* how that happens.

And, Ned, NYE, that's all the warning I had — a mere *glimpse* and a horrible sensation, then *instinct* kicked in. All in about a second or two ...

If I have a guardian angel, it was there tonight. That's all I can say. I came home tonight — safe trip, this time — but I walked into my apartment and I looked at things twice, thinking, "I might never have seen any of this again, had things been different by a second or two."

It also kind of angers me that someone else's irresponsibility — in this case, that single trucker — could have resulted in tragedy. All because he probably wanted to get home for the holiday a bit quicker. I can only imagine how my family and co-workers would've responded had the news been dire.

I'm sorry for going on and on, but I'm really shook up. I definitely need a solid 7 hours of sleep now ...

Gatekeeper

[Skanky Burns]

Wow. Glad to hear it didn't turn out as it could have.

[MRT144]

wow, thank god youre safe. personally i would have followed the SOB and reported him to the police

[DRoseDARs]

That the thing these days: Semi drivers are getting far more aggressive and reckless on the road. Although still in the minority, plenty such drivers cause undue terror to unwary motorists. And we have our fellow motorists' aggressive/reckless driving habits to thank for that. Some truckers have had enough and are getting more gutsy and reckless. Few things (like your encounter, for instance) are more unnerving as doing 75mph in a 65mph and having an 18-wheeler catching up at +85mph and you can't change lanes yet.



Good to hear that f*cker didn't kill you or someone else...

...today. Give him time: With such willingness to drive like he did at that intersection, he'll kill someone yet.



I've had smaller freight trucks pull sh*t on regular roads too; couple near-misses.

[Hurricane]

This reminds me of an accident I was in several years ago. I was sitting in my car, waiting to be able to turn left onto a highly trafficated road from a sideroad (no lights, but I had a triangle). Well, the road opens up to the right, and from the left is a truck heading my way. But I see it has its blinkers on, so I start accelerating up on the road. After about half a second I realise the truck hasn't got its blinkers on at all, but that it was just a glare of the sun. I slam the gas pedal to the bottom, but the truck is already so close that it hits around the back wheel of my car.

Now, I was lucky that the truck driver immediately hit the brakes when he saw what I was doing (the road was icy, too), otherwise it might not be writing this.

The lesson? Sometimes people do the strangest things in traffic, so be on your watch. Especilally for those 18-year olds.

[Eli]

The lesson? Sometimes people do the strangest things in traffic, so be on your watch. Especilally for those 18-year olds.

Hey...

[Urban Ranger]

Next time, don't leave home without anti-tank missiles.

[FrustratedPoet]

Glad to hear you're OK, Gatekeeper. That's some scary stuff.

[Proteus_MST]

Glad you´re O.K.

Did you tell the police about it, so they at least try to find this reckless trucker?
Maybe the next person who encounters this Trucker won´t have so much luck like you.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Thanks, folks.

I've probably got too much time on my hands, since I'm still dwelling on the incident a bit.

Nah, I think what you're doing is completely natural.

Good to hear the bastard missed you.