Ever avoided a fatal accident
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I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
I went off the road near aerial cable in the middle of the desert. I punched in the side of the sidewall, deflated the tire instantly and banged up my fender, but otherwise was unharmed. If I had gone of the road 15 seconds earlier I would have hit an arroyo, 15 seconds later, the same... I just happened to go off the road in the softer sand between two arroyos such that the car stopped rapidly without harm to me. any farther down the road and I would have been bouncing out into the desert until the car rolled. I was working 12+ hour days 7 days a week at the time, suffering from undiagnosed sleep apnea and other problems. The incident got work to lighten workload for a couple of years and got my sleep apnea diagnosed.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
Not an accident as such, but does being born count? I was born with a medical condition that the first three words of its description in a medical text book says: "Incompatible with life" I guess that is just to underline the seriousness and the criticality of the situation should a doctor ever come into contact with a patient with that condition. Talking of accidents though. I was on my way home from work one evening (about a month ago) and just as I arrived into the town in which I live the traffic was backed up. On the last corner just before you enter the town two cars had collided head on. The head on collisions I've seen in the past the cars pretty much stopped within a few metres of the impact site. In this case they were about a hundred metres from each other. There was glass and plastic all over the road. As I passed one of the cars I notices that I couldn't see into it for a lot of white stuff. Just as I drove past I realised that it was deployed airbags (front and side bags) and the people standing on the pavement on the other side of the road looking a bit shellshocked were the recent occupants of the car. Seeing the state of their car and seeing them still alive considering the state of their car I am really glad my car has airbags. I have air bags that will deploy from the steeting wheel, over the side windows, in the footwell and out of the side of the chair. Rear seat passengers each have a set of air bags too. The down side is that if you have children that will not behave in the car and are out of their seat they will likely be injured by a deploying airbag because they won't be in the right place to be protected.
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
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i don't think so. since i wasn't hurt and wasn't insterested in calling the police, she left as soon as she knew i was ok. so, i didn't get a chance to ask her.
Chris Losinger wrote:
since i wasn't hurt and wasn't insterested in calling the police, she left as soon as she knew i was ok
That would be illegal in the UK. If there is a Road Traffic Accident the police must be informed, even if it is just to record that it happened.
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
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I was driving home once at about 4am, I was really tired, and the drive was about 45 minutes. I didn't know I did it at the time, but I must have dozed off for a little bit of time, because I was startled awake as I ran over something large on the road. I immediately pulled over, and it turns out that a racoon had run out in front of my car, and I ran it over (it was killed instantly). Racoons are quite a pest, but I felt sorry for this particular racoon, since it was an accident. I've always wondered if I wasn't so tired if I would have avoided the animal or not?!?
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Warren D Stevens wrote:
I've always wondered if I wasn't so tired if I would have avoided the animal or not?!?
I was always taught never swerve or deviate your course for a small animal. Avoid deer because they can kill the occupants if run over, but for something the size of a cat, dog, rabbit, pheasant, etc. then just keep going because if you take evasive action you are likely to cause a bigger accident. One time I was driving through the Scottish Borders and a pheasant strayed into the road. The road was straight and quiet but for one car following behind so I slowly pulled over to the other side of the road. The stupid pheasant followed my course. So I moved back to my side of the road. The stupid pheasant followed again. The driver of the car behind must have got a bigger shock than I as I now had no choice but to run the stupid bird over and I saw in my rear view mirror an explosion of feathers from the back of my car.
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
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I did, but I was not driving. It was 4 years ago, a friend of mine was driving me at home. We were in a peripheral city road, with only one lane for each direction. Suddently he tried to surpass (is that correct?) a slow car, just before a turn of the road. A HUGE truck was coming from the opposite direction. We re-entered our lane just in time, at about half a meter away from the truck. He was not drunk or something, he was (is) simply crazy.
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Dario Solera wrote:
surpass
"overtake" in standard English. I think the Americans just say "pass"
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
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I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
Last winter I was driving over Snoqualmie pass(the mountain pass out of Seattle) and had just started the downward journey. It was snowing lightly and the roads were relatively clear so, stupidly, I didn't stop to put on the chains. I came around a very slight bend and my tires hit a patch of slush that sent me spinning through four lanes of packed traffic. There was nothing I could do but hold onto the steering wheel and watch SUVs, trucks and other cars whizzing by me at 40+ mph. I could see the shocked expressions on people's faces as I slid by them, past them and in between. My car finally hit the side barrier and did nothing more that crack my radiator. No one in my car was hurt and we came out of it with not even a bruise. No drinking or anything else was involved, thank God.
An American football fan - Go Seahawks! Lil Turtle
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Warren D Stevens wrote:
I've always wondered if I wasn't so tired if I would have avoided the animal or not?!?
I was always taught never swerve or deviate your course for a small animal. Avoid deer because they can kill the occupants if run over, but for something the size of a cat, dog, rabbit, pheasant, etc. then just keep going because if you take evasive action you are likely to cause a bigger accident. One time I was driving through the Scottish Borders and a pheasant strayed into the road. The road was straight and quiet but for one car following behind so I slowly pulled over to the other side of the road. The stupid pheasant followed my course. So I moved back to my side of the road. The stupid pheasant followed again. The driver of the car behind must have got a bigger shock than I as I now had no choice but to run the stupid bird over and I saw in my rear view mirror an explosion of feathers from the back of my car.
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
explosion of feathers from the back of my car
Sounds like my chicken. When I started college, the only route to the university from my town was this little country road. One day there was a group of about a dozen chickens wandering beside the road, so I slowed down. As I was going past, one of them ran out in front of me, directly under my wheels. I saw the same "explosion of feathers" you did. Stupid me, I told the story to another guy at school from my town. For the next couple of weeks, I kept hearing "Saw your chicken today, man!" from everyone from Xenia :rolleyes:.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Once in the middle of winter, in Columbus Ohio, I was late for school. I was about 12 years old. As I ran down the ice-covered sidewalk across the street in front of my home I heard a car coming toward me down the ice-covered alley I was approaching. I tried to stop, but instead fell and slid on my back over the ice-covered sidewalk into the alley, immediately in front of the front wheels of the approaching car. The car was braking and it's tires were not turning as they touched me and pushed me along on the 6" thick ice in the alley. I was screaming "STOP! STOP!", over and over. Once the car finally did stop, I stood up, freaking-out the driver -- an older woman. In a shocked voice, she asked if I was ok. I told her I was fine and ran off to school, not looking back. I've always wondered who she was and what she was thinking that day. If those wheels had been turning, I would have been run-over and crushed.
Silence is the voice of complicity. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. -- monty python Might I suggest that the universe was always the size of the cosmos. It is just that at one point the cosmos was the size of a marble. -- Colin Angus Mackay
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Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
Not an accident as such, but does being born count? I was born with a medical condition that the first three words of its description in a medical text book says: "Incompatible with life" I guess that is just to underline the seriousness and the criticality of the situation should a doctor ever come into contact with a patient with that condition. Talking of accidents though. I was on my way home from work one evening (about a month ago) and just as I arrived into the town in which I live the traffic was backed up. On the last corner just before you enter the town two cars had collided head on. The head on collisions I've seen in the past the cars pretty much stopped within a few metres of the impact site. In this case they were about a hundred metres from each other. There was glass and plastic all over the road. As I passed one of the cars I notices that I couldn't see into it for a lot of white stuff. Just as I drove past I realised that it was deployed airbags (front and side bags) and the people standing on the pavement on the other side of the road looking a bit shellshocked were the recent occupants of the car. Seeing the state of their car and seeing them still alive considering the state of their car I am really glad my car has airbags. I have air bags that will deploy from the steeting wheel, over the side windows, in the footwell and out of the side of the chair. Rear seat passengers each have a set of air bags too. The down side is that if you have children that will not behave in the car and are out of their seat they will likely be injured by a deploying airbag because they won't be in the right place to be protected.
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
children that will not behave in the car and are out of their seat
That is why my daughter did that precisely once, when she was four years old. She had been fussing at me, and unbuckled her car seat. I pulled to the side, turned in the seat, and told her to get back in the seat, NOW! All-stop, full-up, maximum-volume parent command voice. She said, and I quote, "Yes sir." She got back in her seat, redid the buckle, and was quiet for the rest of the morning. Of course, it took me a while to dissipate the head of adrenalin I had going :sigh:. There is absolutely no excuse for children being loose in a vehicle. If you can't make your kids behave in the car, then put them up for adoption because you're not fit to be a parent.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
I had a semi-trailier change lanes straight into the side of me a few years ago. Lucky the side of the road was a fairly wide gravel area and I'm a fairly good driver, otherwise I would have been hosed. I managed to avoid him by about 10cm by driving on the gravel and pulling in behind him. We were going about 100km/h. Since that day I have avoided trucks as much as possible. They are evil. A truck driver's primary job is to kill people; transport is a distant second. All trucks should be banned from all roads at all times, no exceptions. I have never seen a safe truck driver.
Ryan
"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"
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Chris Losinger wrote:
since i wasn't hurt and wasn't insterested in calling the police, she left as soon as she knew i was ok
That would be illegal in the UK. If there is a Road Traffic Accident the police must be informed, even if it is just to record that it happened.
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
hat would be illegal in the UK. If there is a Road Traffic Accident the police must be informed, even if it is just to record that it happened.
Yeah, here too.
Ryan
"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"
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I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
My wife once asked me if I liked her dress and foolishly I said no. I wasn't drunk or sleepy, so I have no idea why I had this lapse of concentration. I am still suffering the traumatic after effects now, and still can't believe it wasn't fatal.
Regards Malc *********************************************
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Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
children that will not behave in the car and are out of their seat
That is why my daughter did that precisely once, when she was four years old. She had been fussing at me, and unbuckled her car seat. I pulled to the side, turned in the seat, and told her to get back in the seat, NOW! All-stop, full-up, maximum-volume parent command voice. She said, and I quote, "Yes sir." She got back in her seat, redid the buckle, and was quiet for the rest of the morning. Of course, it took me a while to dissipate the head of adrenalin I had going :sigh:. There is absolutely no excuse for children being loose in a vehicle. If you can't make your kids behave in the car, then put them up for adoption because you're not fit to be a parent.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
Of course, it took me a while to dissipate the head of adrenalin I had going .
I know the feeling. :~ It's one thing when they are acting up and vying for attention, it's another when they put themselves in danger. Before I had children, I didn't think I would be good at disciplining (sp?) them, but boy has that changed.. :rolleyes:
~Nitron.
ññòòïðïðB A
start -
I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
Meh! Happens to me everyday! I drive on Indian roads! ;) But seriously, that is *real* scary! Glad you escaped unhurt!!
---------------------------------------------- If you need a hammer get C and shut up. If you need a nail gun get C++ and shut up. If you don't need *those* things (and good design should tell you) then by all means get a factory, factory, factory. --code-frog@codeproject ---------------------------------------------- Why would you need to date, when C++ is your soul mate?! --Steve Echols@codeproject ----------------------------------------------
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Dario Solera wrote:
surpass
"overtake" in standard English. I think the Americans just say "pass"
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
"overtake" in standard English. I think the Americans just say "pass"
Thanks for pointing it out.
_____________________________________________ Tozzi is right: Gaia is getting rid of us. Personal Blog [ITA] - Tech Blog [ENG] Developing ScrewTurn Wiki 1.0 RC...
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I had a close one last night. I was driving from downtown Atlanta to my home (distance of about 35 miles). It was around 1 am. I was feeling good when I left downtown and I was not drunk. The traffic was extremely light and I was driving in the right most lane in a five lane road. I don't know when but I suddenly dozed off. When I woke up I found myself about an inch from the median on the leftmost shoulder. If I was even a second late I would have hit the median wall at around 65 MPH. Thankfully, the road was empty and there were no other cars on the road otherwise I would have hit one. Of course, that made my sleep to go away completely. This was the closest I ever came to a fatal accident in my life. In fact, I never once had a ticket in my driving career of 8 years. Thanks to wide roads in Atlanta, I am safe. Have you ever avoided an accident that close?
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -C. A. R. Hoare
Once, as a pedestrian. Crossing the road in rainy weather, traffic was standstill, but what I didn't see was a motorbike zipping down between the cars and the pavement. As I stepped on the pavement something caught my eye and the motorbike wizzed past behind me. One or two seconds slower, and I would have been history (or at the very least several broken bones). He wasn't going that fast... but I'd guess a 15-20 kph. :omg:
"Nothing ever changes by staying the same." - David Brent (BBC's The Office)
~ ScrollingGrid: A cross-browser freeze-header control for the ASP.NET DataGrid
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
Of course, it took me a while to dissipate the head of adrenalin I had going .
I know the feeling. :~ It's one thing when they are acting up and vying for attention, it's another when they put themselves in danger. Before I had children, I didn't think I would be good at disciplining (sp?) them, but boy has that changed.. :rolleyes:
~Nitron.
ññòòïðïðB A
startNitron wrote:
Before I had children, I didn't think I would be good at disciplining (sp?) them, but boy has that changed.
Indeed. My mother-in-law, who I get along well with, had a bad habit of undermining my wife and I when we disciplined our daughter when she was little. I took her aside, and explained it like this: "I have a choice. I can either raise a human being, or I can raise an animal. I choose a human being." That, and an overnight visit where my daughter was a brat, helped immensely. The good news is, my daughter is now a 15 year old human being. Even though she's a teenager :rolleyes: she's still pretty easy to get along with, and a damn nice kid.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
My wife once asked me if I liked her dress and foolishly I said no. I wasn't drunk or sleepy, so I have no idea why I had this lapse of concentration. I am still suffering the traumatic after effects now, and still can't believe it wasn't fatal.
Regards Malc *********************************************
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Marc Clifton wrote:
On several occasions I have had rental cars with balding tires or poorly inflated tires.
Strange. Most rental cars are sold off after 1-2 years of usage. Poorly-inflated tires I can understand, but balding tires within 2 years is odd.
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
Currently working on C++/CLI in Action for Manning Publications. Also visit the Ultimate Toolbox blog (New)Nishant Sivakumar wrote:
Marc Clifton wrote: On several occasions I have had rental cars with balding tires or poorly inflated tires. Strange. Most rental cars are sold off after 1-2 years of usage. Poorly-inflated tires I can understand, but balding tires within 2 years is odd.
If you return a half decent rental car *with* any tread left on the tires you have not got your moneys worth :)
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear