Close Call

[Xiao Rong]

Still super freaked out that this happened!

Yesterday, I was driving with my boyfriend to Boston to visit his family (they only live 2.5 hours away, so it's a pretty easy trip). We happen to be driving along on a moderately busy stretch of highway in the rightmost lane, suddenly a car in the next lane over just a little ahead of us swerves violently into our lane. To avoid being hit (because they were RIGHT ahead of us), I swerve to the right and slam on the brakes, which causes us to spin out of control. It's still a bit of a blur; it felt like we were doing full 360 degree spins, and I can't steer or see anything. It was probably only a few seconds, but it was definitely the most terrifying few seconds of my life. Eventually we come to a stop in the breakdown lane. My boyfriend's like, "OH MY GOD, we're alive", and we get out of the car. There's black tire streaks on the road showing where we spun (apparently only 90 degrees), we didn't hit anything, the car doesn't seem damaged, and both of us are fine. I don't know exactly what happened, but it seemed like the car that swerved into us initially was involved in some accident a little farther down the road with a few other cars (it didn't seem like any of them were seriously injured, thank goodness). After talking with some state troopers and some paramedics who made sure we were okay (just a little shaken), they let us go and we made the rest of the trip safely.

Thanks to Guanyin for keeping us safe through all of that. Maybe this is just because I'm still a relatively new driver (I suppose this counts as my first accident), but that was just absolutely harrowing and terrifying to lose control of my car like that. I'm still amazed that we didn't hit anything and didn't get hurt; that was incredibly fortunate. I almost couldn't sleep last night, thinking about what if we had flipped the car over or if one of us got seriously hurt. My boyfriend says I saved both of us with my quick reflexes (I am pretty sure if I hadn't done that, we would have gotten hit by the car ahead of us), but I also wonder what I could have done differently to keep us from going into that spin.

Phew. I have been much more freaked out about the whole thing than my boyfriend has; every time I bring up how freaked out I am, he's like, "Well, it turned out fine, so don't worry about it." But it's very much in my nature to worry, so ... Ugh. What a way to close out 2014.

(sorry for the rant, just wanted to get it off my chest!)

[SnowCat]

Definitely a WTF moment. I did a 180 on black ice last year. I was going about 5 mph, since I had just left the parking lot of an apartment complex. It's unnerving. I've been driving since high school. I don't think it was anything you did wrong Xiao. It sounds like you did everything right. And I agree thanks to Guanyin. I have a superficial knowledge of her from a novel, but she does seem good at easing tight spots. Glad you're okay.

Snow

[Sakura Blossom]

Oh my goodness, Xiao! That's terrifying! I am so glad you are alright! I would have been freaking out and crying the entire time!

I had something kinda freaky happen, nothing even remotely close to that, but I was driving to my third test for my license (as the first place we went to the first two times were really mean and I got the same person both times who was way, way, way too picky because everyone who drives with me says I'm a very good driver) and it was snowing. The first test I took it snowed for the very first time which meant my first time driving in snow, EVER, the second time I took my test it did it again. Third time it was really snowy and icy but we forgot my birth certificate as well as everything else I needed to get my license so we had to turn around to wait for my dad to meet us half way.

My mom told me to take a turn onto a back road but as I did so, we spun out of control and did a donut on the road but I was able to correct it quickly which really impressed my mom so she was confident I'd do a really good job with driving after that. We told the DMV tester what had happened and she was 100% sympathetic. I did something illegal on accident, but it was because the snow was on the ground and we couldn't see, so she forgave it and I passed.

Really freaked me out but now I've become a pro (almost lol) at driving in the winter.

Still very, very glad that you're okay. Its' always terrifying when that kind of thing happens. >.<

[Myrth]

You were lucky. Some years ago I hit black ice and went into a skid toward forest trees. I managed to pull the car out of that skid, but then it went the other way, toward the treeless side of the road, where it flipped on its side. I was so scared!! But my fighting the skid kept me from slamming head on into a tree. And because I was buckled in, I was unhurt. I so get where you are coming from, as I still get nervous when I drive through that S-curve. But, your quick action avoided a serious collision and kept you safe. So, kudos to your quick reflexes. Glad you are safe!

[Xiao Rong]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, it was very fortunate that the weather's been nice and, despite it being below freezing, the roads have been reasonably clear -- I can't even begin to imagine how much worse it would have been if there was ice or slush to contend with (we were going 70 miles per hour! And we were one of the slowest people on the road.) Glad to know that I'm not the only one something like this has happened to -- I've been shuddering to read all of y'all's car-spinning stories. I can totally empathize now!

[shatteredsouls]

Hey xiaorong, thank goodness you're all right! And I really think it isn't your fault (new driver) that someone suddenly swerved into your lane. It can happen to an experienced driver too and I swear even an experienced driver will be shaken. I bet driving slower is better than driving too quickly!