These Are Your Near-Miss Crash Stories

Photo: IFCAR, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Early on into owning my last car, a 2007 Saturn Ion, it had just finished raining out, and the sun was back out. I was driving down a country road and wanted to open my window to get some fresh air, but was behind a semi cab kicking up a ton of spray into me, and going 45 in a 55. I waited for the striped lines for a passing zone, hit my signal, and moved to pass.

Just as the semi cab, without signaling, moved out to pass the compact car it had been tailgating the entire time, making it impossible for anyone else to see.

I hastily hit the brakes so I wouldn’t get clipped by the oblivious semi cab, and steered back to my line.

Not, brakes then steer. Brakes and steer. And, see, I’d known cerebrally that this car didn’t have ABS or traction control, but this was the first time I’d felt it.

Oops.

I fishtailed a bit, then the car went into a spin. I credit both good fortune and my experience in Forza Motorsport for how to manage the car as it went into a full 360 degree clockwise spin. I stayed on the brakes – keep them locked up so they wouldn’t start rolling at an inopportune time – most of the way around the loop. A moment frozen in time as I made eye contact with the blonde girl in the Celica who was following me, windshield-to-windshield. I steered away from the spin coming out of that, then into the spin as I started to come true, then straightened out and released the brakes as I was again pointed in the direction of travel. I suppose I was going no slower than 45 miles per hour still as I ended up back in my own lane.

Somewhere in the maneuver, the Ion realized the engine wasn’t driving the wheels and disconnected it somehow as a rudimentary form of traction control. I felt the same way. I coasted to the shoulder as the semi, oblivious, made its pass and they continued down the road. The girl in the Celica pulled up alongside me and stopped for a moment. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Feeble thumbs up.

“Good job!”

“Thanks.”

I stayed on the side of the road for a few minutes as my heart rate came down and called the friend I was on my way to visit, a, “Hi, I’m not dead, a crazy thing just happened,” call, and finally continued on my way.

Man I wish I had video of that, either onboard dashcam or chase cam from the Celica.

There’s a massive gap between knowing you don’t have ABS, and understanding what a lack of ABS really means for your car. I, and the four tires I simultaneously flat-spotted on a certain 1993 Mazda Miata back in college, know this gap well.

Submitted by: Boter